“I'm hoping that art collectors who happen to like the beach will say, ‘Cool, something for my beach house,’” he said. “It's really just another medium for me to show off my photographs. I don't want to imply that they are art fakes, because each board is a good-riding board.”
In fact, he takes great pains to make the boards functional, no easy task. He must toil in resin fumes and clouds of foam powder. Westphal said that with all the labor-intensive shaping of the blank slab and the various finishes that must be applied, it takes a week of intermittent work to make a board.
“Actually, because of the materials I use, they're actually stronger than most boards you'd buy in a store,” he said.
Although a classic longboard can be longer than 3m, Westphal will not build boards much over 2.7mt, a concession to urban surfers.
“It's hard to have a long longboard in the city, hard to fit them up apartment stairwells and in subway cars to Rockaway,” he said.
Walking around Chinatown, Westphal found himself mesmerized by the large, eye-catching goldfish traditionally kept in tanks in Chinese restaurants. He began photographing them up close and making large prints, which seem to exaggerate their bulging eyes and bellies and huge flowing fantails, giving them an over-the-top look that is a hallmark of Westphal's art.
“Some people are afraid to surf on them, to keep from breaking them,” he said. “Other people have seen the bright fish and said, ‘Don't you think they'll just serve as shark bait?”’
RSS