From June 8-30, the School of Visual Arts in New York City is presenting a showing of legendary surf photographer Art Brewer’s photos in an installation titled Art Brewer: Surf Evolution.
Brewer, who is often described as “the court painter” for the world’s surfing elite, is known for his mastery of the numerous technical and physical challenges involved in surf photography and the strikingly expressive quality of his images. Some have described Brewer’s photos as “portals to a vastly improved universe.”
Brewer has spent four decades documenting and shaping surf culture around the globe, and this exhibit will include over 150 images from Brewer’s archive, including many never-before-exhibited works. Curated by photographers Malcolm Lightner and Michelle Mercurio, the selected work ranges from intimate portraits of surf legends like Corky Carroll, Tom Curren, Wayne Lynch, Marc Occhilupo and Kelly Slater, to evocative landscapes and waterscapes from around the world, to the dynamic images of surf riding for which Brewer has achieved international renown. The exhibition demonstrates Brewer’s pivotal role within the changing culture of the sport over the last 40 years.
A largely self-taught photographer who once studied with Ansel Adams, California native Brewer began his photo career as a teen shooting local Laguna Beach surfers and freelancing for Surfer magazine. He eventually served as staff photographer, darkroom artist and photo editor for the magazine until the mid-1980s. Brewer has since been traveling around the world in search of waves and the surfers that chase them. His photographs have been exhibited worldwide and his images have appeared in hundreds of magazines including GQ, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, Esquire and Playboy. He has also done over 35 covers for Surfer magazine, and published several books including Masters of Surf Photography: Art Brewer (The Surfers Journal, 2002) and Bunker Spreckels: Surfing’s Divine Prince of Decadence (1949-1977) (Taschen Books, 2007).
The opening reception will be June 14, 2012 at 6-8 PM.
For more information, go to http://www.sva.edu/events/events-exhibitions/art-brewer-surf-evolution.
