Post #325107 by bigbrotiki on Sun, Aug 12, 2007 4:28 PM

Thank you everyone! I am glad that I could deliver. :)

On 2007-08-12 15:27, teaKEY wrote:
BigBro: What time period would you say a MODERN TIKI would be.

Can't answer that in a one period time frame. Strictly speaking, the mid-50s to mid-60s were Tiki Modern's heyday, but that does not apply to stuff like Witco, which even in the early 1970s was still influenced by the mid-century modernism that the generation of post war artists like William Westenhaver were formed by. He continued to work in that style even after it was not in fashion any more.

Now it is being appreciated again. So even today I could call a just sculpted Tiki very "Tiki Modern", because it combines certain elements of Cubist, moderne and primitive stylization that were inherent in both: Original primitive art, and also in works from the 50s and 60s. I am talking about simplicity, elegant lines, and a certain degree of abstraction. I do not have a catalog of these elements for easy do-it-yourself, I just look and see.

Examples:

Tiki Modern mask, 1960s

Tiki Modern mask, 2002

Not Tiki Modern, simply Tiki

...I don't own any of the toothy grin or growl Tikis that overflow the Tiki revival nowadays. I consider these "Cartoon Tiki"....which is not my preferred style.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2007-08-12 16:34 ]