Awesome people getting together to raise awareness about the ocean while celebrating a common love for the sea with art, culture, and music. Sounds rad, count me in….
This was what I was thinking September of last year when I got an email to help out with this amazingly-creative and multi-cultural art exhibition and benefit event connecting eco-conscious surf and street art into unique artworks to celebrate our ocean and the California coast. I had just done an indy art publication exhibition with a high-end gallery in Johannesburg, South Africa that included a bunch of my artist friends like Shepard Fairey, Roger Ballen, Risk, Pops Hosoi and many more. I was excited to show new artwork in San Diego and with a less formal, more like-minded surf-skate-ocean audience. I knew Pops had to be in there too, so with a couple of emails and a little convincing, I put him in the show.
Fast forward a few months, and I’m back in California helping get things ready for the big night. They line up some live music and ask me to spin a vinyl DJ set at the opening. I got word that Pops might not make it from Maui, but I’m not ready to break the bad news to everyone just yet.
Then we got the cool exhibition flyer with artwork by Ricky Blake depicting the La Jolla point with Chuy (Madrigal) and Pops doing jetski tow-ins, the infamous Paskowitz surf van as well as me faintly airing over the gallery in the background. I asked my buddy Bryce Leisy to help us make a little promo video to showcase all the talented artists. Christian manages to help organize Pops’ trip out to California for the opening and we were back on track.
Yours truly, jamming.
The opening night was well attended by myriad ocean-loving surf-skate creatives including a few people I asked to be there to support me but I thought couldn’t make it. Shaun, Carla, Paul, Tracy, and Luke Tomson showed up with my dad halfway through my DJ set.
The Tomsons gave me my first skateboard for my ninth birthday.
I was stoked! So much Aloha!
Editor’s note: Artists included Erin Yoshi, Ivan “Pops” Hosoi, Jared Aufrichtig, REMIO, Gomez Bueno, Gloria Muriel, Michael Amorillo, Breanne Custodio, Joshua Paskowitz, Nathan Ledyard, Chuy Madrigal, Ricky Blake, Nathan Gibbs, Bryan Helfand, Patrick Parker and Marcel Sel Blanco, Matthew Perdoni and more.
Artist Erin Yoshi’s Ocean inspired paintings. Photo: Jerry Jaramillo
