SURFER Addicted

An interview with SURFER magazine Art Director James ‘Jim’ Newitt

by Sam Bleakley

Surfing is really very simple, black and white: you either do it or you don’t. And if you do, you’ll almost certainly be familiar with SURFER magazine as the culture’s root journal. Since its founding in 1959 by surfer, artist and filmmaker John Seversen, SURFER magazine has a long tradition of breaking new ground with their cover shots and designs. Cover shots generate tremendous amounts of stoke. Trouble is, most cover shots often show surfing in a realm that is well beyond both the reach and capability of most readers. Our local breaks and their collective talent will rarely match the top drawer image that bookends the magazine.

How then to illustrate what the majority of surfers share without ditching realism? James ‘Jim’ Newitt – as SURFER magazine’s new Art Director – has done precisely that by commissioning a black and white graphic from Los Angeles based Geoff McFetridge that captures every dedicated surfer’s burden and pathology – addiction to surfing. The single fin surfboard is like the weight of the world on the back of a figure living within the shadow of that board, bent double by it and forced into submission. The brilliant new SURFER typeface doubles the weight.

At last we can own up to this necessary pathology of addiction to surfing that both enriches and torments our bodies and minds over time with chronic conditions – obsession, surfer’s ear and exploded eardrums, torn cartilage and reef scars are just the surface marks. Deeper are the broken relationships and loss of gainful employment; the compulsive checking of swells, winds and tides; the endless road trips to find the best spots with more time spent driving than surfing; the reduction of your reading life to surf magazines; and the withdrawal symptoms when you are forced inland. These are chronic, indeed lifelong, conditions – and so we can see Geoff McFetridge’s abstract figure as a depiction of the Greek titan Chronos (the Roman Saturn) – the ruler of melancholy or depression – from which we derive ‘chronic’.

All surfers know that addiction to surfing can only be cured by going surfing, and so the cycle is an Eternal Return. SURFER’s cover, its window and entry point or take off, and its monthly manifesto, has at last directly addressed the common surfer and not the elite - not through false aspiration or ideal, but through the reality of the pathology and burden we all bear as surfers, however capable. Surfing must carry a health warning: surfing’s passion is a chronic addiction.  

   

It has been a long time since SURFER has had graphics or artwork on the cover – memorable examples include Rick Griffin’s Murphy in 1962, John Severson’s Surf BeBop painting in 1963 and some radical psychedelia in 1969. But not even Bob Penuelas’ ever popular Wilbur Kookmeyer (a SURFER staple between 1986 and 2006) made the cover.

I think Geoff McFetridge’s Addicted is a wonderful statement for surf culture. When I first saw it I immediately thought of Captain Goodvibes, the wild Australian surfer pig illustrated by Tony Edwards who set ablaze the pages of TRACKS magazine between 1973 and 1981. And like every powerful piece of art, there’s a narrative, and a lot of hard work. It’s no easy ride working at a magazine. Having edited annual longboard specials for many years at Carve and Wavelength respectively, and been a long-term contributor to the late great The Surfers Path, I know from experience that staff members only come up for air in a brief hiatus between issues. In fact, the paradox is that producing a magazine can seriously cut in to your time surfing.

South Devon’s Jim Newitt has been in the SURFER job since late 2014, and the February 2015 issue was his first as Art Director. For myself, and many other British surfers who have known Jim’s outstanding work for many years before he ventured to California, it is a particularly proud moment. Jim’s clean and future-facing graphic touch is now confirmed as a fixture in the oldest, largest and most impactful surf publication on the planet.

I first met Jim in the mid 1990s through a mutual friend, Ricky Kenyon. Jim, Ricky and Callum Findlay were core to a gang of stylish longboarders (in turn inspired by the masterful Rob Beling) from South Devon. My equivalent group in west Cornwall was made up of shortboarders and bodyboarders, where I was the only serious longboarder, so I quickly became good friends with Jim, Ricky and Callum as we were all riding similar equipment. In the early 2000s there was a honeymoon period when Jim, Ricky and Callum mixed sponsorships, a few contests and travelling on magazine or film shoots. A highlight was trip to Baja Mexico in 2001 for the Carve annual longboard special. We surfed our way south from San Diego in a hired Dodge Durango four-wheel-drive, camping under the mica black sky, studded with cats’ eyes. The waves delivered, we survived a car crash and eventually made it back to California in tact. Here we surfed Sunset Cliffs, meeting up with another core member of the South Devon crew, musician Chris Bond, who would later go on to form a band with Ben Howard. It was a coming of age trip for all of us, and where I really got to know Jim as a friend, surfer, artist, photographer and musician. Shortly after the trip Jim showed me some images he had shot. They spoke powerfully of the experience. In an era when magazines were obsessed with a front lit glossy perfection I wanted to fill the pages of the Carve longboard special with Jim’s far more subtle, perceptive and imaginative material.

