Urban surf art

Daniel Pullen understands his art is different. “When I’m at a show, some folks walk into my booth, look at my art and shake their heads, like ‘you really think you can sell this stuff?’ ” he said. “Others walk in, connect right away and love it.”

The rejection doesn’t bother Pullen because to him, his art is an expression of himself.

“I don’t like painting the same scene over and over,” he said. “I want to combine beach culture with non-beach art. Art is a passion, you paint because you love doing it.”

By day, Pullen uses his talent in the more traditional field of professional photography — weddings and family portraits. He’s good, but the work allows little room for creativity and is more formulaic.

“Once in a while a client asks me to do something different,” he said. But for the most part this type of photography involves more technical expertise — exposure, lighting, scenery, capturing candid moments — than pure, unbridled creativity.

It is the commercial side that pays the bills. Pullen is married and has children, and that financial responsibility takes precedence over trying to make a living as a full-time artist.

I first spied Pullen’s work at the Morning View coffee shop. On the wall was a facial portrait of an attractive woman. It was the “canvas” that grabbed me — a skateboard deck. Very cool, and the type of local art one might expect in an area chock full of surfers and skaters.

That led to a visit to Pullen’s studio in Buxton. Think “garage band” and apply that to an artist because that’s where his studio is located.

“Surf art” comprises much of Pullen’s creative output. The phrase conjures up images of surfers traversing the tube of a perfectly formed wave. Hundreds of such paintings and photos abound. Pullen amends the genre to “urban surf art.”

In the case of his skateboard decks, while the medium screams “beach,” the art possesses, in Pullen’s words “a more urban feel — art that comes out of the cities is so far beyond what you find here.”

Hence, the female subject isn’t clad in a bikini with a tiki bar in the background. She looks more like a face wrought from the talents of urban graffiti artists. In fact, all of Pullen’s work is a milieu of coastal lifestyle imagery, abstract design and urban elements.

Pullen’s work pushes away from our usual expectations of interpretation in what we think of as “beach art.” Pullen points out that most local art is comprised of beach houses, dunes, waves, sea oats. Pullen isn’t critical of this motif — in fact he says that most of the artists who create those works “are light years ahead of me.” Pullen merely channels a different muse.

Because local art galleries tend to focus on what sells to the mainstream, Pullen relies on shows and commissioned art work. He expresses some confusion that in all of Dare County, from Duck to Hatteras, most art galleries cater to traditional beach art, while a short ferry ride to Ocracoke opens up a world populated by several galleries featuring off-the-beaten-track art. Count Pullen among those who would enjoy a plethora of small art and crafts shops populating Dare County and showcasing out-of-the-ordinary works and creations.

Pullen is an avid surfer and he also creates original art for surfboards. The boards can be used for decorative art or as fully functional wave riding vehicles. The art is clear coated and will remain intact as long as there are no “dings” allowing water to discolor it.

A New Jersey nightspot hung one of his surfboards over the bar each year, auctioned it off for charity, then ordered another for the following year.

On canvas, Pullen maintains his style. The untitled painting pictured above was inspired by an ad in a surfing magazine. As one can see, Pullen’s interpretation is more than a few degrees of separation from the original — the painting conjures up an image of a surfer riding a fiery lava wave instead of the perfect Pacific Ocean wave depicted in the advertisement. The background completes the theme and maintains the unique perspective.

Other paintings maintain a feeling of light and airy beach.

You can view his art at Wood’s Oceanic Arts in Buxton (right across the street from RBC Bank) or his website www.danielpullenphotography.

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