Dennis Friel is a proud born-and-raised south Floridian, as evidenced by his spirited work of sailfish, sea turtles, snook, and peacock bass. The brilliant colours in his work and digital renditions of fish and marine species beckon the eye of any wandering eye within the space. Their realism displays the truth that Friel has spent his life observing, appreciating, and connecting with the inhabitants of not solely Florida’s waters, however the marine species of the Atlantic Coast and past, by way of artwork.
When he was younger, Friel—the youngest little one of six—and his household made journeys to Pompano Seaside, the place he spent most of his time fishing, diving, and browsing. By out of doors recreation and, finally, portray and illustrating, Friel shortly grew to become a steward of the ocean. Like many anglers and artists, he has all the time been fascinated by fish and their totally different profiles, colours, and patterns. Though he didn’t respect his creative talents as a baby, Friel admits he all the time thought of himself inventive. Fortunately, his mother and father have been absolutely supportive and inspired his capabilities. The truth is, when birthdays or holidays rolled round, a younger Friel hoped to unwrap a fishing rod, some new sort out, or perhaps a remote-controlled automobile; nevertheless, he was all the time gifted artwork supplies, which was his mother and father’ manner of claiming, “You’ve a novel expertise, now run with it.”
In 1991, whereas a senior in highschool, he started promoting his fish- and marine-themed paintings in a gallery referred to as The Wildfish Assortment. (Paradoxically, the gallery sat solely about 100 toes away from his present personal gallery in Pompano Seaside.) That very same 12 months, Friel’s work have been acknowledged by the Worldwide Sport Fish Affiliation (IFGA) and the Billfish Basis, each of which he began working for whereas concurrently holding down a job at a neighborhood surf store. Finally, he realized he needed to resolve about his future and enrolled in courses on the Ringling Artwork Faculty in Sarasota, Florida. Throughout his faculty years, Friel spent his time exploring totally different canvases by portray wall murals, creating T-shirt designs and, in fact, fishing or browsing at any time when he had the prospect. When he graduated, he was approached by Alliance Leisure, an enormous media firm, the place he collaborated with shoppers like Sony, Warner Bros. and Common Studios for the subsequent 17 years.
The job with Alliance taught Friel so much about professionalism; he grew to grasp the enterprise world, realized how you can run a inventive division, and how you can community himself. It additionally allowed him to pursue some noteworthy initiatives within the music business. Friel designed each album cowl for blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa between 2004 and 2014. He even designed the duvet artwork for the album Looking for Jerry Garcia by Proof, a member of the rap group D12 that includes Eminem. However, by way of all his work within the music leisure business, Friel was nonetheless portray fish and freelancing on the facet.
Round 2011, Friel was requested to develop artwork for the Jimmy Johnson Quest for the Ring Championship Fishing Match in Florida, which he has been doing for 13 years since. Extra not too long ago although, his paintings has been featured within the Atlantic Metropolis, New Jersey, Quest for the Ring match, which is at present in its 4th 12 months. For Friel, better part is the prospect to color fish on electrical guitars, successfully merging his backgrounds in fishing and the music business. The concept took place solely 6 years in the past, when Arduous Rock got here in as a sponsor, growing the purse for match winners and bringing more cash into the occasion. Friel, being the inventive individual that he’s, had the brilliant concept of portray a sailfish on a guitar and auctioning it off in the course of the awards ceremony, with all proceeds going towards charities related to the occasion. He purchased a guitar, painted a sailfish on it, and it bought at public sale for $14,000. The following 12 months, it bought for $19,000, then $25,000, and now, his fish-themed guitars routinely promote at public sale for $30,000 or extra.
Friel started working with the Quest for the Ring Match towards the tip of his time at Alliance; by 2013, he was able to make the leap into a wholly new enterprise so started Dennis Friel Artwork Studios which, finally remodeled into his present podcast and model, Linked By Water.
Friel, who’s now 50, routinely asks himself, “How can I go away an affect on my group and produce better goal to my fishing paintings?” He does so by utilizing his podcast to spotlight the significance of pure useful resource preservation by way of selling community-service efforts that educate folks about their native fisheries. The Linked By Water podcast, sponsored by conservation-minded firms like Papas Pilar Rum and Starbright Options (an organization that produces environmentally pleasant boat-cleaning merchandise), options company like Florida TV and radio present hosts, together with native celebrities and anglers. Fishermen and hunters, Friel says, are the entrance line of conservationists, and it’s necessary to him and the podcast listeners to maintain clear water and marine environmental conservation on the forefront of most discussions.
These days, together with podcasting, Friel works in quite a lot of mediums together with digital artwork, watercolor and oil portray, acrylic portray, and extra. He has maintained long-lasting relationships with organizations just like the IGFA, who featured his paintings on the duvet of this 12 months’s world-record e-book. The one issues, Friel stated, that he hasn’t dabbled in (but), are sculpting and freshwater-focused artwork. Nevertheless, his present house is simply a mile from the Everglades, the place there may be world-class largemouth bass fishing, Friel’s old flame within the sport. He hopes to department out into extra bass-fishing-themed work, and even expressed an curiosity in doing extra fly-fishing-focused artwork, additionally a ardour of his.
Past Florida, Friel says, we’re all linked by water, and he believes that connection is what’s going to unite coastal communities to struggle for the assets that make them fascinating locations to reside or go to. Friel plans to proceed utilizing his artwork and podcast as methods to create a legacy that can positively affect the way forward for our fisheries.
@dennisfrielart / @connectedbywater
