Beach Culture No. 5, Feb/March 1991 [David Carson]

Beach Culture magazine, No. 5, Feb/March 1991, edited by Neil Feineman. Published by Surfer Publishing Group, California. 10 x 12, pp. 72 with English text. Art Director/Design: David Carson. Cover: Gary Baseman.

This is the second-to-last issue of the cult magazine, Beach Culture, devoted to music, art, surf, skate, and fashion (only six issues were published between 1989–1991). Art director David Carson’s eye-catching and expressive design and typography are on full display here, “Letter forms overlap, overprint, smash, and are otherwise covered by black, mortised, random bands abstracted to the point of incomprehensibility. Carson was designing for the code-busters to make sense of it all” (Steven Heller).

In an interview with Under Pressure magazine (2018), Carson said Beach Culture was one of his most enjoyable projects, “I had total freedom, and no one had to approve my design and layouts. Just me and the editor Neil Feineman. I think it’s my best editorial work. Later when I did the music magazine Ray Gun, it went crazy with press and acclaim and love and hate. I was wondering what’s the big deal because I’ve been doing this type of work with Beach Culture magazine”.

Contents include a snapshot of 90’s culture in the form of interviews, profiles of beach locales, new music, and streetwear fashion advertising. From this issue‘s editor‘s letter, Feineman presciently writes, “After living with the magazine for some time now, we can see at least one common thread, and that is the refusal to blindly accept authority or limitations at face value. In today‘s times, where information is controlled, power is concentrated and conformity is encouraged, that attitude is a healthy thing“.

A near fine, hard-to-find magazine with only light wear.