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PRESS RELEASE
THOMAS CAMPBELL
SURFING IN GENERAL: 1992 TO 2015
MAY 7–JUNE 6, 2015
Opening Reception:
Thursday, May 7, 6 – 8pm
Sleds–Donald Takayama’s Surf Factory
Oceanside, California, 1997
2015
Pigment print
30 x 40 inches
Joshua Liner Gallery presents Surfing in General: 1992 to 2015, an exhibition of surf photography by
Thomas Campbell. Exploring over two decades of footage in 35mm film, this extensive body of work
stems from two photographic essays published by the artist—Slide Your Brains Out: Surfing in General
(2012), and Seeing Fatima’s Eyes: Surf, Life, Stuff, Morocco (2014). The artist will be in attendance to
present these works as well as never before seen photographs from Campbell’s personal archives on
Thursday, May 7, 2015.
Known for his work with sewn paper, painting, bronze casting, wood carving, and work on paper,
Campbell’s love and passion for film—both still and of the motion variety—is at the heart of his inspiration
and artistic practice. Slide Your Brains Out, Campbell’s first series of photographic essays, presents
a collection of photographs documenting fifteen years of surf culture. The second and most recent
publication, Seeing Fatima’s Eyes, takes an in-depth look at Campbell’s special relationship with Morocco,
exploring the coastal breaks and absorbing the North African country’s rich history. The collective body
of work for Surfing in General: 1992 to 2015 is an amalgamation of Campbell’s experimentation with
photography, and an exploration of wave rider’s lives.
The artist began submitting his photography to publications such as Transworld Surf and Skate in the
early 1990s. In contrast to the wide-angle water shots prevalent at that time in surf journalism, Campbell
presented an alternative approach—punctuating his photography with portraits and intimate candid
moments of surfers, still lives of surfboards, travel images, and behind the scenes photographs in
backyard workshops.
Revealing the environment his subjects are surfing, Campbell continues to integrate fast action wave
carving shots with henna dyed hands of Moroccan women, herds of camels, desert camper vans
loaded with boards, or blurred strips of colored fiberglass, forming visual novellas transcribing each trip.
Campbell explains, “Surfing trips have always been planned, documented adventures on still and moving
film. A lot of times I like to pull back and show more of what is happening in life on land, and in the sea,
and the majesty of the ocean environment… the person becomes just part of the whole scenario. I
would say that I attempted to document the alternative side of wave riding, the alternative side of board
design, and bring an artistic approach to the subject.”
Preferring film over digital, Campbell’s connection to the medium is profound. The artist poetically
explains, “I feel that film has a deeper dimension, and digital is almost cold. I often equate it to dancing,
I think that when you’re working with film you’re dancing in the middle of the room and film comes
out and meets you there… I just love it.” Developing every shot himself, Campbell experiments with
saturated color through a range of filters and exaggerated burning and dodging effects to create high
contrast images.
A rose colored filter applied to a print of acclaimed wave rider Alex Knost captures the surfer in a critical
nose riding maneuver at Tamri Beach in Central Morocco. Hues of dusty pink surround a magenta
colored Knost, his figure suspended like a deity, the board almost swallowed up by the ocean. Everyday
is Fryeday (2002)w, presents Monica Rose with her board surrounded by a vibrant, expansive aqua blue
sky. Campbell’s use of backlighting and excessive burning—a well known photographic technique—
forms the silhouette of the surfboard with Rose’s arms extended like the fins of a fish. At the top, a
patch of bright white amplifies the sun’s beaming rays.
Everyday is Fryeday, Sana Cruz, California 2003
2015
Chromogenic print
20 x 16 inches
Knost Pink Nazal, North Africa 2011 (detail)
2015
Chromogenic print,
20 x 24 inches
Contrasting these crisp, bold images, Campbell experiments with Vaseline lenses and blurred focus to
create soft colored textures as seen in an abstract photograph of Donald Takayama’s crafted surfboards.
Another shot entitled Kaleidoscoping Back Out Into the Line Up, plays with movement and slow shutter
speed, the ocean reflections dancing on the paper. These skillful, artistic approaches catapult Campbell’s
work from journalistic surf photography to expressive impressions imbued with creativity.
Born in 1969, Thomas Campbell currently lives and works in Bonny Doon, California. The artist has
directed and produced six films, A Love Supreme (1996); Ear Eye Data Poop (1997); The Seedling
(1999); Sprout (2004); The Present (2009); and Cuatro Sueños Pequeños (Four Small Dreams) (2013).
Selected solo exhibitions include Doi at Fullerton College, Fullerton, CA, as part of a month long artist
residency (2015); Strewnfield, Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA (2015); Ampersand, Joshua Liner Gallery,
New York, NY (2014); and Work in Progress, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, CA
(2013). Group exhibitions include Hindsight, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark (2014); Photo ID, Santa
Cruz Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, CA (2013); and This is Not Music, Friche la Belle de Mai,
Marseille, France (2013).
Contact
Please visit joshualinergallery.com, or contact Nina Gibbes at [email protected]
Kaleidoscoping Back Into the Line Up, North Africa, 2014
2015
Chromogenic print
20 x 24 inches
Gallery Hours
Tuesday – Saturday
11– 6 pm
Address
540 West 28th Street
New York, NY 10001
P (212) 244-7415
F (212) 244-7416
Email
[email protected]