Dread-locked Nomad

Thursday 16 September 2010

Esoteric surfing nomad Jared Aufrichtig, who hails from America but calls Africa his muse, has fused together a fascinating exploration of South African surf and street culture. Chris Mason talks to him about Expressions.

With unruly dreads, baseball cap and SoCal drawl, Jared is not inconspicuous, and makes no effort to hide his mission of capturing the artistic expression inherent to surfing and skating lifestyle. His latest accomplishment is a giant photo-journal called Expressions. The book shows a commitment from the maker, not to the country not of his birth, but to the country of his choice.

His documentary and almost predatory pursuit of South African culture has meant that sometimes he’s too busy looking into the viewfinder when he stands on somebody's toes, and sometimes that somebody wears brand-new branded takkies. But as Paulo Coehlo says, “If everybody loves you, something is wrong. Find at least one enemy to keep you alert”.

Jared has been kept alert, especially to the rich cultural milieu that makes up South Africa’s alternative lifestyle aesthetic. He is probably more struck by the complexities of this enigmatic country than many of its countrymen. South Africa inspires him - so much he made a book about it.

Looking at his book in a trendy little Cape Town café, I was struck by its weight, by the sheer volume of it, thinking ‘You could kill a chicken with this thing’. At first glance, there are hundreds of images, South African vignettes disparately disconnected through the frayed layouts. But as you page through it, these begin to morph into a filmic snapshots of an abstract journey as refracted through the eyes of a camera-toting nomad, a wandering American in love with obtuse aesthetics, and South Africa and her people.

Chris: What is the driving force behind this book?

Jared: To create awareness and exposure for the creative talents and beauty that is in South Africa.

C: What is the creative talent involved in the making of this book?

J: There are visual artists from all walks of life; graffiti artists, illustrators, graphic designers, tattoo artists, hard-core graffiti bombers, and just all different kinds of artists. I was actually collecting coffee table books at the time of starting the book, and it was when graphic design was raising the bar in terms of how imagery was displayed. Imagery was no longer just cut and pasted onto the page, it had vectors and different kinds of illustration. So I got 35 of South African artists to come together help me design the layout, using the DPS format (double page spread) and each DPS is an original collaborative work of art between me and the artist. Artists ranging from Kronk (Chris Hewitt), Tyler Murphy, who did the cover art, Matt Edwards, who was a designer for Blunt Magazine, Hannes (Handog), Mac1, Brian little, Steez and 500mills, of the homegrown group, Matchick and so many more.

Expressions officially launches next month, and comes in 2 different cover art editions, the deluxe edition is limited to 130 copies and broken down into black silver and gold. It will be available in selected stores around the country, but you can buy it online and get it shipped direct to your door here http://www.astoreisgood.com/books/view-all/expressions.html#large or get it from Jared by emailing him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or check this whacky rap plug set to the clank crank of the metallic machines behind the book's creation:

Dim lights

From the artist:

Expressions Book One South Africa is the quintessential high-end hardbound book on youth culture in South Africa. It is a 720 page visual journey rich with images (all shot on celluloid- no machine gun digital photography) take across South Africa. Subjects covered in the book are Land, People, Plants, Animals, Music, Art, Skateboarding and Surfing. From Lions to Lark, Transkei to Top Skaters and Mak1one to Jordy Smith there is such a wide display of the special and unique things that I think make South Africa the wonderful place it is.

35 of South Africa’s Top Artist (graphic designers, illustrators, graffiti, tattoo, fine art, etc…) help aid in the design of the books pages, layouts, and DPS spreads. Including Artists like Tyler B. Murphy, Kronk, Mak1one, Bryan Little, Matt Edwards, Fong, and Macick along with many other talented artists.

 The Book was printed here in South Africa because I feel it will have more worth having been about, developed, designed, and made here in SA. I will be printing a 1000(Litho) copies of the First Edition of my book; there will be two different cover art variations. Both are limited editions and will be signed as well as individually numbered. Soon I will be launching the first copies of the Deluxe Edition of the book (and the other designed by Kris Hewitt aka 'Kronk' will follow in a few months). The cover art for the Deluxe Edition was designed by Tyler B. Murphy with a little inspiration from me. There will be only 130 copies and it is looking, "Too Good, Too Good, Fantastic" (to quote Russell Peters).

Each Deluxe Edition Book will come with an Original Lithographic Plate from the printing process. Signed and numbered plates are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow or Black every one is different; you will own an art piece that also went into the actual production of the book. This is similar to a photographer cutting a film negative in half and including it with a print. Every plate is unique, cut down from a massive metal sheet with an industrial gelatin. Something to add to the depth, connection, and worth of the book you will not see anywhere…For more info go to http://jaredaufrichtig.blogspot.com/