Ken Auster

Please click on the link below to view an exciting new video of Ken Auster in Carmel!

Follow the Liter                                                 Commin at Cha                                                    Scaila Wags
36" x 36"                                                             24" x 30"                                                           48" x 48"
SOLD

Afternoon Break                                    Summit-Huntington Hotel                                    Morning News
   9" x 12"                                                          30" x 24"                                                        9" x 12"
    SOLD

Does come with Dressing Hills of San Francisco
10" x 22" 20" x 16"

     Tracks                                                                                                 You Don't Say!
10" x 22"                                                                                                    10" x 22"
SOLD

Reflections by the Bay                                              Hob Nobbers                                                      Le Sauce Ce Tu
20" x 24"                                                             12" x 16"                                                                20" x 24"
SOLD

        Irish Coffee                                                     Come on In                                             Top of the DAY
         12" x 16"                                                         16" x 12"                                                      20" x 24"
SOLD

You-Ready? Feeling Congested Tunnel Vision
12" x 16" 30" x 24" 12" x 16"
SOLD

An Eye Opener                                                   Market-eers                                                        Highnoon
  12" x 16"                                                          48" x 48"                                                          9" x 12"
SOLD                                                                                                                                           SOLD

The Shadow Knows                                            Stuck in Stockton                                               Walking the Line
48" x 60"                                                             12" x 16"                                                              75" x 96"
SOLD

   We can eat the Cheesecake Factory!                                 Life on the Lake                                                        Mason-ites
    48" x 48"                                                             20" x 24"                                                                 60" x 60"
SOLD

Got Water?                                                         Criusin' at Union                                                          Halfway to the Stars
16" x 12"                                                              30" x 50"                                                                        79" x 76"
                                                                                                                                                                         SOLD

       Just the two of us                                                  Cross Culture                                                   Island Stylin'
36" x 48"                                                             40" x 40"                                                          16" x 20"

"For it was in his formative years in Long Beach, California, where Ken grew up with his feet deeply planted in the surfing culture, that he first learned to express his art talent. Caught up in the ground swell of the 1960s surfing culture, Ken not only plunged into the sport of surfing but into the art and graphics of surfing as well.

While working his way towards a Bachelor in Fine Arts degree from Long Beach State University, Ken built one of the world's most prominent silkscreen and T-shirt companies, creating now-legendary surfing art that adorned surfers from Belmont Shores to Hawaii to Mexico. His surfing images, silk-screened as original prints on paper, became the "fine art" of this beach culture, and today, represent the classic surf art of the past century.

At the heart of Ken's work was always the awareness of the fine line between man-made and nature. In the mid-1990s, Ken moved to a more serious art level - involving him with the immediacy of oil paints as opposed to the process-burdened medium of printmaking. Throwing himself into the splendor of "plein air" (on location) painting, Ken discovered the richness and broad colors of the city life he long avoided. As he will tell you, he rejoiced in this newfound ability to paint anything and everything - cafes, train stations, airports, street scenes, and of course, never far away, was the beach, his first love.

The transition from surf art to serious impressionism was natural for Ken - his passion and obsession to reach a new understanding between himself and the oil painting medium took on a new intensity of discovery. "I simply want to achieve the ultimate communication on the canvas - to say more with less," Ken says.

His deft use of color. His economies of brush strokes. His simple, yet beautifully structured compositions. As one famous critic described - "each painting captures a moment in time charged with a hint of narrative drama. And each is rendered with such vibrant immediacy that a single glance excites other senses as well."

Ken's passion for painting is shared with hundreds of students who each year travel from around the world to attend his workshops in Laguna Beach and Carmel. With his life partner, Paulette Martinson, they have a thriving art world centered at their studio and gallery in picturesque Laguna Canyon.

In a relatively short time since this transition to plein air painting, Ken Auster has moved to the forefront of American contemporary impressionists. He consistently walks away with gold medals and first place awards at juried exhibits. His work is collected by some of the most respected galleries and patrons.

Renowned for his classic surf art, Ken Auster now sees and paints a bold, dynamically changing world, whether it is London, Venice (Italy), San Francisco, Carmel, Napa Valley, or Baja, Mexico. He shares with us the uncomplicated but moving stories on canvas - simply and effectively, documenting the ordinary in an unordinary manner.

And what about his surfing? Well, if the surf is flat, you'll find Ken in his studio. But when the surf is "up", you'll find Ken, most likely, filling his other passion."
Biography supplied by the artist.