Post #22073 by bigbrotiki on Wed, Feb 5, 2003 5:08 PM

On 2003-02-05 00:00, fatuhiva wrote:
I've never seen that style before-

THIS, my friends, is Fatu Hiva style sarcasm, and I must say, I quite agree.
This style was already being repetitious when only Wayne Coombs was carving it. And when his ex-helpers and others started copying it, it spread like mailboxes across Florida, and in lieu of other sources, even as far as the Hard Rock Cafe in Lahaina.

Now, I love Wayne, his heart is at the right place, and a lot of his stuff is really cool, I have some. And I am glad he has been able to make a living for many years (survivng the Tiki drought years) carving the same Pineapple Head Tiki overe and over. And I can say this now because after he got copied too much he came up with other styles.
Because the great thing about Tiki is the ifinite varieties it can be re-created in, out of the different island styles mixed with modern art abstraction and cartoon whimsy, there is no limit to the creativeness of the sculptor.

Is this Charlie identical with Palm Tree Charlie? Because if he is, his website shows he can do better: http://www.palmtreecharlie.com/tiki.htm

Now I like only a couple of Tikis on that site, many are too whacky, and some just plain don't work. But this guy has the guts to try weird stuff, and sometimes it comes out great. Barney West was like that.

Now it might be that the Wayne Coombs Pineapple Head has been proven the commercially most successful design for many carvers, so it's not lack of imagination that makes it being repeated, just like Leeteg kept on painting Rapa Hina.
But why offer three of them on e-bay at the same time?

All this is off course just based on my personal taste. Please feel free to differ.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki on 2003-02-05 17:12 ]