Gregory Ruppe, A Surf Shop, and Will Boone
A crackle of static, the picture brought into focus. A wiggling dirty mop with glasses makes an introduction of sorts. Part Mystery Science Theater 3000 and part fever dream, Culture Hole TV was an unexpected treat produced during the pandemic. Created by Gregory Ruppe and Jeff Gibbons, its fantastical hosts were Mop and Dream Body, a random bundle of foam, tape, and string piled together like Jim Henson had a $3 budget.
This was one of the many outlandish but devilishly clever results that stemmed from Ruppe’s collaborations. I met him in Dallas some eleven years ago, when he and Gibbons were curating not one but half a dozen spaces, collab spaces and gallery vignettes throughout Deep Ellum. “We’re going to have installations and videos all up and down this street this weekend,” Gibbons said to me as he opened the door to one of the unused and abandoned storefronts. We jumped back as about 1,000 gallons of water came rushing out the door, almost knocking us over, as Gibbons scrambled to close the door he had just unlocked. “Not again, the tweakers must have ripped out the copper pipes with the water line,” Gibbons shouted as he ran into the space, trying to find the water shut off. It took us hours to sweep and mop all the water out of the soon-to-be temporary gallery. The repetitive action of rushing the push broom from one side of the space to the other and then forcing the water out the door was numbing, but in some ways unexpectedly rewarding.
Across town, Ruppe was working with the HOMECOMING! Committee at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, a group of artists and creatives looking to develop collaborative projects in conjunction with their individual artistic practices, and to establish initiatives and venues where creative individuals can collaborate.
PICNIC SURF SHAPES in Galveston.
Photo by Paul Middendorf
Over the years I had the opportunity to delve deep with the pair and learned about the many new projects they had been formulating within Deep Ellum, around the city, and across the state. But it’s also where I gained a peek into Ruppe’s practice and the many facets of his visions for “what is progress and evolution.” The murky damp spaces of the art world only create an empty canvas for Ruppe to launch from and build upon. In fact, it would be in one of these very dank but creative spaces that he would link up with Gibbons and Justin Ginsberg to work on a project and exhibit. Flooded spaces, mildewy walls, or forgotten buildings wouldn’t dampen his creative spark.
Ruppe and Gibbons still talk often and the pair continue to materialize amazing things within their separate practices. Ruppe remained active in Dallas for a while before acting on another wild curatorial leap he had been formalizing. In 2020, Ruppe and Alden Pinnell, founder of The Power Station Dallas, co-founded PICNIC, a surf brand, research lab, and curatorial platform slated for none other than the sleepy beach town of Galveston. PICNIC SURF SHAPES specializes in surf craft that takes inspiration from the beauty and heritage of early wooden models to the experimental approaches of the 1960s and the punk aesthetics and principles of Ruppe’s youth.
Nestled in a wonderfully historic building on the same block as Galveston Artists Residency and right next to Rising Tide Projects, PICNIC’s location is everything from beach surf shop, to creative think tank, to club house. Designed and built by Ruppe, it mimics many of his other beautifully articulated project spaces such as the subterranean Culture Hole and the wood-screened outdoor hut built in collaboration with Pinnell behind the Power Station, known as the Power Station Annex. In fact, Ruppe views his Galveston space as a larger spin-off from that very Zen space. Ruppe is never idle or at least not as far as I could ever tell. While everyone is working to fine tune their projects, galleries, or new nonprofits after a few years, he would have been well on his way crafting his next move with razor-like precision.
In 2021, Ruppe and Pinnell formed PICNIC Curatorial Projects, the nonprofit arm of the venture, bringing to it their combined histories of curatorial efforts. PICNIC Curatorial Projects funds and organizes artists' projects, researched-based initiatives, live performances, and other cultural happenings relevant to the ethos of PICNIC, and a portion of proceeds from the shop, Ruppe states, supports these efforts.
Gregory Ruppe crafting a surfboard at PICNIC SURF SHAPES.
Photo by Paul Middendorf
With so many moving parts, it could be too many spinning plates, but Ruppe has just that much patience, skill, and drive and maybe a few dozen arms to keep those plates spinning without fail. I watched Ruppe as he manipulated the inner framework of a new board through the small porthole window embedded in the wall of the surf shop before I knocked on the glass to get his attention. He waved me into his small but impeccably organized workshop. Just like his many projects, there was thought in the placement of every item inside this fortress of solitude. Even the lighting itself had been carefully installed and recessed to a degree to avoid visual clutter. The room was an installation piece in and of itself. The workshop becomes an artspace and the making of the surf boards becomes the performance, as the practice becomes a business, and the practice and business merge into one seamless process. Was it meta? I wasn’t sure anymore. I was half expecting Mop and Dream Body to be working the sales floor. I did truly expect to see one of them propped up against a wall.
Working in the art world for so many decades, one sees many artists and their projects come and go. I myself have been part of a dozen over the years. The one phrase that repeats over and over again is, “You’re doing too much.” The dreaded sentence spoken by a funder, critic, or board member. “Just do this here, this one thing and do it well.” While this is certainly true for most, Ruppe doesn’t care to live by any restrictions. It's all just more cogs and gears to plug into the curatorial machine. Ruppe has as much drive as he has raw talent, creating things we never knew we needed.
Will Boone: Gulf Coast Wolf Ghost opens at The Power Station Annex on April 11.
On Friday, April 11, Dallas plays host to an exciting opening and performance, presented at The Power Station Annex. Will Boone: Gulf Coast Wolf Ghost, organized by PICNIC Surf Shapes & Curatorial Projects and Online Ceramics, presents a live musical performance consisting of eight original compositions. The event celebrates the release of “Guitar Music,” a full-length recording by Easy Sevens, Boone’s collaborative musical project. The performance takes place inside Boone’s installation and the exhibition features new sculpture by the artist, offering an active experience in which the viewer can become embedded.
Another example of great connectivity and continuity, Ruppe and The Power Station will work together once more, this time with multidisciplinary artist Boone. The Houston-born artist’s career launched with a sonic boom and his works and performances have been exhibited across the country and around the world. The list of collections and exhibitions is staggering, from the Rubell Museum, Fundación Baruch Spinoza in Barcelona, The Contemporary Institute of Art in Miami, and here at home with the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, just to name a few. I've always been drawn to Boone’s work and saw an installation of his that same flooded weekend a decade ago. There is the right amount of focus, investigation, and snappy insight, with the proper balance of humor at its foundation. Boone isn’t a green horn, but he isn’t an old guard yet either, however his work stands strongly on its own merit alongside some of the most prolific art history notables. Taking the right amount of input from the past but always giving it something new and fresh. Gulf Coast Wolf Ghost is a highly anticipated exhibit and I strongly suggest finding a way to Dallas to experience it for yourself.
“Will Boone: Gulf Coast Wolf Ghost” will be on view through July 1 at The Power Station Annex (3816 Commerce Street, Dallas, Texas).
