Meet the Maker

LIFE CELEBRATES ART CELEBRATES MUSIC Todd DiCiurcio

Text by Lauren Avellino Turton. Photos provided by Todd DiCiurcio.

Art is life. Music is life. Surfing is life. And most importantly for Todd DiCiurcio, his lovely wife, best friend, business partner, and biggest supporter, Megan (“Megs”)... is life.

Todd has spent the past 20 plus years creating a balance between his home in Ocean City, studio in Brooklyn, NY, and extensive travels around the globe with Megs. He is well known internationally for his unique artistic style and methods. Todd creates his paintings while capturing live musicians and explosive spectators. ”Since the late 1990s, my art has involved the live drawing and painting of bands that I have worked with in close collaboration. The very first was Guided By Voices in 1999 at the Sapphire Supper Club in Orlando, FL,” he recalled. He has since captured many mainstream rock and roll sensations on stage, including The Rolling Stones, Blondie, Jack Johnson, Morrissey, Portugal. The Man, New Order, and many others. Todd’s work has been exhibited in London, Los Angeles, New York, Florida, and Pennsylvania. He has created live paintings in Asbury Park, NJ, Austin, TX, and Australia. He explained that what makes his artwork so special is that he can’t take back even one single stroke. “While drawing, each sensation of every mark is a direct reaction to the experience of sound to gesture, and of the performer’s action to line. The drawings are visceral responses to the sounds and energy that are unique to each of these bands,” he said. “My identification with the music’s lyrical

To see Todd’s work, and upcoming adventures and creations, follow him on Instagram: www.instagram.com/odddc/.

content, and precise delivery in the live context, enables me to become a physical and visual conduit for the shared experience of the performance within the tradition of drawing from life.” Blending art and music has evolved throughout Todd’s life. At age six, he got his first album by The Cars. “Music was everything to me. I pretended to play drums on my bed with chopsticks on paper, ripping through it like I was blasting through drum heads. My life in the arts started with the uncontrollable burning urge to draw all over everything, combine that with the differences of a non-transparent DIY upbringing, childhood divorce and death, dodging, but getting, residual abusive behavior and the freedoms created from it are the fuel to that fire, the ‘life experience,’” Todd explained. Todd majored in Life Drawing and Printmaking as a Fine Arts student at Kutztown University in PA, spent residency at Vermont Studio Center, lived in Micco, FL, and currently spends much of his time in his Brooklyn, NY studio. “But, Ocean City is the one constant that brings the light back,” Todd said. “New York can be stifling at times. Even though we’re close to the water, there is a completely different energy here.” Born in Norristown, PA, his family spent summers in Ocean City for as far back as he can remember. “Much of my childhood was spent dreaming of getting back into the surf, while skating sketchy ramps and

prohibited areas around PA with colorful accomplices.” Todd explained in order to live in OC, he had to have a summer job. “I worked a paper route and vacuumed surf shop floors until I was old enough to be a busboy at Mack & Manco Pizza. This experience in particular taught me structure and responsibility,” he recalled. “The Manco family always supported me even well past the time I left to work at 7th Street Surf Shop. That’s where Megs and I helped friend and owner, Larry Friedel, cultivate a now-thriving surf lesson and camp program.” An avid surfer himself, Todd enjoys transforming surfboards into whimsical, colorful works of art. “I always painted my own boards as a means to invoke a sense of strength, to do what I love, what I want to do, how I want to do it, how I felt at the moment,” he said. “The majority of these early board creations were collected by 7th Street’s Friedel. Later, I would come to create the official 7th Street logo… who knew.” Todd also collaborated with Margate’s Steve & Cookie owner and entrepreneur, Cookie Till. He installed a sculptural work-in-progress for her annual art show to “shake things up, which made for wonderful art dialogue,” he said. He later created a mural on her restaurant food truck, The Traveling Kitchen. As a birthday present for Megs, he created a mural, “The Queen’s Threshold.” “My mural was created during the COVID-19

lockdown – something to dream alongside our existence in this shining new soft apocalypse. If the expression provides stimulation for passer-bys, there’s a new conversation for Ocean City,” said Todd. Todd and Megs met when they were just kids, and have been each other’s yin and yang for decades, working together in the fashion and art worlds, and using surfing together as a shared escape from their bustling businesses. “I think for Todd and I, our journey is about love, it’s about magic and making things happen, and always having each other’s back,” she said. “We push each other, we drive each other, we inspire each other. Both of us are one another’s biggest fans.” Megs is a renowned entertainment public relations executive in the fashion industry. She and her husband are brand ambassadors for Caddis Eyewear. Todd’s art and fashion collaborations include Tommy Hilfiger, Rag & Bone, Gap, Kenneth Cole, and March NYC. He is also a founding partner, alongside filmmaker Taylor Steele, of Solento Organic Tequila, available at Circle Liquor in Somers Point. Fashion, surfing, art, music, and just embracing life... the beat goes on for the DiCiurcios, and they believe the sky’s the limit in the years to come. “The journey has been incredible,” said Megs. “We dreamt it up, we dreamt it up.”

Nick Matousch interviews local pro surfer Rob Kelly

YOU cannot have a conversation about surfing in this town without the name Rob Kelly popping up. Kelly has been an integral part of the local surfing community over the last 15 years. Throughout this eventful year Rob's been hard at work making sure the surfing culture stays strong amidst a pandemic, and preparing for the future of the sport.

How did you start surfing?

I learned in Hawaii when I was ten. My mom grew up there. From ten to 15 [my brother and I] would surf there and in the summer also in Ocean City. I grew up in Bucks County, Pa; We came down on weekends. The summer before high school we came down and never went back.

What has your competition career been like?

I started when I was 14 in a local amateur contest. They have them in Ocean City pretty frequently. From there I did the Pro Junior events my last two years in high school. When I graduated from high school I started doing the World Qualifying Series. I did that for five or six years and then transferred to more of a marketing role with Billabong.

Where are big places you surfed? Are there places you still want to go?

I have surfed all over Asia, Europe, Central America, South America, Hawaii, Tahiti. I have been to a lot of the main surf spots around the world, but I would like to try to go to “off the grid” type spots now.

What do you do besides surfing?

I go to the gym five days a week. I try to stay in shape when there are not waves. It has to be pretty flat for me not to go surfing.

What is your brand Numb Skulls?

It's a YouTube channel where we showcase our surfing and cold water adventures. The best waves in New Jersey are in the winter. We showcase adventures here or traveling in Ireland or Canada. Due to the popularity we created merchandise – tee shirts, hoodies and hats – that's helped fund going overseas.

Why is surfing such a growing sport?

The learning curve is a lot quicker than other sports. Almost anyone can go get a lesson at 7th Street Surf Shop and by the end of an hour and a half, can be standing up and riding waves.

What does surfing and living along the coast mean to you?

I feel fortunate every single day that I can wake up in OC, walk to the beach and surf, and realize that it is my job. I have been blessed to be able to do that.

What do you think about when driving to the next set of waves?

Just the anticipation of not knowing what I am going to find when I get to the spot. Hoping I made the right call when rolling up and seeing what the waves are doing.

What do you hope for the future of surfing?

Wave pools are the next big thing in surfing. That, mixed in with surfing being included in the Olympics for the very first time. I hope that during the Olympics, Mother Nature delivers and it ends up being entertaining for the general public.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Being able to wake up every day and do something I love. To be able to have surfing and family at the center of my life. Some competition achievements stand out, but the biggest achievement is being able to make a career out of surfing and be able to surf every day for as long as I have. - Photo by Allie McEntee