Women, whales, and waves: Clark Takashima surfs into art success

WAHIAWA—When he was just five-years-old, Clark Takashima created his first piece of art. Inspired by a family outing to an Oahu military base, Takashima asked his father to draw a jet for him.

“He then showed me how he did it and I just kinda took off from there,” remembers Takashima. “I did these drawings with all the rivets and bombs at profile, then at different angles and flight formations compete with the smoke trails.” Soon progressing to sketching ahi, mahi, other fish his family caught, Takashima eventually discovered what he says became his favorite subjects: “Whales, women, and waves.”

Decades later, Takashima lives in Wahiawa with his family in a home he describes as a “working studio.” He is one of the lucky artists that makes a living painting and sculpting out of his home scattered with in-progress canvases, and a garage studio for larger pieces. Takashima expresses himself differently with the two art forms, explaining that varying between the two “helps keep the work fresh,” adding, “they both are mediums that allow me to express what I love about life. Each medium would teach me something about the other, in how you’d observe subjects to depict.”

In school, Takashima was the kid in class who doodled on anything he could.

“At 12 years old, I fell in love with surfing and my canvases were popping up everywhere. It started with borders on school work, semester-long drawings on desks,” the Pearl City native says. Today Takashima is a long way from sketching waves on school property with artwork in Wyland Galleries, Global Creations, Wet Feet, and Island Treasures.

As a young surfer, Takashima’s favorite wave was Pipeline, a spot that would change his life several times over the years. The famous wave hooked the artist on surfing and became his muse, only to later injure him with a torn MCL in 1989, an injury that would keep him out of the ocean for an entire decade. With the injury keeping him out of the line-up, he worked for years as a “jack of all trades” in everything from house painting and construction to bakery sanitation. Pipeline even played a part in his breakthrough mural, the 18’ x 32’ wave along the dance floor of Honolulu’s Pipeline Cafe.

Since then, he has been painting murals of various styles in private residences, restaurants, and businesses throughout the islands. Takashima shows a great appreciation toward the friends and connections he has made over the years who have supported him both personally and professionally. From the friend who set him up with the Pipeline Cafe piece to professional surfer Jamie O’Brien and his father who allowed the artist to show his work in their house at Pipeline, Takashima appreciates the aloha shown towards him. He says, “All these cool people have been the links toward helping me having my art appreciated. I feel super fortunate to have met them all.”

Pipeline maintains its important place in his life as Takashima charges one of the biggest waves in the surfing art world by submitting work in hopes of becoming a future artist for the Van’s Triple Crown of Surfing. He’s keeping the theme for the art under wraps for now, but says: “Surprise, surprise! Keywords for those are different angles and bubbles. If I am chosen, it’ll come down to what will be the best representation for next year. Here’s a hint, I do love painting Pipe in the afternoon.”

Looking back on the evolution of his art and career, Takashima says, “I have always felt as I grow as a person, so should my art. My art has evolved through the years and hopefully, I’ll be able to keep growing for it.” Like each wave in a set, Takashima finds something different in each wave he paints and is exploring different methods to bring life to his work.

“There are so many different subjects to paint in surfing,” he explains. “The same surf spots at different times of day will look completely different. I’m now experimenting with translucent colors to build layers that reflect different colors as the light changes. The same painting will change a little from morning to afternoon to night. I have an undying passion for depicting surfing-all of its aspects are infinite. The waves I’m painting now, are just scratching the surface in depicting surfing’s visual and life enduring connotations.”

An opportunity Takashima has to showcase surfing in all of its aspects is an upcoming benefit show for the Surfrider Foundation called Six to Eight.

“That will be the very best work I can do with everything I know about art and surfing,” Takashima says. “It’ll be represented by 6’ x 8’ canvases and hopefully sculpture, to help describe surfing’s wide open peripheral views when you are out on the water, on the verge of consequence. Six to Eight will showcase groups of surf artists that will do the art along with an in-depth artist statement.”

One of the biggest honors for Takashima is being chosen as the artist for the 2010 Rell Sunn Menehune Surf Contest at Makaha. He calls Aunty Rell, the legendary wahine surfer and the contest’s namesake, a “pure inspiration.” While he also plans to keep his upcoming theme a secret, Takashima again gives a clue: “For this year’s art, I want to somehow integrate Jan [Rell Sunn’s daughter] in the art. That element plus a piece that reflects heritage and perpetuation.”

Takashima is looking ahead as he plans on making this ride last. He and his partner Deborah plan on opening his studio to the public as a place where people can come to learn about and participate in art. Thinking about his goals as an artist, Takashima says, “As an artist you’re a kind of sponge. You soak in life, what surrounds you. Then decide what you’d like to share. Sharing the work for others to appreciate, so they might find a quiet spot in their lives, is the motivation for all my art.”