Mark Leary Exhibition
Join us in store - November 24th
"Mark's imagery is dreamlike.
Whether it's magnificent snow-capped mountains or surfers at sunset, everything he shoots has a magical quality.
His images convey universal concepts of wonder, adventure, exploration, living in the moment and mindfulness."
Guy Merrill - Global Head of Art, Getty
At Roma Surfshop
Join us for a retrospective of Marks second book, 'SALT + WAX' with a celebration of the work that made the book: along with a small exhibition of his newest pieces.
Alongside the original 20x24” analogue prints will be a series of twenty 30x40cm imagery and an audio-visual presentation - sharing stills and films from a body of ‘surf’ collections, M.A. work and early PhD research.
Also there will be newly signed, bagged and sealed prints available to buy: There are both 30x40cm and postcard size prints.
SALT + WAX
Between 2006 and 2012 Mark travelled the length and breadth of the UK to capture the minutiae of surfing and what it means to the average British waterman.
“His work floated in from a surprise angle and landed like a soft, cool flannel to the furrowed brow.
It felt familiar, comfortable and endearing. In the language of surf, it appeared somewhat 'kooky' but was actually 'totally core' and truly insightful.
..a wetsuit, boots and gloves dripping into a bath that looks like your granny's these are how Mark Leary communicates with his camera – by framing and formalizing the everyday, the more banal moments, the fleeting realities of us, our obsession and the needs it demands of surfers on a daily basis.
“No pros, no tropical blues and mammoth mountains of water – this is surfing in the UK in all its glorious anti-glamour”
To be a surfer at all here demands only the most stripped down, basic ingredients of international surf culture and a whole heap of home-grown endurance. By putting the minutae of this life on a pedestal and formalizing them through portraiture, Mark has, it seems to me, captured something of the actual, true soul of UK surfing”
Alex Dick-Reid, Editor-in-Chief - The Surfer’s Path
Wider Work
With twenty years of stills & film expertise, Mark has created award-winning fine art images, films, advertising campaigns, design & editorial works and has had three books published. In 2019 Mark completed his M.A. at Arts University Bournemouth and is now in the early stages of gaining his PhD.
Guy Butcher Workshop
Take a look back at our workshop with Guy
Our first store based workshop is in the bag
We welcomed Guy Butcher in to the store for two fantastic one day workshops. Using his lamination and vacuum bag technique to create lightweight, flexible and most importantly strong paipos, bellyboards and handplanes
Our attendees glued and pressed a board before shaping from a pre-made blank leaving with one finished board and another templated blank ready to finish at home
FARM ++, Naked Paipos, Pup or Piglet
Guy has spent years refining his “formers”. These blocks of wood create the concaves, channels and “rails” on his boards and ultimately determine what board will be made
When the three layers of wood are removed from the vacuum bag you have a rectangle of bonded ply and cedar ready to be templated and cut out
Once sanded and oiled you will have a board identical to one Guy would make you himself
Hands on
In store the whole process is achieved with the use of hand tools. No noisy power tools, minimal mess and a nice methodical process, complete with a gentle learning curve
We are looking forward to running a second set of dates with Guy. If you would like to be kept in the loop just sign up to our newsletter and we will let you know
