Volcom Art Show Stops Stagnicity

Every once in a while a community becomes aware of a missing element, an air of stagnicity prevails in this lack of unison and depth, starving progression. So... on Saturday, June 15th a group of 40 artists gathered, showing recent art along side a ten-year Volcom retrospect. For some, it was a chance to show deeply personal work in a forum previously unavailable, others an opportunity to display art with a group of peers long acquainted. Ozzie Wright, Shawn "Barney" Barron, Jamie Lynn, Ben Brough, Mike Parillo, and Ian Parnell just to name a few, displayed original works with special guests such as Ed Templeton, Mark Gonzales, Neil Blender, and Shepard Fairey.

The event took place at seven degrees gallery in a serene summer-time atmosphere in the heart of Laguna Beach Ca. With wine glasses tipped to the sky and a diverse multitude ofguest arriving at dusk, the stage was set. Over one hundred and fifty individual pieces of art were displayed, creating an eclectic assemblage of paintings', sketches, sculpture, installations', photography and performance art. The depth of the art seemed to raise outside eyebrows, confronting preconceptions of the content this community explores artistically. A feeling of re-connection was prominent as individual growth was plotted within the participants and volcom as a family.

The gallery also hosted a Volcom retrospect highlighting the artistic roots and depth of the company, re-assuring the viewer to expect the unexpected. Early sketches for t-shirts dating to 1994 by Jaime Lynn, hung beside crude, ripped and stained "pink is punk" relics that defined an era. Photographs, vintage posters, and memorabilia reminded the viewer of early cinematic endeavors such as "Alive We Ride" and "Magna Plasm," while a Mannequin dawning panties and war-torn classic v-co shirt, slings' a Fender stoneguitar, staring intently.

Overall, it was the happening one had to physically experience in order to feel the event's true depth, and witness the creative output of individuals in a facet of surfing that reminds us why we travel the earth searching for experience.