Trust the Process
Trust the Process
Gabriel Medina Hovering
Many of you have asked for deeper insight into my process, and Substack provides a great platform to go more in-depth. This photo by Jerome Brouillet of Gabriel Medina went viral during the Olympic Men’s Surfing competition from Paris 2024:
The first step is figuring out if the image is even worth working on; in this case it’s an all-timer and a no-brainer. It’s hard not to immediately go to some version of Jesus walking on water, but part of what makes the image unique is that he’s hovering/floating, and not directly on the surface.
Keeping that in mind, the next step is to plot out what needs to get captured. Medina & the water are a must; him pointing up in the air would be great, but isn’t a dealbreaker. The surfboard itself is important, but at the end of the day, could be cut out if necessary.
On the water aspect, there are numerous examples in art history of a figure flying in midair, primarily Jesus in the Ascension/Resurrection. But those aren’t scenes where the central premise is ‘being over water,’ so at the end of the day the comparison might look okay, but would be missing a crucial element. The closest I got to that route is Raphael’s Resurrection, which, upon some marinating, would actually work (hovering, some water, ‘surfboard,' and even the same colors), but is busier than I’d like for it to be and the size discrepancy just isn’t great.
So, the more abstract/surreal route could be in play, and René Magritte has several paintings of people/things suspended.
There’s obviously Golconda, but, no water, and too much going on. There’s also The Art of Conversation, but again, no water.
He has a similar painting, called The Infinite Recognition, which, at the bottom could be seen as water.