MIKE DOYLE

From the days of surfing movies and the music it inspired, walks Mike Doyle. Baja’s resident chairman of the board. Doyle brings his board with him when he paddles out from shore, still searching for the mythical perfect wave. He has been surfing for 62 years, and counts among his accolades a 1970 World Surfing Championship, the 1969 Duke Kahanamoku big wave title, 1963 World Tandem Title and was voted best surfer in the world by the Surfer Magazine poll from 1964 through 1966. Mike was also inducted into the prestigious Shaper’s Hall of Fame and the Hermosa Beach Surfer’s Walk of Fame.

These days you are as likely to find Doyle riding a canvas with a paint brush as you will tucked in the curl of a wave. He seeks out the mythical perfect subject indigenous to the Baja. A crusty fisherman, the sun bleached skull of a bull, the cactus with almost human arms, and of course, the contrast of ocean and desert.

Doyle’s works are bright with colors inspired by local landscapes and the odd creatures that inhabit them. Its an art infused with Doyle’s devotion to a life of soul and adventure. A well respected art critic once called me a Primitivist says Doyle. I think that is 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. Its similar to a jazz musician moving into another phase and spontaneously creating as he improvises. Also the very atmosphere of being at lands end keeps me energized and able to create.

To be at Lands End as he puts it, seems to be Doyle’s natural place. Throughout his life he has stood at the tip of events, and been the first in some remarkable ways. He was the first Ironman, the inventor of the Doyle Soft Surfboard and developed the mono-ski, which eventually became the snowboard. His colorful paintings can be viewed at The Doyle Gallery situated above The Cabo Surf Hotel on Acapalquito Beach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcYPX44DWjA