Hydrodynamica: Remember the Future

SHOW RUNS JANUARY 28 – MARCH 9, 2012

OPENING RECEPTION JANUARY 28
4 TO 10 PM

WITH MUSIC FROM STEVE POLTZ, IRWIN CONSPIRACY 8 PM
MIHO GASTROTRUCK 6 to 9 PM

Space 4 Art and Loft 9 Gallery present a Pacific Standard Time exhibition exploring early surfboard design and how the use of surfboard materials influenced mid-century sculptors and designers.

The show was conceived and curated by Richard Kenvin, of Loft 9 Gallery. Kenvin is the director of the Hydrodynamica Project and has surfed in San Diego for over forty years. The exhibition focuses primarily on the work of two Southern California surfboard pioneers: Bob Simmons and Carl Ekstrom.

Simmons’ board design and early use of composite construction processes in board building from 1949 to 1954 parallels California’s post-war modern design movement and profoundly influenced modern surfing and skateboarding. Andy Warhol considered Ekstrom’s surfboards works of art and purchased two in 1968 for props in the campy surfsploitation flick “San Diego Surf.” The boards helped inspire an explosion of revolutionary surfboard design in San Diego that culminated with the designs of Steve Lis in the late 1960’s.

The exhibition will feature original Simmons planing hulls and other objects he made, including the boomerangs he used for experimentation. Boards from Ekstrom, Lis, and Nicholas Mirandon will also be exhibited, along with photographs and short film clips. Viewers will be invited to ponder the relationship of these designs to California art and design from 1945 to 1980. Once overlooked, surfboard design is currently experiencing a worldwide renaissance that is changing surfers’ perspectives on the past and changing the way people ride waves today.

Pacific Standard Time is an unprecedented series of concurrent exhibitions throughout Southern California museums and galleries that highlight the significance of art in Los Angeles region in the post World War II decades. Exhibitions and related programs began in the fall of 2011 and conclude in spring 2012.