Surf Stack by Kellen Hatanaka
8"x10" ($24) | 11"x14" ($60) | 16"x20" ($240) | 24"x30" ($1,200) | 40"x50" ($5,000)
The burning question at 20x200 HQ these days: is Kellen Hatanaka having more fun than us? Surf Stack, our debut edition from the artist, is surely a vote in the affirmative, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
We first found out about Kellen Hatanaka through another new addition to our artist roster: Jimmy Mezei. The two met at Ontario College of Art and Design and have remained friends and collaborators since. (You can spot Mezei’s work above Hatanaka’s computer in this studio tour!) Like Mezei, Hatanaka has a gift for elevating the ordinary. Whether we’re talking two line cooks on a cigarette break by a dumpster, or a sharp lineup of surfboards against a white background, Hatanaka’s graphic shapes, saturated colors, and off-kilter layouts are punctuated by perfectly unexpected appearances of super-fine lines and details. The overall effect reminds us of jazz music: lush, vivid, syncopated. Take a turn through his work and you’ll see how wide his tempos range from piece to piece, while retaining a distinctive tone.
Surf Stack is a case in point of the bold, cut-out-like quality and effusive embrace of color and pattern that make Hatanaka’s renderings so rich. Though their shapes are simple, the boards are easily identifiable, and each one bursts with individual personality. All together, the stack makes a terrifically splashy (get it?) tableau. While they’re singular elements of the scene, each board is also its own canvas of sorts—it’s surfboard inception, if you will.
If you’re like us, you may never hang ten, but you can hang nine surfboards on your wall—it’s all the fun without the wetsuit.
With art for everyone,
Jen Bekman + Team 20x200
