Surf Artist - Vincenzo Ganadu

VINCENZO GANADU was born in Sassari, Sardinia in 1973, where he graduated from the Institute of Art. He then specialized in Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and Sassari, going on to teach Sculpture Techniques at the Academy of Sassari in 2001-2002. He has collaborated with a number of artists including Pinuccio Sciola, Vittorio Calvi and Angelo Pilloni and his works have been exhibited in public and private galleries.

In addition he has been the subject of numerous exhibitions both in Italy and abroad along with his commitment to creating murals, which led to him having a central role in the creation of a large scale work in Lima, Peru.

During the 1990s he discovered surfing in Sardinia and, together with this discipline, an artistic current that over the years has led him to travel and work all over the world, and becoming well known for the colours and dynamism of his paintings in doing so. From Guethary and Biarritz in France, where he held his first surf art exhibitions, his works have created considerable interest as well as getting good reviews in the leading surf magazines, including Surf News in Italy, Surf Session and Surf Trip in France, The Surfer’s Path in England and Australia and Fluir in Brazil. Since 2002, his paintings have been exhibited in Los Angeles and later in Hawaii and the American exposure later led to him being approached by the Warner Bros film company which had chosen some of his pieces to be used in a number of film sets. In 2008 his paintings were displayed in Brisbane, Australia, and later at Noosa Head, one of the many surfing homelands. His surf art has thus enchanted champions, journalists, surfers and simple ocean enthusiasts.

From 2015 onwards, with the Italian surfing scene in full swing, Ganadu was invited to festivals, presentations, concerts, live paintings and many other types of events. Rimini, Verona, Milan, Bologna, Pietrasanta, Levanto and Savona are just some of the locations which have seen his inspirational talent unleashed. It was during this period that his artistic research acquired further awareness, especially in terms of environmental issues which are particularly dear to him. New projects also emerged from these bursts of positive imagination such as PORTRAITS: SURF LEGENDS on show in Pietrasanta, or SURF GIRL, in which Ganadu’s work moves on to the figurative: dynamism gives way to facial expressions, body balance and energy that it is inevitably transposed onto the canvas.

PORTRAITS: SURF LEGEND
Duke Kahanamoku / Greg Noll / Eddie Aikau / Titus Kinimaka / Miki Dora / Jeff Hakman / Jack O’Neill / John Severson / Nat Young /Laird Hamilton /Gerry Lopez / Shaun Tomson / Kelly Slater / Robby Naish / Garret McNamara / Andy Irons / Tom Curren / Rob Machado / John John Florence / Dave Rastovich / Chris Del Moro / Francisco Porcella / Leonardo Fioravanti