Rudy Jacques

Rudy Jacques is a tal­ented surfer/photographer from France. His eclec­tic port­fo­lio is a com­bi­na­tion of street art, ana­log pho­tog­ra­phy, and film. His web­site Avthen­tic, is the place where he shares his work with the surf­ing com­mu­nity. We sat down with Rudy to learn more.

What was your life like grow­ing up in France?
Very sim­ple. I spent my entire child­hood in Oleron Island. A part of me always wants to go back there—a per­fect coun­try­side with dif­fer­ent kinds of spots. This place has a real iden­tity; so many inhab­i­tants are proud to live there.

When did you get your first surf­board?
At the age of 11 or 12. I used to stand up on my body­board before. My par­ents finally bought me a used 6’2’’ thruster, very thick, with flashy col­ors. This board made my friends laugh a lot. I still ride it today.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
I read many answers which dealt about faith. I am not a reli­gious believer, and I can’t remem­ber the feel­ing I had when I first stood on a board. It was quite chal­leng­ing, so I prob­a­bly said, “Finally!”

Who did you look up and admire when you were a young man?
I didn’t have many influ­ences before get­ting involved into long­board­ing. So I was more influ­enced by punk and its val­ues. At 15, I first tried a long­board and dis­cov­ered that it was closer to the idea I had of surf­ing. Of course, I was aston­ished by Joel Tudor’s style-mastering and Thomas Campbell’s cre­ativ­ity. They are unique. They both changed my way to see surfing.

Who or what inspires you? What have been your great­est influ­ences, both as a surfer and as an artist?
Time to do a check­list: Joel Tudor, Thomas Camp­bell, Barry McGee, Clo­vis Donizzeti, Kyle Light­ner and Ian McK­aye. They all express some­thing true; they are orig­i­nal. I like the dis­cre­tion of Barry McGee. And Ian McK­aye? What can I say? Minor Threat is for sure one of my great­est influ­ences. It rep­re­sents all that I would like to share through my com­pany Avthen­tic: sim­plic­ity, humil­ity and the do-it-yourself spirit.

How did you get involved with RVCA in France?
I did my first show in ‘08 at Tamarindo Surf Shop. They have been inter­ested in my pho­tos and my blog, so we got in touch. As a kid, I used to fol­low their col­lab­o­ra­tion with peo­ple like Ed Tem­ple­ton, but I also was inter­ested in artists, like Josh Laz­cano, who should have been much more under the spot­light. I am really grate­ful to Ben and Marie, the French peo­ple of RVCA.

Tell us about your work­ing rela­tion­ship with surfer Steven Dunn Videau ?
What comes to my mind is that we are surfers who want to surf and surf again. Some­times we should stop talk­ing about that. We often share our ideas and are really moti­vated to make new stuff; we learn from each other. And I also want to add some words about Clo­vis. He’s a tal­ented guy, very cul­ti­vated, who has a true knowl­edge of surf­ing his­tory. I remem­ber the first time I saw him surf­ing. I was out of mind.

What have you been focus­ing on artis­ti­cally lately? Can you tell us about your recent fas­ci­na­tion with street art and graf­fiti?
I began writ­ing on walls maybe one year ago, but I am not a graf­fiti artist. I always have a marker with me I never plan and I write not nec­es­sar­ily a nick­name but a word that expresses a feel­ing. I have too much respect for peo­ple who have ded­i­cated their life to graf­fiti to define me as a writer. There is a real par­al­lel between punk, long­board­ing and graf­fiti. As a sub– or counter-culture, they have evolved dif­fer­ently from the main­stream, focus­ing on the act, the essen­tial. And the main word could be “legit­i­macy”. I always ques­tion myself, seek­ing out legit­i­macy, because I hate posers as I hate fad. If I want to talk about some­thing, I must have expe­ri­enced it.

What are you most proud of?
Maybe all I have done with Avthen­tic and how it has evolved. It has really gone beyond my expec­ta­tions. The future will be a bonus. I am glad to have met peo­ple thanks to Avthen­tic and to have had the oppor­tu­nity to share my photographs.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
I really became aware of how surf­ing changed my life by liv­ing in Paris. When I go back home, I find the daily things that I love—cool waves, fewer peo­ple, a sim­ple life. Surf­ing helped me to know why all this envi­ron­ment is exactly what I need.

What are the great­est things you have learned in your life?
There are two: love and straight. By “straight,” I’m refer­ring to the term “straight and nar­row” and liv­ing one’s life with both good behav­ior and integrity.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
My girl­friend, surf­ing, punk music, health … and see­ing my family.

Who are some of the peo­ple are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
From a pure surf­ing point of view, Dane Reynolds. He seems to be very open-minded and not only focused on his own surf­ing. There are many surfers who ride incred­i­bly, and I hope those who are shap­ing the path are not ass­holes out of the water, crav­ing for money. I am not say­ing that money is nec­es­sar­ily a bur­den for surf­ing, but think­ing first of busi­ness clearly is.

What is your favorite board ? Surf spot?
Since I started surf­ing, I’ve owned less than ten boards. I can’t explain why, but I am not par­tic­u­larly attracted by the object—it will prob­a­bly come when I get older. I just hope the board works. Dur­ing a ses­sion, if I surf like a kook, it is my fault and not the one of the board. I cur­rently ride a 9’5” Fat Bob Addic­tion that I have had since Novem­ber 2009. It’s made by peo­ple who I respect, a cool clas­sic board. And my favorite spot? North­east coast of Oleron.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing on your iPod?
I am fond of punk, from Minor Threat to Anti-Flag. I recently bought all the Nir­vana albums—one of the heav­i­est sound I’ve ever heard, some of the best poetry I’ve ever read.

What causes orga­ni­za­tions do you sup­port?
Peo­ple in the streets. Some morn­ings, in the metro sta­tion next to my flat, I can’t even sit on a bench; they are all occu­pied by maybe fif­teen home­less or more. Some­thing is wrong and it begins in front of our door. I would like to talk with the home­less. I have tried.

What are you most grate­ful for?
I am grate­ful to my par­ents and grand­par­ents for all they have done for my sis­ter and me.

What’s next for Rudy Jacques?
I will fin­ish my intern­ship at the end of June, so I will spend the most of the sum­mer hol­i­days surf­ing, pho­tograph­ing and meet­ing friends. That is the best future I can plan. I read the inter­view you did with Jair Bor­to­leto. He said, “My main goal is always to be a bet­ter man.” That is a good quote to con­clude on.

Find out more about Rudy Jacques at his web­site here.