Surf Artist
Mayumi Tsubokura
Mayumi was born in 1952 in Tokyo. His childhood and adolescence was spiritually and physically forged by his study of various Japanese martial arts; Judo, Kendo, Iaido and particularly by Kyokushinkai Karate. Inheriting an artistic drive from his father, who was a writer, Mayumi found himself heavily influenced by his experiences during Japan's Westernization period. It was while working in such top restaurants as V.I.P/Mugen in Tokyo that Mayumi's introduction to the world's elite began. However, the revival of Polynesian culture soon attracts him to the Japanese beach of Shimoda, located to the south of the metropolis.
Wishing to challenge the great Hawaiian waves, he takes a trip in 1971 to Oahu, one that will transform him forever. He quickly forms strong bonds with local 'soul surfers' Rabbit Kekaï, Eddie Aikau, Gerry Lopez and Darrick Doerner. Here on the North Shore he becomes known as "Kamikaze Boy". Yet he soon discovers that despite his martial arts training and skills acquired while surfing in Japan that he is destabilized by the sheer power of the foreign waves. Surfing, he discovers, is the perfect antithesis of Karate. Renewed by his experience with the ocean he leaves the island a changed man molded by what he discovered in Hawaii.
At 20 years old Mayumi begins to travel around the world. This voyage brings him to Paris in 1973. Here he is inspired to be educated on European culture in order to perfect his artistic talents. He enrolls in the famous Beaux-Arts School. While in Paris he works in jewellery and cosmetic design. His personality and expertise as a body guard enables him to meet various people; athletes, dancers, actors, artists and men of influence. He starts to paint in Tahiti the waves of Hawaii to show local surfers his vision of the Islands. He lives in Montmartre, the southwest of France and finally rekindle his love for the Hawaiian archipelago. He becomes appreciated and is greatly loved for his generosity and creativity. These character traits will bring him to work on the production of Uhaïna films.
Whether enveloped in the tranquility of the Basque country or the frenzy of Paris, he continues to paint these waves that inhabit him. From the serene quiet before the breaking waves, to an invocation of the cold brutal force of the Atlantic, the misty tropical lagoon and the unequaled beauty of the reefs of the Pacific Mayumi paints a surfer's dream. An indisputably inspired homage to the ocean, appreciated by the Hawaiian lifeguards, the surf champions Kelly Slater, Gary Elkerton, Cory & Shea Lopez, Rob Machado… His paintings aspire to be a universal symbol of mankind's harmony with nature.
