Round Trip: A Conversation with Michael Cukr
His mediums are many — photographer, filmmaker, editor, skater, director, surfer…bodysurfer. He’s preternaturally gifted at all of them. But the true beauty to Michael Cukr’s talent is how he accentuates it with an obsessive attention to detail about his craft. Whether that’s photographing a supermodel or bodysurfing Wedge — it just depends on the day.
I have worked with Michael for more than a decade. He was the rare anomaly: friend, co-worker, serious road dog with an eye for story and an eye for the shot. When he was younger, I sent him deep into the South to shoot guns. He thrived. I have sent him to hang with Daryl “Flea” Virostko in Santa Cruz … alone. Thrived once again. Sent him hunting in Maui. He came back covered in camouflage, Coors Light and deer blood. He is welcome at the Volcom house on the North Shore, and one time he tipped over while filming an interview with ‘80s Pipeline kingpin Liam McNamara. His first version of Final Cut was from the late Greg Browning when he was 10. I have sent him to countless countries to document varied subjects and felt good about how he’d fare every time. He’s never said no to me and always came home with iconic and everlasting imagery every single time. Check his website for proof of that.
Nowadays, Michael is operating on another level. Taking his art to the main stages of fashion, film and design. He’s done beautiful documentary work with MoMA and the Smithsonian; he’s worked with celebrities and brands of the tallest order.
He’s also made skate and travel zines just for the hell of it — which will all no doubt be collectibles one day. I have more inside jokes with him than anyone on earth, he can listen to anything from doom-induced hardcore and screamo to Nintendo 64 sounds while playing competitive online chess. He’s always up to see live music (usually in some back-alley dungeon) and will saddle up and talk to anyone about anything — except sports. He’s still trying to figure out sports. He never passes judgment, stays curious, looks great on any kind of board but prefers bodysurfing right now and rumor has it he might be getting his own Yucca fin colorway soon.
Let’s call him.—Travis Ferré
INHERENT BUMMER: What are you up to right this second?
MICHAEL CUKR: I'm home watching my Surfline cam on my iPad, unpacking cameras and clothes and doing laundry. I have some editing to do and I'm about to leave again. So yeah, just trying to settle back in but also not get too comfortable.
What were you doing in New York?
Well, I was brought out to New York because I was doing two jobs out there. Then I ended up just staying because before I left Evan Mock was in Costa Mesa. We got dinner and then saw Yellowman at Tiki Bar and as I was leaving Evan was like, “Dude, you should stay at my house.” And I was like, “Yeah, fucking count me in.” It's a crazy penthouse in the East Village. So my girlfriend Izzy came out and we stayed at his place in New York for two weeks.
Lived that New York life.
And yeah, it was super fun because I was in New York with Izzy and it's kind of a dream come true to be in a fucking nice ass penthouse in New York, but also weirdly annoying not working in New York and not knowing what you're doing. I was on hold for jobs in New York, LA and Philadelphia [the whole time]. I didn’t really know if I would be working or not.
In limbo and not in charge of your own schedule and at the whim of other people is always a strange place to be.
I was in this crazy calendar pinball machine the past month.
How did you get here? How do you get these jobs and such a crazy commercial and creative schedule? Aren’t you a skate and surf filmmaker?
I honestly … yeah, I don't know. I don't have an agent. I've never had an agent. I don't have anyone on my team…
I'm on your team.
Yeah, you're on my team. I mean, you started this team, but I don't know how, dude, I honestly don't really know how or why this all happens.
But I think it all started when Apartamento saw a What Youth Fairly Normal I did and they hit me up to work. Around the same time my friend Julian Klincewicz was doing fashion work with Beyoncé, Jay-Z and Louis Vuitton and he brought me on. So right out of quitting What Youth I started working with Julian for some fashion brands and simultaneously started working with Apartamento — which is a super respected architecture magazine. I think those two things gave my work visibility to the world at large.
