Rob Machado partnered up with Todd DiCiurcio to make one hell of a limited edition surfboard. Photo: Firewire
Surfing is an artistic endeavor. Sure, we can put it in jerseys and assign numbers to certain parts of it, but in the end, it’s an art. The shape of a surfboard is the most important part of it when it comes to performance, but man oh man, it sure is nice when you see a surfboard covered in art. Which is why Rob Machado and Firewire partnered with Todd DiCiurcio to slap some of his incredible work onto a Seaside model.
“Art is very much a big part of life; a big part of surfing, in my eyes,” Machado says, “and that’s where Todd DiCiurcio comes in.”
DiCiurcio grew up surfing in Ocean City, New Jersey. He started out on a boogie board and learned to stand up on it before moving onto a surfboard. As soon as he paddled out on it, that was it. He was hooked.
“I found it in the trash,” he remembers. “It was my very first board. I just learned everything I could. I became a sponge. I was absolutely addicted to it. I had a bug, you know? That’s what it was. Surfing became everything. It was paramount. It pinned it all together for me, so it ties into everything that I do.”
In years since, DiCiurcio has made a real mark on the art world. Over the last 30-or-so years, he’s developed a unique style that often revolves around music. His work has been shown in New York, L.A., London, Florida, and Pennsylvania, and he’s worked with huge stars like The Rolling Stones, Blondie, Morrisey, New Order, and Jack Johnson.
That link to Johnson, as well as his deep ties with the surfing community, led naturally to surfboard art. Which led naturally to 7th Street, an iconic surf shop on Ocean City’s boardwalk, owned by Larry Freidel.
“I’ve always painted my own boards as a means to invoke a sense of strength,” he told Ocean City Magazine in 2020. “To do what I love, what I want to do, how I want to do it, how I felt at the moment. The majority of these early board creations were collected by 7th Street’s Freidel. Later, I would come to create 7th Street’s logo… who knew?”
The art. The canvas. Photo: Firewire
Eventually, DiCiurcio met Taylor Steele. After they hit it off, they started Solento Tequila alongside Rob Machado and Kelly Slater.
And now, Machado and DiCiurcio are working together again on the Seaside Gallery. The Seaside, of course, is one of Machado’s favorite creations that was released in 2018.
“It’s been around. It’s got the speed, the flow,” he says. “I can grab it any day, from grovely little (waves on the) inside to a pumping day on the reef, I can go out and have a good time… the Seaside is a board that will always live in my quiver. The Seaside Gallery evokes a sense of adventure and freedom, inviting surfers to ride not just the waves, but also the expression that enhances their experience on the bubble.”
The art on the special edition surfboard is a painting called, “Hunt Your Way in Cut Offs; Prey for Nature,” and there’s a set of quad fins to go along with it. It’s a work of art, quite literally, but it’s also a work of art with a canvas that is incredibly fun to surf on.
It won’t be easy to get your hands on one though. They’re only available in select surf shops: REAL Wavesports in Waves, North Carolina, 50 South Surf Shop in Surf City, North Carolina, Sunrise Surf Shop in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, Catalyst in Coca Beach, Florida, Surf Station in St. Augustine, Florida, and Live to Surf in Tofino, British Columbia.
