Rick Sharp, who was born into an entertainment family, made a name for himself as a poster artist in the burgeoning surf culture of Southern California. Before the age of twenty, Sharp's work appeared as full page ads in Rolling Stone, Surfer and Seventeen magazines. The young artist's work was produced widely on Hang Ten t-shirts, surf movie posters, album covers and concert posters for folk music icons such as Donovan, Arlo Guthrie and Peter, Paul & Mary, to name a few. Sharp’s early work was reproduced as posters by Channel Islands Surfboards, KTYD Radio and the City of Santa Barbara’s Fiesta celebrations and are now historic and hard-to-come-by. Sharp's back-to-nature posters culminated with the release of "Reflections on the Natural: Poster Art by Rick Sharp" published by Variant Press. 

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Today, if you walk through gift shops in Hawaii, you’ve more than likely either seen or bought Rick Sharp’s vintage-styled art on a myriad of products produced by Island Heritage: candles, placemats, coffee mugs, calendars, tote bags, tumblers, photo albums, the list goes on and on. You name it – and you’ve probably noticed his art on it. But you may have thought it was artwork from the travel poster era of the 1920’s, 30’s, or 40’s or from an artist who’s now dead and gone. But Rick Sharp is very much alive and well – creating his nostalgic art for a new worldwide audience. Of Sharp’s career in the arts, one thing is certain: Rick Sharp doesn’t become his work – his work comes out of what he loves.