Trevor Mezak
San Juan Capistrano, CA
My goal is to take raw, ordinary materials and transform them into something meaningful.
Message
Trevor Mezak is a mixed media artist based in Southern California. Largely self-taught, he draws inspiration from his early experiences with his father, when he learned to use tools and to work with his own hands. Since then, Mezak has channeled his daredevil personality into a body of work that aims to create a tactile conversation between what is manufactured and what is naturally found in the environment.
The materials with which Mezak works—reclaimed wood, concrete slabs, metal, nails, screws, gunpowder—are more familiar to construction sites but are ultimately transformed into abstract, painterly gestures of pure texture. A devoted surfer who regularly tests prototype boards, Mezak’s connection with the unpredictability and power of the ocean translates into his artistic practice. The exchange of energy, whether it be using power tools or a palette knife, is what unites Mezak’s personal experience with his surroundings.
Mezak has been recognized for his collaborations with Collector’s Editions and Disney Fine Art, and he has exhibited nationally over the years. He is currently expanding his abstract, textural work.
Statement
Surf. Surge. Salt. Instinct. Rust. Reclamation.
These are some of the elements and processes I try to celebrate in my work. The foundation under all of it is an appreciation for the natural world and the industries that share in its raw power. Every day I turn to surfing as a kind of ritual, a way to center my body and my creative process. To feel the crash of the waves, the grit of the sand, the adrenaline of rising (and falling) beneath the surface—this all culminates in an exchange of energies that I am likewise looking to impart onto my work through tactile abstraction.
I work with materials more akin to materials found in a construction site because I was raised to be a jack-of-all-trades. At an early age, I remember my father working with things typical of a handyman. I want to reconnect to that past, to the trade and materials that are often overlooked. Metal, wood, cement. Igniting gunpowder to create shadow. Running a palette knife against a concrete slab instead of a canvas. Harshness does not negate beauty and utility does not exclude painterly form. Through those very qualities one can extract the texture of the natural world, the elements that scaffold its very existence.