By PAGE Editor

Internationally acclaimed American artist Kenny Scharf launches together with Parley for the Oceans a series of individually painted surfboards to support Parley’s Global Clean Up Network with a special focus on Tulum, Mexico.

• As an ocean lover, internationally acclaimed artist Kenny Scharf has customised 12 individually painted surfboards in support of Parley’s effort to end marine plastic pollution.

• The profits of the sales benefit Parley’s Global Clean Up Network with a special focus on protecting the biosphere south of Tulum, Mexico, (Yucatán Peninsula) where the artist has spent numerous years and Parley has been active since 2017.

Parley for the Oceans announces a collaboration with internationally acclaimed American artist Kenny Scharf. 

Kenny Scharf produced 12 individually painted surfboards to support Parley for the Oceans, with proceeds going to Parley’s Global Clean Up Network with a special focus on Tulum,

Mexico. Parley’s global alliance to end marine plastic pollution is active across 30 countries, intercepting plastic waste from beaches, islands, and in remote coastal communities.

“I have decided to support Parley for the Oceans because I am obsessed with plastic in our oceans and I jumped at the chance to do anything with other people that are also sharing that obsession.”

Kenny Scharf 

These surfboards unite the worlds of art and surfing as a messenger for the cause. Each is a surfable symbol and a call for eco-innovation, creativity and collaboration to protect our oceans. The surf community is equally vital to the Parley mission as the artists, as they know the oceans like no others. This project is a synthesis of a surfer’s love for the ocean and an artist’s imaginative call for change.

With Scharf’s frequent visits to the Yucatán Peninsula over the years, he has seen the increase in the amount of plastic waste washing up along the coast. Parley Mexico is operating in several locations across the Yucatan Peninsula, and is working in collaboration with more than 30 local groups, government institutions, universities, social organizations, and the private sector. As a hotspot for biodiversity, the interception of marine plastic pollution is crucial to the survival of endangered species.

Kenny Scharf has been collecting plastic waste from the shorelines since the 80s, often using them to form playful art installations. His understanding of plastic’s never-degrading nature and its ecological cost is reflected in this practice. As we enter the most dangerous and stressful moment in our ecological human history, Scharf felt compelled to help Parley clean up the oceans.

“When I am swimming in the Ocean, I actually sometimes believe that I am a dolphin. I can hear them under the water, very high pitched, and I put my head up and they are jumping all around me. I feel very connected to Dolphins.” - Kenny Scharf

A painter and performer inhabiting the visual worlds of both street art and popular culture, Scharf’s graffiti paintings gained him notoriety and established a vernacular language on his own. Often working with improvisation, he creates playful, gestural pieces that blend stylized motifs with references to the surreal, science fiction, and icons of popular culture. Many of his larger works still adorn New York streets to this day. 

A graffiti artist is known for their unique self-expression and creating mural artworks that tell a compelling story.

Cyrill Gutsch, Founder and CEO, Parley for the Oceans:

“Parley was born in the art community and wouldn’t exist without the enormous support of artists, curators, collectors, galleries and museums. Kenny Scharf’s contribution to Parley is a wonderful example of how an artist can use his work to create impact, his voice to encourage thousands of us to move forward and to believe that we can invent our way out of this global plastic crisis with creativity, ingenuity and passion.” 

Despite the overall cheeriness—the seahorses and sharks and razor-toothed creatures of his oeuvre that ultimately leave viewers with a smile despite their menace, many of Scharf’s paintings are driven by environmental concerns.

A key figure in the iconic 1980s New York art and street art scene, together with Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, and Basquiat, Scharf’s signature style has prevailed over decades. His work has been exhibited and collected across major museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, in addition to others worldwide. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles. 

The 12 artworks are all manufactured by hand by legendary surfboard maker Tim Bessell. 

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