Patent: Swim Fins

18x24

acrylic on panel, mounted printed patent on high quality acrylic panel

‘What you’re looking at here is an extraordinary fusion of surf history and contemporary fine art. Nathan Gibbs takes the original 1943 U.S. Patent for the Churchill swim fin—the very fin that shaped modern bodysurfing and lifeguard culture—and elevates it into something visceral, luminous, and almost mythical.

The background alone is a showstopper: a molten, sunset-drenched sky that melts into rolling, brush-heavy waves. The palette transitions from warm fire tones to deep marine blues, capturing that exact moment when daylight surrenders to the ocean. It’s moody, radiant, and deeply atmospheric.

Layered over that cinematic backdrop, Gibbs renders the original patent schematics by hand—every numerical notation and contour preserved. These technical drawings, once functional and utilitarian, now feel like elegant, floating constellations. The fin becomes more than a piece of equipment; it becomes a symbol of innovation, surf culture, and decades of wave-riding lineage.

Gibbs has an uncanny ability to blend engineering precision with ocean-born soul. The result is a piece that feels both historically important and completely modern—an artwork collectors build a room around.”