Post #380840 by bigbrotiki on Sat, May 17, 2008 12:14 AM

Trader Dick's also used that specific Moai design.

And I want to shed some light on M.M.'s post too, because I just realized there is a misunderstanding, the cause of which might be my choice of images in Tiki Modern:

On 2008-05-16 04:40, Moai_Mama wrote:
Much like the un-tiki 'cultural context-lacking crap' that your very own indulgent other half Naomi (+ writer of the recent article about you in Atomic Ranch) sells via her online store? Eeek @ items such as brightly colored rubber 'tiki' pencil toppers at http://www.8BallWebstore.com (Home Decor > Tiki, Tiki, Tiki!) but at least she does carry that 2nd book that you wrote :wink:

Those pencil toppers are not un-Tiki, or I would not have pictured them in Tiki Modern. Yet it is my fault that they might be perceived as such, considering the text on that page.

To clarify: I chose to use the Accoutrements pencil toppers on page 284 in Tiki Modern as an example for the widespread re-use of the Tiki image in general, and NOT as an example for "big corporations having abused the name for purely commercial gain". I really should have shown an example for that, too, but I did not have the room. Even the Shasta can does not totally qualify, because A.) It does show a Tiki based on an actual mid-century Poly pop mug, and B.) Shasta had already used "Tiki" as a soda brand name in the 60s. (plus the Tiki Central campaign tie-in, but that's a whole nother story).

"Context-less" means that an item has no roots in either authentic Oceanic Art, OR in mid-century Polynesian pop of the 50s and 60s, which applies to the Bali surfer figures, and (even respecting Taboo Dan's point about the tourist carvings) also to those Phillipine masks.

The Accoutrements pencil toppers actually have a many-fold context in Tiki style: For one, they are unique, never before used applications of the Tiki concept, and as such are modern Polynesian pop just as the "Tiki Tote" and the Tiki Soap-on-a-rope are vintage Polynesian pop. Plus they illustrate my point on that page that modern designers have made the Tiki image a common icon again, by the fact that

A.) They utilize the House Industries Tiki type face which has eased the popularization of Tiki (even the BOT and Tiki Mod covers used it), and

B.) The Tikis depicted were taken straight from the pages of the BOT (bottom left to top right: Tropics Tongue Tiki, Aku Tiki mug, Polynesian Village Apts Tiki), which makes these pencil toppers a great example of the Tiki Revival, one of the many that show me that, by waiting 8 years to find the right publisher, I succeeded in my aim to re-introduce the Tiki icon into contemporary pop culture.

And regarding their colors: Allow me to clarify that my ire directed towards bright colors on Tikis is mainly reserved for defaced vintage carvings, and for wood carvings in general. I do not judge modern plastic Tiki objects the same way. As long as in their design they, as mentioned above, either show SOME relation to authentic Polynesian art, or to 1950s/60s Tiki style, they ARE Polynesian pop.

I realize Moai Mama that you are just ribbing me (which is fine), and my reply might seem overly earnest, but: That's what I do! :)

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-05-17 08:14 ]