Post #24797 by BC-Da-Da on Sat, Mar 1, 2003 1:05 AM

'Night of the Tiki'... seeks to illuminate traditional tiki culture through the dislay of primitive carvings and to show, through the work of Shag and Leroy Schmaltz, how these artists have taken tiki to new levels.

It seeks to do that, but doesn;t do a good job of it. I understood the concept, but as Sven pointed out more eloquently than I, the carvings used were not '50s Schmaltz originals, but Oceanic Arts pressings FROM LeRoy's originals, with a ton of incongruous paint on them. Believe me, when I call it "crap," I don't mean that Shag's art or LeRoy's carvings are crap. Quite the contrary. I just think the book is not quite accurate and seems like another way to flood the copious market demand without giving something that has a lot of lasting power. We plug Sven's book because it is thorough, and doesn't seek to be anything more than it claims, but fulfills all it claims to be, at the same time.