THE GREAT GASTALDI

by Corky Carroll

Today I would like to tell you about Bob Abbott, my pal and mentor.  I first met Bob back in the late 1960’s when I was surfing at Cottons Point in San Clemente, in front of the infamous “Western White House,” former summer home of President Richard Nixon.  He showed up one day with Steve Bigler.  Bigler was one of the top competitive surfers at that time.  The three of us had a great session surfing together. 

Fast forward to the mid 1990’s.  I was teaching tennis at that time and was preparing for a mixed doubles tournament.  My partner set up a practice match with a couple she was friends with.  It turned out to be Bob Abbott and his wife Ann, same dude I surfed with almost 30 years before.  Bob was the head tennis pro at the Balboa Bay Club at that time.  We had a great match and a super fun evening. 

Fast forward again to a few years ago.  It was not too long after my body was not letting me surf so much anymore and, at my beautiful wife Raquels suggestion, I had decided to make painting a full time adventure.  I had been posting my work on my Facebook page and was starting to do fairly well with selling them there.  I got a message one day from Jerome Gastaldi saying he had been watching my improvement as an artist and offered to help me if I wanted.  I googled him and saw that this was a very renowned big time art dude.  So, I jumped at the chance to get some help. 

My wife and I drove down to Villa con Cuore, his art retreat in Fallbrook, one afternoon to meet him and see what he had to say.  Turns out that the great Jerome Gastaldi is none other than that same Bob Abbott who I had surfed and played tennis with in the 60’s and 90’s.  Gastaldi is a family name and he had adopted it for his artist name.  He is of Italian descent.  We hit it off and he invited me to come spend time painting with him.  So I did, and this has led to some successful exhibitions and a great friendship.  He has really helped me with this art career I am working at.

For more information on him check out the Villa con Cuore website at www.VillaConCuore.com.  Plus you can view his artwork at all of the YARDHOUSE restaurants in the country.  His Villa con Cuore is a beautiful art cultural center that is open to all kinds of artists.  Painters, sculptors, potters, writers and people who just love the arts.  The dude is the real deal, not to mention an amazing personality.  Just breathing the air at the Villa is inspiring.  I try to spend as much time as I can visiting and soaking in the atmosphere.  Hangin’ out with the Great Gastaldi is priceless. 

One of his current projects is called “FINDING LIGHT.”  Here are his words:

“See the world today through the eyes of an artist—through reflection and lived experience. What we are witnessing echoes the past. History repeats itself.

Through art, repetition becomes revelation—and revelation becomes awakening.

If you truly want to understand what’s happening in the world today, look closely—beyond headlines, beyond noise. History, as Goya’s works from the Spanish Inquisition remind us, repeats itself. Today’s challenges echo those same cycles of power and corruption taking place globally. But we are not condemned to repeat them. We have the power—and the opportunity—to change our future.

Finding Light presents a new approach to addressing the world’s problems through art—our oldest and most universal form of communication. Before politics, before media, before institutions, there were images on cave walls, symbols carved in stone, stories passed by firelight. Art has always carried truth across borders and generations.

But this is not art as you have known it.

Through the concept of Bridging, art is no longer static. It is experienced. A painting connects to film. The book connects to a live exhibition. The exhibition connects through live feed to the world. The viewer is no longer standing outside the work—the viewer steps inside it.

Finding Light is a collaborative journey, paired with a film and a live feed from the exhibition. It is free to all. It extends beyond any one medium, beyond any one culture. You are invited into the circle—not just to observe, but to participate.

We were created equally to be part of the infinite circle.

Through Bridging, the circle becomes visible. A static image opens into motion. A written page opens into voice. A private reflection becomes a shared experience across continents. Instead of consuming art, you enter it. Instead of debating the world’s problems, you help create a new perspective.

This is art as dialogue. Art as awakening. Art as solution.”

That’s my pal Bob. Orange County surf rat turned tennis pro turned  The Great Gastaldi.