After hiking down a dirt trail (with a surfboard under one arm wearing only a wetsuit) that is fit for a mountain goat, a sandy beach stretches from the Scripps Pier to Torrey Pines State Beach with one of the best surf breaks in Southern California, in between. The north peak at Black's Beach is one of a few breaks in San Diego that can hold a swell in the twenty-foot range. These days occur only once or twice a winter, if at all, and only a handful of watermen can handle the conditions that are thrown at them during these swells. Some of the best surfable days take place during 6-8 foot swell that come out of the north on a ebbing tide. When all the conditions come together and Santa Ana Winds send offshore winds down the face of the cliff, the wave opens up some enormous barrels. The wave itself is very heavy due to a deep-water canyon just outside that allows more swell energy to break over the shifting sandbar. During a take-off the wave gets from zero to steep in a hurry, but if you make the drop-in it feels like you were thrown down the face without any effort.
This box is a custom order that was painted for a client who is an avid surfer. He sent a photo that he wanted the artist to paint, with special instructions that were sent to the artist. What resulted is an heirloom that the surfer who ordered this will hold dear forever.
Oil-based paint is the main medium with which the artist paints this seascape. Blues and whites make up the palette used for the wave, while browns, greens, and grays are used to depict the cliff. The artist paints the wave in a perfect marriage of flow, perspective, movement, shading, texture, and color coordination. Water is very hard to paint because of its random, and transparent quality, but here the artist has an accurate portrayal of the force and might of the water as its journey ends in a climax at the shore. An inlay of mother-of-pearl is set within the cliff, to match the reflective area on the face of the wave. A surfer setting up for his bottom-turn is shown going right on this magnificent wave as he races for the section.
The box is constructed out of paper-mache made in the village of Fedoskino. A dye-resist pattern that looks like polished stone covers the exterior and red lacquer covers the interior of the box. Aluminum punchouts frame the scene and wrap around the sides of the box. These tiny beads of aluminum had to be hand placed on the box during the lacquer's drying process; this is very hard because one slip and the finish on the exterior could be ruined or the design's integrity could be compromised, which does not happen here. The box has a hinge above the composition and rests on four rounded feet. On the interior of the lid the artist writes, in gold paint, "ALL WE DO IS SURF," which was a request of the buyer who ordered this box. Upon completing the work on this piece the artist writes Fedoskino, 2001, the title, and signs his name at the bottom of the scene in blue paint.
Materials: paper-mache, oil-based paint, mother-of-pearl, aluminum, gold paint, and lacquer.
About Artist Valyalin, Alexey Yuryevich:
Alexey Yuryevich Valyalin was born in 1970 in the village of Fedoskino which, is situated in the Moscow region. Now he currently resides there.
Since boyhood, he has been fascinated with the sea. At one point his father took him to the Museum of Art in Feodosia during their vacation at the Black Sea. This art museum was converted from the studio of Ivan Aivazovsky, Russia's greatest seascape artist who was born, raise and eventually finished his career in Feodosia. In fact, in our interview, Valyalin admitted to loving the works of Aivazovsky. There can be no doubt that this visit to the museum, in addition to his own artistic talent, influenced his decision to become an artist and p
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read about Valyalin, Alexey Yuryevich
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Item Specifications:
- Title: "Winter Morning At Blacks, San Diego, CA 2001"
- Price: $420.00
- Status: SOLD
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