Art review: Birth of Surf at Dallas Center for Architecture

by Sarah Hall

DALLAS — The Dallas Center for Architecture (DCFA) continues to present Birth of Surf, a lighthearted '60s and '70s surfing documentary and photography exhibit. LeRoy Grannis' work lets us peek into the lives of tanned, cool surfer guys and gals who hit the waves long before surfing went “Hollywood.”

Previously scheduled to end on August 21, the exhibit will now surf into mid-September.

The exhibit starts with a screening of Bruce Brown’s 1961 classic Surfing Hollow Days. The film captures the beginning of an era, showing surf scenes mostly in California, Hawaii, and Australia. A short clip of the movie shows the gang trying to surf the Rio Grande in Texas, just one example of the surfers' adventuresome spirits. Surf carnivals held every weekend in Australia boasted surfboat races and pillow fights on high beams to the sound of Scottish bagpipes. This rare footage captures an emerging surf culture amid shots of the actual sport of surfing, including the first successful run on Sunset Beach in Hawaii’s famous pipelines.

To call this a photography exhibit is stretching the truth; the hour-and-a-half-long film dominates the small space. And upon walking into the modern-style DCFA, it’s a strange setting for a surf exhibit.

The film aired right beside a glass conference room, where architects, presumably, were holding a meeting. (Once they finished, the kind receptionist offered to pull in chairs from the recently-emptied meeting room.) I could've sat on the couch below the TV, but as you'll see in the photo, it doesn't face the screen. And an hour and a half -- two parts -- is a long time to stand.

The exhibit is curated by Cynthia Mulcahy from the Mulcahy Modern in Dallas, who's worked hand-in-hand with the DCFA before.

Near the TV screen, Grannis’ still photography lines the walls -- including excellent surf shots both in and out of the water. He also captured images of '60s surf models, who at the time were akin to movie stars but today might be told to lose weight. (See photo to the right.) Grannis’ photography landed him a job as the co-founder of Surfing International and later as the photo editor of Surfing Illustrated. His work is known for bridging the gap between the '50s “beat generation” and the laid-back hippie culture of the '70s.

At the end of the exhibit, a table is covered with surf memorabilia -- a look at Hollywood’s success in exploiting the coolness of the surf scene to the masses. Records, surf magazines, catalogs, and books are on display. One record, the motion picture soundtrack album for How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, is used as an example of Hollywood’s big budget beach movies that started cranking out shortly after Grannis’ documentary -- in this case, only four years later.

The exhibit is a must-see for any surfer, yet entertaining for all, especially those that remember the bikini-clad surf culture of the '60s and '70s. Aside from the film, which really shouldn’t be skipped, it doesn’t take long to look through the exhibit. Best of all, it’s free.