ART ADVISOR GLORI COHEN WITH 5 OF THE ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION SERIES SURFBOARDS, PHOTOGRAPHED IN HER ART FILLED NEW JERSEY HOME
In 1967, Andy Warhol moved to La Jolla, California to make the movie, “San Diego Surf”, his homage and twist on the classic surf films of the late 1960’s. Surfboard shaper Tim Bessell was then just a kid, living down the street.
Fast forward to the 1980’s where Bessell was invited to New York by film producer Gary Binko and by chance met Warhol at the opening of the Playboy Club. As it turned out, Warhol and Bessell had a mutual friend, another surfboard shaper named Carl Ekstrom. Famous for his asymmetrical surfboard designs, two had been used as props in the movie. Ekstrom told Bessell if he ever ran into Warhol, tell him he said hello. Little did he realize he would have the chance to do just that!
ELVIS, MARILYN & MICK
Spotting him at the opening, standing with a group of models, Bessell introduced himself on a dare. Warhol didn’t surf, but was obsessed and enamored with surf culture. Taken with Bessell and his friends, Warhol invited him to hang out at The Factory and the offices of Interview magazine.
“San Diego Surf” was not released because when Warhol returned to New York, he was famously shot by actress Valerie Solanas. The project was shelved… that is until 2010 when Factory alumni Paul Morissey finished it posthumously and the movie was finally released in 2012. Coincidentally that was the same year Bessell obtained the worldwide rights to license Warhol’s images for surfboard art.
CAMOFLAGE (SHOWN HERE WITH BLACK GLASS/MIXED MEDIUM STANDING FIGURE BY DANIEL ARSHAM) & FLOWERS
There are now about 20 Andy Warhol Foundation Artist Series surfboards in production. All are in a limited and numbered edition of 10 or 12. Style of Sport’s good friend, art advisor Glori Cohen (glori@gloricohen.com), represents these boards for sale exclusively in New Jersey, five of which we photographed at her house earlier this week.
Now while these boards can be surfed, they are meant to be art, and are actually a reasonably priced investment. STYLE of SPORT has collaborated with Cohen and boards from her collection are now available for purchase at GC/EDITIONS. For pop art and surf lovers this is the wave to catch!
