Robin Lanei’s Irreverent Surf Art Offers A Blunt, Fun Perspective on Surf Culture
Robin Lanei was born, raised, and learned to surf in Monterey Bay, California, a place where the ocean is a way of life. She spent a few years traveling the world and eventually found everything she needed in Sayulita, Mexico. In 2012, she decided to make the move. Four years later, in 2016, she started an artistic project that would help define her career: she documented a full year of drawing on Instagram. It was just the right push to her creative side, and since then, her drawings have evolved into a clever, irreverent, sometimes-blunt portrait of female surfing and inclusivity in the ocean.
“I like to comment on the surf culture in my art,” she says. “To try and find a way to make it funny and absurd and learn a lesson out of it. For me, the easiest way to do that since I was a kid was to draw it out. It’s funny because the viewers right now see my art as representing women’s surfing. I love that. It’s so awesome. I love to represent a woman’s perspective in the surf industry. But it’s my perspective, you know? I can’t speak for every person out in the water, but I’m just happy that this adds to the collective of perspectives and experiences out in the water… and I just happen to be a woman.”
We’re honored to have Lanei as our Creativity + Social Impact advocate as part of our Third Annual EVOLVE Summit, where we celebrate individuals who are making a positive impact on surf and outdoor culture. Lanei is certainly one of those people, and we’re so glad to have her.
Access the full EVOLVE Summit for free here. EVOLVE is presented by White Claw with support from Kindhumans.