I caught up with Jim in a recent rest bite between magazine issues.

Who are you enjoying working with at SURFER?

The whole team are brilliant to work with. But I think my favourite part of the job is working with the artists and photographers who contribute to the magazine. We just ran a piece of art on the cover for the first time in a long while. It was a dream come true to work with Geoff McFetridge, an artist I’ve admired for years, and guide the commission from start to finish. Actually, the piece that featured on the cover has existed for years, but we asked Geoff to produce a new rendition using paint. In the end it didn’t quite have the same presence as the original. I had some reservations about it, which I expressed to Geoff and on the day of press, with his permission we reverted to the original, and it worked instantly; the black and white, the dark and the light of Surfing Addiction, even the etching style seemed to recall something of Rick Griffin. Even so, there was a lot of research, thought and discussion that went in to making it happen, and that’s the part I enjoy the most.

What’s the monthly routine like at SURFER?

It’s a gruelling job to make a magazine. Especially so in my role at the end stage of production, as the content often arrives last minute and you have to work under a great deal of pressure. You have to work quickly, which means you can’t be too precious about your work, but conversely when you commit something to print it has a permanence that can be pretty terrifying. But actually, I find letting something go sorta liberating, whereas before I might have laboured over something to the point it felt overworked, and the life gone out of it. Committing to your work in this way gives you a certain conviction, or confidence which I needed more of, I think. Also, as I’ve grown older, I’ve learned not to be so hard on myself, making mistakes and failing is essential to learning and improving.

What is the office environment like at SURFER?

The office is an office like any other, but it's endlessly exciting seeing new images, stories and personalities come in from all over the world. You’re privy to a lot.

Which artists and designers inspired you most way back when you were studying your degree in the UK?

I didn’t actually study design, I studied art, which I think gave me a more creative and maybe conceptual leaning. So when I was studying, I was sort of immersed in the art world and looking at everything from Henry Moore to Sara Lucas. Later on, I actually took it upon myself to study and learn the craft of design and typography, which I now really love and enjoy perhaps more than if I’d studied it formally.

Who inspires you in the art world today?

I look to a mix of artists and designers for inspiration, but to name a few, artists such as Jeremy Deller, Bruce McLean, David Hockney, Roger Ackling, and designers like Richard Hollis, Fraser Muggeridge, Made Thought (Ben Parker & Paul Austin) and Atelier Dyakova. I definitely have a bit of a British bias, perhaps because I live abroad now.

Why did you move to California?

My wife, who I met in Australia, is from Northern California, so it followed we would eventually live here for a time.

What’s the best thing about living in California?

I’d be an idiot to not say the waves. But as well as the surf, the place has a certain buzz to it. One thing that drove me away from home, which is typical of a lot of kids, was how quiet it was, though it’s something I miss now (the peace and quiet!). But I’ve met some of the most unique and nicest people here in California.

What do you miss most from South Devon?

Of course family and friends; and then, perversely, the weather. I love the changeable weather there. Here, the climate is very steady by comparison. The seasons at home are just beautiful.

What’s so special about the South Devon surf culture?

It’s special in that it’s forgotten about, I suppose. Obviously it’s more fickle than say the west facing coast of Cornwall, but the waves can be phenomenal. But actually, it’s less about the perfect days, and more about the camaraderie you find on the most terrible of days, the gales and rain, or the ice and snow. The crew there are perhaps hungrier than most, because the place is often starved of surf for long periods. But honestly I’d say its not unique in that way, it’s special to me because it’s home. Most surfers feel the same about their home spots, I’m sure. Ironically, with all the glamour of surf travel, being tied to a place, the people, the land and the sea is far more rewarding, to me at least.

Which surfers inspired you most growing up in South Devon?

Looking back, the friends I made and surfed with day to day throughout the seasons were the most inspiring. There’s a pretty close-knit crew there, and when you share the lineup on the best and worst of days you form a pretty unique bond with those people. That’s been the most rewarding thing about surfing to me, beyond the surfing itself, the friendships you make along the way. At home, Rich (Ricky) Kenyon was the biggest influence on me. He surfed with a lot of grace and made it look easy, which instantly appealed to me. He was always so generous in lending me surfboards, movies and books. He sorta gave me an education in surfing. He’d laugh at this, but he was my inspiration.