MICHAEL DORMER - ARTIST
Creativity that shaped an era.
Michael's art caputured the California surf counterculture in the 1960s and 1970s.
A legacy of strange and wondrous works.
Mike Dormer speech for Hot Curl ceremony – California Surf Museum
Creator of the legendary “Hot Curl” cartoon character, Michael was a remarkably versatile master of multiple mediums. His creative brilliance spanned writing and drawing for print and television, executing classical paintings from any historical era, and inventing groundbreaking sculpting techniques. Beyond his visual mastery, Dormer was a gifted photographer and a multi-instrumentalist musician.
Michael was born in Hollywood, California in 1935 into a family of writers and musicians. At an age when most children are learning to walk, Dormer was already drawing. Recognizing his talent, Dormer’s parents enrolled him in a small sculpture and ceramics school in Del Mar, California when he was five years old. Louis Geddes, a popular artist during that period, encouraged the child and helped him develop his artistic talents.
Dormer won his first national art award at age twelve; a first prize in a National Fire Prevention poster contest. At fifteen, Dormer became more interested in music than in art. He wrote, arranged, and played guitar with an experimental jazz quintet. This association lasted slightly more than two years. At age eighteen, Dormer resumed his involvement with art and refined his draftsmanship by hiring out his services as a freelance illustrator and cartoonist for a number of national men’s magazines ranging from Esquire to girlie magazines.
In 1957 he moved south to La Jolla, California and set up a painting studio, augmenting his income by becoming a part-time night club comic and jazz poet. During this time he published an innovative art and poetry magazine, Scavenger, and co-founded an art gallery in Lee Teacher’s coffeehouse (The Pour House) in Bird Rock.
In 1963, Mike Dormer and Lee Teacher built a six foot, 400 pound concrete statue out of cement, iron, a mop, a light bulb, and a beer can. They dubbed their creation “Hot Curl“. The statue mysteriously appeared on the rocks over Windnsea beach in La Jolla, holding a beer in one hand while gazing out over the ocean in search of the perfect wave.
The Legend of Hot Curl.
Later in life, Dormer began to concentrate less on commercial art projects and more on fine art.
Art is far from effortless leisure. It is a demanding, disciplined craft. Creating true art requires intense concentration, sensory coordination, imagination, and a subtle mastery of structure.
These are a few of his fine art paintings that received international praise and attention.
In 1967 Dormer created and co-launched Shrimpenstein, a raucous and wildly irreverent children’s television show which aired live weekdays on Channel 9 in Los Angeles. Shrimpenstein, which remains a cult favorite to this day, was hosted by the late Gene Moss as Dr. Von Schtick and featured aminiature Frankenstein monster (a wacky ventriloquist dummy that was “created” when jellybeans were thrown into the monster machine).
This top-rated show ran for a year and was allegedly one of the favorite programs of Frank Sinatra’s legendary Rat Pack. Shrimpenstein also had a huge following among college students all over Southern California. Contractual disputes brought an untimely demise to the venture and Dormer returned to San Diego to rest and reevaluate.
Own a piece of history.
Every poster purchased helps support the San Diego Ocean Beach Pier Renewal Project. This is more than a work of art, it’s a meaningful collectors item and a contribution to the community that inspired it. Get yours today and be part of renewing an icon of San Diego surf history.