Post #1397 by bigbrotiki on Sat, May 11, 2002 10:25 AM

The routes and channels of the tourist carving business are mysterious, but just looking at the style of the two GOOD masks (Kahukini's and the one Tiki Greg found on e-bay) I would say they originated somewhere in Indonesia, the Phillipines or so. They are definitely vintage, because that love of detail is hard to find nowadays in tourist carvings, the level of workmanship having devolved to the likes of the other two ones that Kahukini refers to on e-bay, which in my opinion belong in the category that Paul Theroux coldly refers to as "nameless-looking bits of hacked wood". The glossy laquer that is trying to make the cheap wood look better is always a giveaway of this kind of airport art.
There actually was no tradition of masks anywhere in pre-contact Polynesia. Melanesia is the closest culture group to Polynesia that had a strong mask tradition. But there is a definite history of mask use in American Tiki culture, and the red glowing eyes are a must! And off course you can buy masks nowadays in Tonga and other islands, cause the tourists want them.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki on 2002-05-11 10:26 ]