At the base of my creative research project lie (a) the contention that within the field of contemporary abstract painting there is an intrinsic relationship between the gesture and the sublime and (b) the intention to explore this relationship through experimentation in the production of artefacts complemented by investigation of relevant academic and theoretical commentary and explication. However, my lifelong involvement with surfing and with its art and culture provided in the first place an intuitive knowledge of the relationship between the gesture and the sublime and, in the second, a source of comparison and parallels in regard to this relationship that informed and interacted with the processes both of creative experimentation and scholarly investigation. This dynamic interplay was active and continued throughout the whole research project. In consqeuence its effects are evident not only in the aftefacts themselves but also in the structure of the exegesis which, in following the course of the interplay and in providing commentary on the artefacts, draws upon and interweaves personal experience, perceptions and insights with facets and characteristics of the history and evolution of contemporary abstraction, the art of surfing and surf art. / Thesis (MVisualArts)--University of South Australia, 2007.