New York Ether

Australian film-maker, photo journalist and musician Andrew Kidman has been lurking in the New York area since late September enjoying the unusually good waves and hopefully not writing any more pieces about the Island. He’s had tacos at the Tiki Bar, escarole soup and Grandma slices in a booth at Gino’s, eaten the Laurel’s bacon and slept in Island Park. Andrew has even been caught spreading local NY gossip so watch what you say to him.

He has a new movie out called Last Hope which is a compilation of shorts by Albert Falzon (Morning of the Earth), Richard Kenvin (Hydrodynamica), Patrick Trefz (Thread), Monty Webber (brother of shaper Greg) and Jon Frank whom Andrew made Litmus with back in 1995. A revolutionary movie with a strong sense of board design and history without compromising a contemporary level of performance (shred), Last Hope references the dreamy, immersive qualities of Litmus and Glass Love, bound together by a heavyweight soundtrack featuring the music of Andrew’s band The Windy Hills plus Mogwai, My Morning Jacket, Will Oldham, Vetiver and others.

Andrew has two upcoming New York shows in support of his 2007 fine art edition ETHER which compiles twenty years of his photographs, writings, drawings and paintings done in association with Kirk Gee’s Consafos press. The interviews located in the back of the book are better than anything featured in a surf magazine or journal.

-Wednesday December 16th at 303 Gallery. The photos of ETHER, recent NY work and a Last Hope installation. 6-8pm.

-Saturday December 19th at Secret Project Robot. ETHER, recent NY work, film projections and live musical accompaniment w/Andrew, Hamish Kilgour (the Clean) and Peter Halasz (Star Strewn and Tattered). Cupped beverage service and vinyl vibes by Dubstar and Matchy.

The interview was conducted one afternoon in early December.

MM: What is ETHER?
AK: ETHER is a 252 page, limited edition, fine art book that Kirk Gee and Consafos Press published in 2007. It contains twenty years of my work, photography, artwork, writing and interviews with surfer/shapers. The photography was all shot on film, which is kind of interesting now that the digital age has arrived. Jim Newitt, a fine designer from England/Byron Bay/Santa Cruz designed it with me.Jim has a very subtle take on things so it was good to work with him. He really let the work breathe.

When I toured California with the book back in 2007 I wanted to bring it to New York and present it with some of the photography, but we never had a chance. Lisa Spellman from the 303 Gallery in Chelsea, contacted me a few months ago about my music and films. We ended up spending time together here and talking about how we could present the book. She agreed to a one night show at 303 to exhibit photographs from ETHER and some recent ones I’ve taken of New York’s coastline whilst on this trip.

MM: The surf has been unusually good here lately…
AK: There have been some incredible storms and swells. The Island has been pretty epic, I got to surf a six day swell off the back of one storm. Each day got more perfect as the low moved into the ocean. The surface conditions were so glassy on the final days, like California glassy. That was memorable for sure, lots of barrels. Last week we went on a run to Jersey, it was just like Kirra breaking below sea level. I showed my daughter a picture of one of the tubes and she said it looked like the cannoli her brother had sucked the cream out of. It was pretty funny.

MM: When was your first time in NY?
AK: 1999 maybe, sometime around then. All I remember is getting woken up by garbage trucks and walking over the Brooklyn Bridge. I was having lady problems so I couldn’t wait to get out of here.

MM: Did you surf?
AK: The first time I surfed here Brian Lentini took me out to Montauk and I surfed under Peter Beard’s house, which was a trip. Lentini was Beard’s printer and wanted me to meet him. It was pretty classic,the US open was on and Beard kept commenting on how good-looking Sharapova was, “I could watch her all day,” he said. “I love the way she grunts when she hits the ball.” He was a funny guy. He loved surfing and told me he thought the only two art forms left were surfing and bullfighting. I showed him some of the art I was working on and he told me I should write all over it.

