Mike Doyle

I had heard about this guy; one of the progressive surfers that was forgotten over the years. From what I've pulled up from the internet and my Dad who was around the surfing world in the late 60's/ early 70's, I've learned this:
"Yeah, I remember him. He was world champ or something like that at one time...tall,
blond, lanky, had a surfboard line named after him." (Kim Swanson). Mike Doyle won the 1970 world championships in Peru. "A well-respected art critic once called me a Primitivist. I think that's an appropriate term for my art. I use my intuition and create spontaneously. Sometimes a mistake will become my theme and the painting flows from there. It's similar to a jazz musician moving into another phrase and spontaneously creating as he improvises. Also, the very atmosphere of being at land's end keeps me energized and able to create." Said Doyle in his interview with the Surf Museum.

Mike Doyle at Pacific Beach

Photo Credit: Surf Museum

"I feel it's something you can only get better at. Everything else I do, surfing, or golfing, may go downhill as I grow older. From a physical perspective, my painting won't be affected by slowing reflexes, and as I accumulate more experiences over time, that wisdom will show through in my work."
-Mike Doyle