Liam

Ed Templeton’s practice in painting, drawing and photography explores sections of the Southern Californian urban community and broader network of international skateboarding. In this context, Templeton’s work develops from a romantic and heroic image of California, first characterised in the 1970s by hippie and psychedelic lifestyles, progressing in the 1980s with fringe and alternative subcultures, and more recently emerging from skateboarder culture.

From this perspective, the viewer may perceive an inherent hedonism in Templeton’s chosen subject—friends, lovers, skaters—who are depicted in hotel rooms and house parties, unperturbed by the artist’s gaze. And yet, it is for this reason that Templeton’s part-documentary, part-personal portraits provides an avenue to explore broader issues concerning youth culture and the creation of social spaces as an alternative to the political and social mainstream.