Six Things You Should Know About Thomas Campbell Right Now

Thomas Campbell is an extraordinary artist who hovers within the realm of surfing. He’s currently in Australia, finishing up a five-week residency at The Art Park gallery in Byron Bay. Tomorrow, he will open an exhibition to show the fruits of that residency, called Residential Debris, and it will be excellent. Below, Stab explores some elements of his stay, and of his existence right now in general…

by Elliot Struck

His stay was interrupted. “I’ve been here for almost five weeks, but right in the middle I went to Lombok, to Deserts for that big swell they just had. I went there with Ryan Burch and Joel Fitzgerald, and it was fucking huge. I was mostly just shooting pictures. It was really big, I don’t know, Joel said – and this is Joel saying it, not me – he said that there was a 20 footer. Jeff Rowley was there, put it that way. I’ll ride most waves that aren’t too devastating, but they weren’t really the waves I wanna be surfing.”

He doesn’t shape, but he digs board design. “I shaped one surfboard 12 years ago and it was the worst surfboard I’ve ever ridden. I just work with different people on concepts. It’s nice when you work with someone like Bob McTavish, or someone who makes boards all day everyday. I do too much stuff already, a lot of things I do already are not money-making things. I’m afraid to fall into that hole. In the quiver I use the most at the moment, there’s a 5’4″ Tyler Warren twin-fin, called a Bar Of Soap, then I’ve been riding a 7’0″ thruster called the Stoker V-Machine. I haven’t ridden it yet but just the other day, Bob McTavish and I made a 6’9″ asymmetrical board together, which was really fun to work on. I’d also say I ride a 10’10” Skip Frye a lot. It’s not really a longboard, they have pointy noses, and they go really, really fast. You can ride waves that aren’t normally makeable. They’re sensational, I don’t know if there’s anything else like them.”

He won’t just shoot anyone. “There’s maybe 30 or 40 people whose surfing I find interesting. Not that I don’t think people are talented. Like, Mick and Joel are talented. That approach just doesn’t really spark me to wanna document it. I went through the last five years watching the world tour contests, mostly because of Kelly and Dane. And now, Kelly seems hurt or disinterested. Seriously, he got knocked out the other day and I just turned it off. I was like, “I don’t care now.” I like John John too, but I think he’s so relaxed that I’m not excited to see it, but when he gets in severe waves, then you can actually really see clearly how amazing he is. You’re like, “Oh, actually, no one can do that.” He looks awesome, but there’s something about Dane and Kelly where you really don’t know what’s going to happen, and that’s so exciting. Those guys interest me.”

His time in Australia has been productive. “During the Art Park – Atlantic residency they facilitate you with a time to do whatever you need to do, to advance your work. That could be sitting on the beach and staring at the sky for five weeks. That’s what they tell you when you get here. Or, it could be working on stuff, you could have a show at the end of your residency, or you don’t have to. It’s really open, they’re just here to be supportive of you and have a moment in your career to do what you need to do. I’ve been working on art, surfing, taking some pictures, sewing, painting. Those guys are really cool, attentive people who make a really good scenario to be creative. I’ve made a bunch of stuff, painting, sewn pieces, sculptures, ceramics, and all that stuff is gonna be exhibited tomorrow.”

The body of work in Residential Debris is real varied. “I’ve just been working on one big painting mainly, and that’s 10 feet by three feet. I’ve probably put about 200 hours into that. That’s looking pretty good, it’s about half an hour away from being completed. That’s the most expensive piece, it’s about $35k. The least expensive is about $500, it’s a ceramics piece. Then there’s a print that’s $500. It’s not hard to part with a piece, even after 200 hours’ work on it. I’m not attached to my work at all. It’s more about doing it. A lot of people like to have their work up in their houses and have it around them, but I don’t wanna see it, I wanna enjoy the process, then it doesn’t matter. I don’t put it up in my house.”

You should go see Residential Debris. “Because there’s free beer and good music. There’s two bands playing, Shining Bird and Babe Rainbow. And there’s some fairly good to mediocre art, depending on what you wanna see.”

Residential Debris
An exhibition of new work by Thomas Campbell
The Art Park Gallery
October 25 – November 29
Opening reception Friday, October 25, 5pm – 8pm.
5/11 Banksia Drive, Byron Bay