Surf’s Up Art Exhibition at Palos Verdes Art Center

SURF’S UP EXHIBITION

Surf’s Up, an exhibition focusing on the art inspired by surfing will open on Friday, July 22, 2011 at the Palos Verdes Art Center’s new, temporary location, The Promenade on the Peninsula, 550 Deep Valley Drive, Suite 261, Rolling Hills Estates (located in the former Borders Books location). The exhibit will run through September 25, 2011. Galleries are open Mondays through Saturdays 10am-4pm and Sunday 1-4pm. Opening reception is scheduled for Friday, July 22, 2011, 5-8pm, Art Center – at The Promenade on the Peninsula, hosted by The Exhibition Committee and the Palos Verdes Art Center.

The common thread that runs through this exhibit is that most of the artists are inspired by their respect for the sheer power and energy of a wave. These artists are practicing two physically demanding disciplines – one being expressed in the studio and the other being expressed out in the elements. Surf’s Up will not include archetypal commercial surfer scenes depicted in slick sports posters, in fact, many of the artists in this exhibit are lifelong surfers who surf every day and experience the solitude, skill and risk of surfing, as well as the silence, skill and risk they face in their studio’s. Whether waiting patiently in the studio or on the water, putting fear aside, each individual must make heart thumping decisions. The results can be awe inspiring.

The exhibition will include a mixture of fine art, painting, sculpture and photography, plus special, unique works of art. PVAC’s Exhibition Director, Scott Canty states, “When Jacqueline Dreager, our guest curator, and I began to think about this exhibition we wanted to explore a different angle and approach this as not just another surf show in L.A.” Canty and Dreager have set out to invite some artists to paint a surfboard in their style of art. The Surf’s Up exhibition will include works by Los Angeles artists: Sandow Birk, Russell Crotty, Doug Edge, Ned Evans, Anthony Friedkin, Stephen Robert Johns, Robin Lucca, Andy Moses, Ana Osgood, R. Nelson Parrish, Joni Sternbach, Stephanie Ramer, Stephen Shriver, John Severson, Rick Stich, Mark Dean Veca, Alex Weinstein and Timothy Williams. This exhibition is represented by several galleries: Koplin del Rio Gallery, Peter Blake Gallery, William Turner Gallery, Western Project, Shoshana Wayne Gallery and Edward Cella Art+Artchitecture Gallery.

The Surf’s Up Exhibition is dedicated to a dear friend and colleague, Bruce Milbury. Bruce, a long time surfer and employee of the Palos Verdes Art Center, passed away in late 2010.

Now in its 80th year, the Palos Verdes Art Center, 5504 W. Crestridge Rd., Rancho Palos Verdes, has served southwestern Los Angeles County since 1931 with a full range of visual arts programming and community art classes. For more information about the Palos Verdes Art Center, call (310) 541-2479 or visit www.pvartcenter.org