Surf artist Nathan Paul Gibbs was born in Washington State on the Kitsap Peninsula, and raised from 13 on, in North East Florida where he picked up surfing. Since 1999 he lives and works on his art career in South Orange County and abroad. Nathan has created surf art work internationally in Fiji, Bora Bora, Moorea, Costa Rica, Mexico, Hawaii and Australia. Self taught, he is influenced by Pollock, Van Gough, Cezanne, and others. His work has exhibited in Florida, Washington, Hawaii, South America and the Southern California Area.
In addition Nathan Paul wrote and illustrated the acclaimed environmentally conscious story and art book, The Betrayal of Man. He also founded and designs the line for the underground surf clothing company Define Surf.
Nathan
was
awarded the 2007 1st Annual Earth Day "GAIA"
Environmental Award for his constant efforts in providing philanthropic
support to water related charities. He has bequeathed a total retail
value over $15,000 in art to the Surfrider Foundation and thousands
more to other related charities. "I can't be at every beach clean up so
this is the way I can give back to protect our number one resource."
He takes his paintings to a deeper level that invokes participation from the viewer with a visual, emotional, and cognitive experience. He attempts to do more than just paint a beautiful wave, or pretty sunset. Nathan also collects cast off pieces of wood, driftwood, old chairs, anything that is worn with character. He then tries to give it a new life. "It is not like I am recycling, that would be changing the form of the wood, I am re-birthing. I am in a way reincarnating the pieces into new and thought provoking assemblages. Sometimes when I am looking through pieces of wood in the old ghost towns of Death Valley, or combing the beaches of central California, I imagine the wood talking to me, saying 'pick me, pick me! I can do this for you', like they are wanting a second chance feeling as though they failed somehow in not being a good rocking chair, or coastal tree."
While it may seem odd, and even a little bit strange, it allows Nathan to begin the creative process at the resource gathering point. Most artists do not begin the process until they reach the studio with the canvas or board in front of them.
He
has been featured in magazines such as Longboard Magazine, Alma Surf,
Water and others. Nathan's work is featured in the permanent collection
of the California Surf Museum and private collections all over the
world.
Artist Statement
Surf Art, Defines his Art
My art revolves around, transcends and invokes a sense of wonder within an ocean-nurtured lifestyle. Through the exploration of water landscapes, peoples faces and rural images, I free the boundaries of their realistic attributes. I open the dream-like qualities of moments revisited, thoughts recognized, and landscapes explored.
There are many ways that I portray a subject, muted themes, political sarcasm, and disguised messages, developed through the application of painting, chemical, and textual techniques.
Through the use of acrylic on panel I loosely apply the paint trying only to control the content, leaving the nature created waves of wood grain often exposed. The surf art, found object sculptures I create openly reinvent the energy of ocean waves and the way they move, form and break. I take an optimistic point of view trying to imagine surf everywhere and paying respect to the idea that wood gave us surfing.
Much of my work reveals the relationships between energy, water, life and emotion. I take my paintings to a deep level that invokes participation from the viewer with a visual, emotional, and cognitive experience.