Photo: Kelly Hammond.
It's also called being good at what you do.
I have people I look up to and I aspire to be like and sometimes I'm like, “Fuck, I hope someday I can be doing that.” But I've always felt like I'm trying to achieve excellence and I'll probably never be satisfied with what I'm doing. So I guess in my pursuit, I'm making work that's passing or perceived as “good”, but It's hard to be satisfied with what you're doing.
Sounds like you’re not quite sure of your status, yet everything you’re doing and working on sounds pretty big time.
Yeah, I don't know. I also wonder about that too. I'm getting hit up by these fashion brands and photographers and directors and the emails come in and I really wonder: “What did they see and why?” And out of all the fish in the sea…it's like, “How has what I've done attracted this person or brand?” I think it’s pretty cool but I wonder….
I think it's hard to put my finger on exactly what I do, which I think might benefit me. But then there's also a part of my documentary work, Apartamento, MoMA and Smithsonian work where I think being able to tell stories and work on docs with institutions like those is really validating to my character and to my portfolio.
Yeah, that portfolio has some crazy range.
I'm also working on fashion campaigns which is a very different style. I feel like with documentaries you're trying to document real life and it's journalistic and you have to be reactive. When you're shooting on a set for a brand, it's like the least real life thing ever. It's fun and it's different. I feel like you're making visual art, but it is funny that I'm getting put in these places. I mean, I love it. It's super fun. But yeah, to answer your question, I don't know, I've just been doing it nonstop since I was a little kid and I guess something's catching on. But yeah, it trips me out too, to be honest.
What's your home life like right now? Is there a routine or a schedule or a lifestyle you live?
There's this dude Vando who is a local Wedge guy, and I see him all the time and he rode his bike past my house the other day and he knows of the work I'm doing because we talk all the time and he's like, “Dude, I want to know the real you.” And I was like, “Dude, you know the most real me, you're the one that I talk to every day when I'm home.” We're like bodysurfing every day and biking around and just checking the forecast and waiting for a south swell to pop up. And I'm like, “When I'm home, that is me!”
The other stuff is my work persona or something. But yeah, my day-to-day life is pretty chill. I don't know, it's almost like I feel like it's boring. I shouldn't say it, but I don't really do much. I really like chilling in Orange County with my girlfriend and bodysurfing, seeing my family.
Did you enjoy having a normal “home life” when you were in New York recently with your girlfriend? Could you live there?
Well, it just was super eye opening to me. I've always said New York is so good to me and I feel like I owe it to myself to go post up there for a couple of years and see what happens. But when you're in New York and not working the place is fucking brutal, dude. It's so much work to do anything and so fucking expensive. Every time you leave your house, you're spending a hundred bucks. It's like, “How do people do this?” I like it for work, but on a day-to-day I'm like, “Get me in my Tacoma with my fucking Spotify. I want to listen to my music. I want some sunshine. I want to go swimming.” It's so comfortable here, dude. It's awesome.
What is your day-to-day in New York when you’re not working? Do you have things you like to see?
Just eating — eating and walking around. I go up to B&H to go look at cameras. It's like a $40 Uber each way. And I'm like, it's fucking 25 streets away, dude! That's like, I dunno, two miles and it's like $80 to go four miles round trip. It's just a kind of psycho.
So you don’t have any go-tos in NY?
I do for restaurants. My cousin owns a restaurant in Brooklyn called Haenyeo which is New Orleans inspired Korean cuisine that's super dope. So Izzy and I go there every time. We eat at Cafe Mogador a lot. I find it really boring to just go look at a museum's permanent collection where you're just going to see Lichtenstein and Warhols. I don’t really care about that.
This is an excerpt from an interview for paid subscribers to the Inherent Bummer Substack. We do these every Thursday. Subscribe below and read the rest of our interview with Michael Cukr.
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Photo: Isabel Lamorris
