You know your favorite summer beach town or ski season spot? The place that makes you feel both inspired and at home the moment you arrive? Think of that place. I wanted to create an art collection that brings all the same feelings, capturing the magic of both ski towns and surf towns–places where you fall in love with the rhythm, the moments, the feeling of being there.
Chuck Klosterman once wrote, “Art and love are the same thing. it’s the process of seeing yourself in things that aren’t you." Almost like falling in love with people, I believe people can fall in love with places too, or a moment in time in a place, and the version of themselves that exists there. That’s what inspired my latest collection, Après Ski/ Après Surf.
This is how the locals have become “locals.” Either born there and chose to stay, or visited and could never leave. I think true locals have learned how to appreciate the world, or their special towns, beyond surface level — like appreciating art.
Always hidden in plain sight, I love to admire the locals whenever I'm back in a coastal town, or visiting a ski town. I'm always pushing to explore past superficial touristy things, avoiding all tourist traps at all costs, and trying to learn the local lifestyle. The ski instructor that works 3 jobs just to live by the mountains and ski. The mom-and-pop shop owner 's greeting feels like a warm hug (to other locals and tourists alike). The surfer that wakes up at 6am daily to be in the ocean at the perfect time of day. The couple that cooks dinner and brings it to the lookout to watch the sunset over the ocean every night.
My favorite sight is seeing an older man in the local beach coffee shop every single week, bringing a bucket of trash he collected off the beach that morning in exchange for a cup of coffee. A simple routine that brings him motivation, an interaction with community, or a x2, to-go, to treat someone else in his life. A tiny routine to appreciate and slow down for.
The art pieces I've tried to create are inspired by these kinds of locals. Not loud and in-your-face, but energized by the ocean and nature, and effortlessly chic because they feel natural. Think oranges and blues, calming browns and greens, the colors of golden hour over the ocean or the last run on the way to apres ski. These are just the background layers — the abstract canvas.
My Après Ski and Surf pieces have layers and layers of different brush strokes, intended to be beautiful on their own, no distractions. The next layers of paint are details meant to tell a story. Little objects that blend into the canvas, maybe a pop culture reference or two. In the Après Ski piece lies an aperol spritz, a helmet, and a pair of skis painted on the canvas. I want the buyer to first take in the overall feeling–the colors, the simplicity–and then, slowly, to notice the details, the personal connections that remind them of their favorite city, that cool restaurant, that place they visited growing up, the trip they took with their best friends, or the place they started a family.
Knowing the simple background is always a reminder to myself to slow down to focus on the right things, the simpler things, like I feel like all the locals have learned how to do.
Until I can be a permanent local, I want to take a few of their qualities back to the city with me. and yes, on the outside, I think it’s fine if this just looks minding your business and sipping an aperol spritz some days, or watching the sunset over the river and pretending it’s just as good as over the ocean.
Check out my art here.