Damian Fulton
"Surfploytation"
La Luz de Jesus Gallery
July 2 - August 1, 2010
Artist Reception: Friday, July 2nd; 8-11 PM
Damian Fulton is fascinated by the dichotomy and duality of Los Angeles seaside culture. The proximity of one of the world’s most diverse and congested cities to the Pacific coast provides fertile material for Fulton’s dark take on the California dream. Perhaps it’s in the water. Surfploytation continues Fulton’s twisted ride down Pacific Coast Highway where Surf City is way more gritty than groovy. Car chases, girls with guns, noir nostalgia, a visual narrative that reads like conceptual art for a fictional surfploytation movie. For this show, experimentation with new materials native to his environment, balsa wood and fiberglass, skate decks, and surfboard fins, have this new work amped up to 11.
Fulton’s imaginative blend of storytelling, scrambled pop imagery, and painterly technique belie a respect for traditions of the past. Inject in his love of the ocean and urban experience and you have a distinctly original vision. Fulton grew up land-locked in Orange County, California and painted his way through college at Cal State Fullerton doing custom art for vans, spontaneous wall murals at parties in the OC and self publishing Thrust, the Magazine of Narrative Sequential Art. Out of college, Ocean Pacific hired him to paint surf posters and in 1982 commissioned him to create the official poster for the Op Pro Surf Contest. His counterculture comic strips like "The Shred Brothers" running in Surfer Publications’ Snowboarder and the original extreme sports classic “Radical Rick” which rode for 15 years in BMX Plus! Magazine. Fulton has had careers working for Oglivy and Mather Advertising, Marvel Comics and has directed television spots for Pepsi, Mattel and Universal Interactive. In 2005 on the 50th birthday of Disneyland, Fulton was commission to paint several prints commemorating the event.
Fulton currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.
Contact the Gallery Director for availability and purchase info: (323) 666-7667