Surf's Beat Generation: an Art and Culture Revolution in Orange County from 1953 - 1964

Curators | Rhonda Gawthrop and Chrystal McCluney

About the Exhibition:

The post-World War II influence of Beatnik poetry, jazz and art interpretation around the California Coast created a revolution in the Orange County surf world. This exhibition defines the connection between the Beat Culture of the 1950’s to Surf Art and culture. The Beats changed the mindset of a young generation leading to an anti-establishment and rebellious freedom into the 1960s. The parallel beat counter-culture movement of art, poetry and music formulated the beginning of modern surf art, which percolated in the coffee houses and cafes of Orange County: Sid’s Blue Beat, Insomniac Café, Laguna’s Café Frankenstein, The Light House, The Golden Bear, and the Prison of Socrates. This show will recreate the feel of the early cafes along the Orange County Coast and include work in music, art, poetry and advertising genres from 1953-1964.

Surf’s Beat Generation features the work of local influential artists Rex Brandt, Wayne La Com, Phil Dike, George James, Paul Darrow, Karl Benjamin, Andy Wing and Milford Zornes. This exhibit will connect the world of fine art to early paintings from John Severson, “the father of modern surf art,” who was influenced by the beat generation. The exhibition will include Bohemian-style graphics and advertisements featured in surf magazines and local surfboard shops. Severson, along with Bud Brown and Greg Noll, were instrumental in early surf films. We will showcase posters, early surf films, and original issues of Severson’s The Surfer Magazine. The show will explore surf photography legend Ron Church, local surf shop logos, graphics, album cover designs and popular cartoons including early Rick Griffin and Michael Dormer.

The Begovich Gallery will produce a publication to accompany this exhibition.