Southern California's premier modern and contemporary art museum.

Libby Black
Chanel Surfboard, 2004
Paper, hot glue, acrylic
Museum purchase through the Naomi Vine Biennial Acquisition Fund

San Francisco–based artist Libby Black creates witty sculptures that replicate high-end products that are markers of power, status, and wealth. Featured in the 2004 California Biennial, this work is a full-size surfboard made entirely from paper, glue, and paint. Emblazoned with the coveted Chanel brand name and logo, Chanel Surfboard both celebrates and critiques the seductive allure of high-end designer labels while conflating this label with a cliché of the California lifestyle. Black’s deliberately unstable and seemingly flimsy works are ironic reminders of the often-tenuous nature of wealth and status, calling attention to the power of marketing and the allure of the designer label.

This is the first purchase made with funds established in honor of Dr. Naomi Vine, former director of the Orange County Museum of Art.