Hurley X Brandon Boyd: Talking Art, Surfing and Activism With Incubus#039; Frontman Brandon Boy
Artist, musician and activist Brandon Boyd is making waves in the world. Riding high on the success of his band Incubus' new single quot;Adolescentsquot; from their forthcoming album If Not Now, When?, Boyd has also launched an exclusive clothing collection with iconic surf brand Hurley. The collaboration supports a cause near and dear to his heart—the ocean.
The Hurley X Brandon Boyd collection includes three original art-inspired designs that benefit H.O.P.E. (Helping Other People Everywhere).
For Boyd, life is about creativity and self-expression.
The multitalented visual artist and surfer is also using his voice to make a difference in the world. He and his band, Incubus, created the Make Yourself Foundation in 2003, and they also work with the Life Rolls On Foundation. The Hurley X Brandon Boyd collection features artwork inspired by the growing problem of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans—in particular, what happens when plastic pollution gets trapped in a gyre, or a large rotating current within the ocean, where the trash begins to affect the ocean ecosystem.
The collection will be available at specialty retailers, The Buckle nationwide and online at www.hurley.com now. All net proceeds benefit H.O.P.E.
A party at Sea-thos Foundation on March 24 in Venice, Calif., fecirc;ted the launch, and an April 2 event at the Hurley compound in Costa Mesa, Calif., featured Boyd’s artwork.
California Apparel News Fashion Editor N. Jayne Seward caught up with Boyd to find out more about the project while he took a break from painting the massive three-wall mural at the Hurley headquarters.
Why did you decide to get involved with the project? I’ve known these kids here at Hurley for quite a long time. Our relationship was probably mostly centered around a mutual appreciation for surfing. And then there was the music aspect of it and an appreciation for art and design, as well. They’re a great bunch of people that run the company. So they asked if we wanted to do some type of collaborative design project, and I said absolutely. The timing is right. I’ve got this moment off. I asked them how they would feel about doing something that was centered around raising more awareness about the plastic pollutions in the world’s oceans—in particular, in the five gyres. They seemed very interested. They had just started this H20 campaign for using much more sustainable materials and sustainable practices. With this line of clothing, we combined with that, as well. And then our friends over at H.O.P.E. wanted to get involved, so everything just started lining up. It was a very synergistic process.
I drew these designs for the T-shirts and these water bottles that are reusable—that being the whole point—and we’ve just been kind of running from there. It’s been super-fun.
What inspired the artwork itself? Let’s talk about the main image, which I’m actually looking at right now. [The mural is] about 15 feet high and 15 feet long. It’s the two-dimensional whale image. I wanted to [create it] in a gentle-giant sort of way try and relay this idea based on our [habits] of convenience. Like the single-serve water plastic bottle. We’ll use it once and it’s so convenient for us and we’ll throw it away and forget about it. Most of the materials end up in the waterways that end up in the oceans and end up spinning around in the five gyres. It’s basically a longwinded way of feeding ourselves these petro-chemical plastics, these things that are cancer-causing. They pollute our bodies, they pollute the ocean. So in the belly of the giant two–dimensional whale, we can see these things that we took as conveniences, and once they’re out of our sight, they’re out of our mind. But they’re still floating around in the body of this larger gentle beast. So there are lots of different kinds of symbolisms that could be read into it, but I wanted to create something that was evocative in its sentiments but not too graphic that it would just bum people out.
I’m trying to gently inspire here with this type of thing. Even as dire as the situation is, I think that as human beings, we can only really assimilate certain kinds of information at certain paces because otherwise we just get turned off from it, and then nothing gets done.
What inspires your artwork in general, and how does it tie in with the artwork you did for the collaboration? I usually start with a little bit of nothing going on. I like to try and reach a meditative place with art before I start drawing lines and allow a little bit more—for want of a better term—more of a magical process to take place and allow images to push through on their own.
But with this series of designs, I had much more concrete ideas in mind as to the things that I was trying to relay. So I did the one with the whale, and then I did another one with this glacial-esque spinning island of trash with the H.O.P.E. flag perched on top of it. That’s the second design. It’s representative of one of the gyres that’s spinning around all the different plastics in the ocean, but the way that the gyres work is they’re a little deceiving. There is an area in the North Pacific that’s spinning around so much plastic that it is twice the size of the state of Texas. But at first glance, it wouldn’t look like anything until you approached it beneath the water. It acts almost like a glacier, so you can see what’s on top, and then the majority of it is spinning around under the water and affecting the eco-system, and the fish are consuming it and we consume them and so on and so forth.
As far as the way that it was designed, I just drew it the way that I know how to draw—which is kind of flying by the seat of my pants. That’s the best way to describe it.
What are your hopes for influencing people through your music, art and activism? Honestly, my hope of hopes is that anything that I do—or we do as a band—inspires people to want to make art themselves. Whether that’s making music or painting or anything that involves a creative process. I do believe that one of our highest functions is the creative process. It’s one of the things that we understand the least about ourselves as human beings on a kind of a psychological level. It’s one of the reasons why I find it so continually fascinating. So, if anything, if I ever inspired a person to be in a band or to sing a song or to paint a picture, that would be enough. But if it inspires people into activism and things as well, then that’s even cooler.
How does surfing influence your life and inspire you? I’ve always found surfing to be a hugely creative activity—or it can be, I should say. There are definitely kinds of surfing that are more adrenaline-based or competition-based and things like that. I did compete in surfing when I was a kid, and I did well for a minute—and then didn’t do well. And I started to realize that the competitive side of it was starting to pollute the pure side of it—the reason I wanted to surf in the first place, which was just for the sheer fun of it. But in my best moments I’ve realized that surfing is probably one of the most spontaneous activities that I could ever participate in. On a wave, you’re riding on something that will never occur again and has no repetitive line. [A wave] is literally one of the most unique experiences in nature. There are similarities between waves, but no two are ever completely alike. So it’s like you’re dancing on a once-in-a-lifetime thing. And because they’re so unique, each one of them, you’re forced into a continual spontaneity, which is really quite beautiful when you allow that experience. It’s actually a lot like art. You’re chasing those spontaneous moments and hoping that they continue and they continue. So, I think that’s probably what’s drawn me to surfing my whole life.
What are some of your favorite fashions, and how does California style inspire you? I like the idea of California style. I’ve never been a fan of the kind of leisurely style that seems to permeate California. But what’s cool about this place is that there’s everything here. It’s not just one massive bustling metropolis where you see the craziest styles all in one place. You can be in once place and see very fashion-forward people dressed to the nines, and then you can walk around the corner and see people wearing flip-flops, boardshorts and that kind of thing.
At the moment, the kind of styles that I’ve been really enjoying is kind of a very finely tuned vintage. I love a pair of boots that I’ve had for many, many years, and they’ve just taken on a new life. Also, my girlfriend [Baelyn Neff] has a shop in Santa Monica [Calif.] called Beau and Aero. It’s a women’s vintage-clothing store. I’ve been on so many or her and her partner’s hunting adventures around California that I’ve started to get a pretty good eye for what they’re looking for. So it’s fun to put together these vintage collections with them in their shop, as well.