Chas Smith profiles filmmaker Joe G in TSJ 26.2, taking us on a quasi-filmic quest through the backstory of his subject and contextualizing his work alongside other auteurs from surf cinema.

“Joe Guglielmino,” Smith writes, “most commonly referred to as Joe G or Joseph G, but never just Joe, or at least never by me, is a surf filmmaker who occupies a very central position in surf film’s Valhalla. He slouches in the middle of the great hall seated near Kai Neville, across a gilded table from Taylor Steele, around the corner from Michael Oblowitz. Bruce Brown is there, obviously, bored and rolling his eyes at a poster of Bunker Spreckels pinned lazily to the wall by Alby Falzon. John Severson would recoil but is slightly amused so chortles instead.”

Best known for his feature-length offerings (Secret Machine, Year Zero, Strange Rumblings in Shangri-La), Mr. G has also done an admirable job of bringing his high-concept, high-saturation style to the digital sphere. Here, we assembled a sample platter of some of his best short work, revisiting wave pools in the United Arab Emirates, palatial haciendas in Mex, and lot’s of bare and/or painted flesh.