The beach below his property was incredible, it’s like the last point in Montauk before the state park, it’s has a beautiful headland that reminds me of the headlands and beaches in Victoria. The surf wasn’t great but the reefs look like they could get epic. Peter had a bunch of flash-filled photos of surfers that he caught sneaking onto his property. He’d set a trip camera up on his property to shootphotos of the deer at night, sometimes the surfers would set the camera off, he loved the photos, in the photos the surfers were smiling, kind of laughing. ”I love that,” he said, “look at the spirit on their faces.”

I eventually started spending time here with my family. My girlfriend was born and raised in Queens. We’ve got kids together and come home to NY so they can spend time with their other family. It’s a big Italian family so it’s pretty awesome. I’m like the Mel Gibson, white boy, it’s always entertaining hanging out with them, great food and a lot of love. We live out near Rockaway so I’m always out there sniffing around. It’s interesting how it’s changed in the last few years. I like the winters here, I don’t think there’s a better place to be in the world than NY in the winter.

MM: What do you like about it here?
AK: I like hanging out at the beach, it’s very different to home. This year the waves and weather have been incredible. I like Central Park and walking around the city, the art and looking at people, any of it really, there’s nothing bad, it’s fascinating. I mean you can’t get a $3 cabbie curry where I live at four in the morning. You can’t even get one at four in the afternoon.

The food…for me it’s different every time, you can’t beat lox on a bagel, we don’t get them at home. NY is the kind of place that you feel like your going to need an eternal existence, because there so much to see, do and be a part of that no matter how long you lived you’re never going to be able to do it all. Every time you step outside something blows your mind and you have to check it out, sometimes that takes years, just to check out one thing that’s happening. I like it, it takes you outside yourself.

MM:What boards have you been riding?
AK: I borrowed boards when I first got here. I rode Tyler’s 6’9” Josh hall long fish for the first few swells, it went good, easy to paddle and surfed a bit like a wild horse, which is always fun to try and control. I rode Franco’s 5’11 Mabile keel, which went great, nice soft rails, easy to surf. I rode your 6’4 Maurice Cole thruster which was really good in the tube and Franco’s 6’5 Bulkey thruster which is one of the better thrusters I’ve ridden. It has big fins so it was super tight. Also rode Franco’s 6’9 Parrish single fin which I got my first barrel of the trip. Rode a Mandala single fin that Clams has with a super flexi fin and these flat panels on the bottom that ran along the rail. It was interesting, worked really well in small waves. Your performance 6’0 Lis keel which as you know is pretty good and now I have my own 6’1”version which I’ve pretty much ridden since the big swell. It handles it all, the ten footers with the ten foot wind bumps, the glassy small stuff, the Jersey barrels, it’s a pretty special board, worth the wait. You guys have a lot of great boards here.

MM: Tell the Cross Bay wig story…
AK: I was in the supermarket in Howard Beach, which is nowhere near the beach, and this older fellow comes up to me, and he’s in shock, and he points at my hair and says, “Dude, is that wig? Where did you get that?” and I looked at him and his hair and it was dyed and combed into a quaff and I said, “Yeah, it’s a wig, what about you?” and he’s like, “No man, this is no wig, it’s all mine…” and he walked off just shaking his head…its was pretty mind-blowing.

MM: What about the ‘This land is your land’ incident?
AK: It’s been interesting here, because every time I’ve changed to go surfing, I put my stuff on the sidewalk so I can get into my wetsuit, and every time I’ve done this someone has come up to me and told me I have to move it and I’ve got no right to get changed on the sidewalk. I mean, that’s pretty uptight. It’s different where I’m from in from Australia so I should respect the customs of this country and I do, but I can’t help thinking about the Woody Guthrie song, “This land is your land…” because it’s not really like that. I guess that’s why Woody wrote the song.

MM: Any new projects on the way?
AK: Yep, new record, new film, new book…hopefully some of it comes out next year. I’ve been working on my aerial flips and digital photography. It’s been blowing my mind. Also, cloning my hair gene for balding men.

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Michael Machemer is a New York surfer, writer, photographer, curator and a frequent contributor to Newyorksurf.com. Michael can be reached at eataknish@newyorksurf.com