- GIBBS BRINGS FINS TO LIFE: Features

GIBBS BRINGS FINS TO LIFE [22.10.2009] Category: Art

Nathan Paul Gibbs is an artist that captures surf in his own special and unique way. His art is amazing and recently Nathan shot through some images of his artwork on fins. An awesome idea and look amazing to say the least. We had a quick chat with Nathan to see what inspired this outburst of artistic expression...

The fins look awesome mate. What inspired you to do it?
Both times I have painted on fins, I was approached to do so, both for charity events. The first event was a fundraiser for the Surfrider "Save Trestles" campaign. That was the longboard fins I did. You can see how I used "949" which is the area code here at Trestles. Also I put "241-4-$=0 cents".

From that event I offered to do more for this years "Night by the Ocean" event put on by Surfrider and Life Rolls On. This was to benefit spinal cord injuries. Here I did a series of 9 fins. These were various sizes of shortboard fins.

Why fins?
The fins are a iconic symbol of surfing. Let's face it. Without fins where would our surfing be? I think that is why they were chosen as the medium. In addition they are an affordable option for art and can look great.

How does it compare painting on fins as opposed to canvas? No room for error!
To be honest, fins are challenging on a few levels. First, they are fiberglass and do not accept acrylic paint well. You need multiple coats and your canvas is very small. Second, as an artist of usually very large pieces, I had to really think of what I can do on such a small area. You either need to paint with very small detail or come up with a symbolic theme. Finally, since it was for a fundraiser I wanted to make a myriad of fins to appeal to as many different artistic and decorative tastes as possible.

Your art is more than just paint and a brush. What extra 'things' have been put into these pieces?
I really got funky with my choices. I had Kava powder left over from a trip to Fiji. I decided instead of painting I would spray the fin with a sticky fixative and coat the fin with the Kava. You can see a theme of the surfer silhouette and some text to send a message. On another I cut pieces out of a California atlas and used that. My favorite may have been the one with the coins glued on. They were collected from various countries I have surf in, Fiji, Costa Rica, Mexico, Tahiti, Australia etc. I then wrote over top "Surf Far Away Lands". To produce 9 very different fins was a challenge. But let's face it, without challenging ourselves, would we ever get any better?

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User comments (1)

[22.10.2009] Posted by nathan gibbs

Killer set up MeSurf! Thanks for the props! See more work at http://nathangibbsart.com

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