There's a lot
of romance associated with surfing. I find the culture and history
fascinating, particularly the fact that one can easily harness waves
of energy that travelled miles and miles.
When drawing,
I wished to create a sort of dream world that one can disappear into
for a short time. This one has a few stories behind it, although of
the ritual itself you can interpret what you wish. The deserts in
the southwestern United States have an absurd number of extraterrestrial
sightings and general weirdness among them. The sombrero-shaped spaceships
depicted here are one of the most common visitors to the area and
have been for several hundred years- a well kept secret by both the
Mexicans and the native Americans- hence the shape of the hats!
The odd structures
atop the mesas are actually the dwellings of a lesser known-culture.
Several hundred years ago they would hollow out gigantic cacti, larger
than the saguaros, and live within them by the dozens. If you've ever
seen the "skeleton" of a saguaro, you'll realize that it's
an engineering marvel, made to grow tall and hold many tons of water.
It would come as no surprise that an even larger cactus could be strong
enough to be lived in. Gradually the cactus itself died out through
minor climate change, but the people studied the form and perpetuated
the architecture.
other
worldly surf
the
chihuahuan ritual