Surfing Arts, Science, and Issues Conference (SASIC) held at Scripps Oceanographic Institute in La Jolla, California, in 2010. The conference was guest-organized by The Modeling Agency, a Los Angeles artist initiative founded by Nick Herman and Christopher James. This introduction presented the organizing themes of the conference—the aesthetics of surfing and modeling as an investigative strategy. A concurrent exhibition of relevant art was hung in the Center for Coastal Studies building on the Scripps Campus, amidst and among the trappings of Oceanographic research and its documentation. Further information may be found at: themodelingagency.net.