SUMMERWAVES
2025
Oil on linen
40 x 40 cm • 16 x 16 in
Summerwaves evokes the sensory memories of summer and childhood in the 1980s and 1990s. This iconic portrait, surrounded by a fragmented, dreamlike landscape of ocean and sand, recalls the visual aesthetic of video games from that era.
A grimacing, leering tiki totem, voracious mosquitoes, dried blood, lurking sharks, and a ruined sand city form an acerbic critique of Hollywood illusion and spectacle. The apparent carefree spirit of an endless Californian summer tips into something more ambiguous, with an increasingly caustic edge.
SUMMERWAVES
In the distance, the steamroller rages on the city of sand,
Baby Alone, it will soon collapse.
The waves rumble beneath the canvas of salt hulls,
white sailboats without crew
that carry your face.
In the deep lagoon, feverish wings flutter
and circle, circle again beneath hostile planets.
Beneath the veil of your lime hair,
the zest of your skin ignites.
Fragile muse of summer nights, citronella streaking the iodized air,
mosquitoes and blood mingled in the shadow of your wounds,
you run on the sand
and you drift away.
Pirates, drunk on horizons, dreamed of you,
in the dark holds of their voyages,
totem of their corsair ships,
prow or statue of salt,
wise.
Scars burn your veins, amber rum flows across your skin.
The sun begins to blush, and stretches
in a heroic breath,
over the beach.
On stage, behind the golden curtain, a silky friend, the icon of a summer.
Lights!
Let the show begin.
Sophie-Gaëlle Martin • 2025