coast ARTS
Dutch-born artist Zee van Gils unearthed her passion for resin when she worked alongside surfboard shapers in Indonesia, discovers VICTORIA SCARLETT
Before creating a base in Newquay, Zee van Gils’ artistic journey began when she was 23, in a small fishing village in Lombok. She first visited the island in 2014, and ended up calling it her home for the three following years.
Zee fell in love with surfing, found her community and soulmate. Stripped back from luxuries, her little jungle shack became a place to come home to herself. There was finally space to reignite her creative spark, which had been buried for a few years due to mental health struggles.
Besides working as a surf photographer and cafe manager, Zee was introduced to the island’s first shapers at Banyu Surfboards, where she started painting detailed freehand designs on their boards. They gave her free rein in the shaping bay, empowering her to take commissioned client orders and learn glassing techniques; the process of wrapping the board in fibreglass and resin to create a hard waterproof shell.
This is where Zee’s obsession with resin was unleashed; in its fluid movement, she instantly recognised similar patterns of the ocean and her surroundings on the island. Zee developed an undeniable urge to create her own abstract interpretation of nature’s textures and colours on wooden panels to display on walls. Months of experimentation with very little access to materials or infrastructure, eventually led to her current signature style.
Merging aerial views with an underwater perspective, Zee’s work is an “o
