ESTEFI HOTTON
Mid Fin Co.'s first resident artist — an ongoing series she calls LiNES of my Life (QUILLAS PA`LA VIDA, “fins for life”).
Estefi Hotton is a surfer, artist, and writer from San Bernardo del Tuyú, on the Argentine Atlantic Coast. In her own words: “This is Estefi Hotton — surfer, creative, writer of anecdotes and dedications, always searching for my sustainability. As I like to say: I’m from the barrio to the beach.”
She built a surf collage two years before she ever surfed. When a surf school arrived in the summer of 2010, “nothing was ever the same again.” Her first wave came on a borrowed board called La Ñata; her first board of her own was “obviously almost turquoise,” and she customised it — and its fins — almost immediately. That is where painting fins began. She studied graphic design, names David Carson as a formative influence, and has chased waves through Peru, Brazil, and Valencia. On the Bridge of Sighs in Barranco she made herself a promise: “I’ll keep doing this.”
As our resident artist, Estefi opens the series with a poem — her words, as she wrote them:
sometimes, our creations travel despite of us
and they become a vehicle
for inspiration, of art and movement.
from surfers to surfers,
a serie of fins,
representing the lines of energy,
the ocean gives to us
and we use to connect with it.
Lines of my life //
Fin #01 is the Twin Fin 5050 CORE. “Inspired by the Earth’s core,” she says — “the core where all begins, in the center of art, design, and the surf passion.” Read the artwork literally and it is a cross-section of the planet: dense hand-inked hatching for the crust and strata, a rust band for the mantle, a single dark mark for the core. The same lines double as the wave-energy lines that appear on the horizon — the geological section and the swell are the same drawing. It starts at the core.
On how the work comes together, again in her words:
From the lines of waves, the energy waves that propagate through the ocean and nature synchronizing everything...even ourselves. An exploration emerges between collage, ink, and digital media.
...you have to let yourself go...like searching for a good surf spot and trying different ones until you find the right one. We mustn’t forget to enjoy the process! As long as there’s a concept behind it, the art will have something beautiful to say.
This is more than surf hardware. It’s the first line in a series about the energy the ocean gives us — and the ways we use it to connect back. Long live to surfing, the wild, and creativity.
Resident artist series · Fin #01 · Available now.
