Post #386780 by GROG on Fri, Jun 13, 2008 12:25 AM

Back when "Tiki" was new to America and artists and artisans who were creating and pretty much pioneering tiki, the most successful artists drew upon the original Polynesion carvings (Hawaiian, Marquesian, PNG, Moai,etc) as their source for creating their own style of "Tiki art". You could say that their art was a watered down version of the original Polynesion art, but more accurately, the original Polynesian art was the "source of inspiration" which they drew on to create their own art which became it's own artform in America, thus becoming "Tiki Art"or as Sven named the movement, "Polynesian Pop". Then, as now some artists did not research correctly (or at all) the original Polynesian art as their original "source of inspiration" (probably because there weren't many books or real references that were readily available at the time) and thus you got pieces like Tiki Bob, who was mistakenly inspired by some African Art. But, because he was part of the TIKI ART (Polypop) MOVEMENT being created in America at that time, he IS considered "Tiki". Other artists drew their inspiration from the artists who were pioneering Tiki Art at that time, rather than using the original Polynesion carvings done overseas which the pioneers drew their inspiration from. Thus, they created big toothed tikis, and faces on logs, because to them, that is what it looked like the other artists were doing. And these are considered "Tiki" as well, because they were created for/during the TIKI ART MOVEMENT at that time when Tiki art was still discovereing itself and had no real set definition yet. Thus, Mr. Smiley IS Tiki, because he was also part of the TIKI Movement (or Polypop) when it was still finding it's way and had not yet been defined (or refined). Since Tiki was unknowingly becoming it's own art movement at the time, ALL the art created during that time, whether it was succesful or not, good, bad or ugly, or whatever source it was inspired by, is "Tiki" because it was part of that TIKI movement in that era. Even WITCO tikis, whether you like them or not, are TIKI because they were part of the TIKI MOVEMENT when it was still undefined. It may not have used the original Polynesian art as its source of inspiration, but still, it pushed TIKI ART in a little different direction than what most other Tiki art being made during this first Tiki Art Movement. It didn't have Bamboo, or fish floats, or such, but it still followed the basic premise of what the TIKI ART MOVEMENT was--- which was (as SVEN puts it in the Book of Tiki) PRIMITIVE ART IN A CIVILIZED ENVIRONMENT. (Inespecially as influenced by Polynesian/ and the exotic). As Tiki became less popular, and artists weren't hired to create new Tiki art, the movement died away, without having really been pushed beyond a certain point. So everything created during that era is "TIKI" meaning that it was created during the first art movement when it was discovering itself. That was the GOLDEN AGE of Tiki art.

Now there is a "Tiki Revival" and Tiki is seeing a SILVER AGE. That art that was created during the GOLDEN AGE is what defines TIKI. Now we are creating new Tiki Bars and art that follows what was created during the GOLDEN AGE. The only problem is that we are merely copying what was done during that time, and it becomes merely a copy, or worse, a watered-down version of "TIKI" because we are using the Tiki art from the GOLDEN AGE as our source of inspiration. So, we are dooming the art to repetition, or are watering it down so far from the GOLDEN AGE Tiki art that it can't technically be called "TIKI" because it is so far removed from the original source of inspiration, which was Polynesian art. The BOOK OF TIKI and TIKI MODERN DOCUMENT what Tiki art was during the GOLDEN AGE. If you use these books as your source, you can recreate the art from the Golden Age, but it's not pushing Tiki art beyond anything done during the GOLDEN AGE. And sure, if you use the icons and art created during that time your stuff IS "Tiki", because you're basically doing the same thing as has been done before, or youre watering it down because its a copy of a copy. So, to TRULY push TIKI ART BEYOND what has been done in the GOLDEN AGE, we have to go back to the ORIGINAL SOURCE OF INSPIRATION which was Polynesian art as done overseas, using the basic premise of PRIMITIVE POLYNESIAN,EXOTIC ART IN A CIVILZED environment as defined by the look and ideas brought about during the GOLDEN AGE of Tiki art, but not BOUND by it. And NOT just copy it EXACTLY, but interpret it and let it inspire us to create art in our own ideas and visions, and artistic style based upon it.

GROG believe this is what Big bro is challenging the artists to do and understand, but then again GROG may be totally off in left field and full of shit and SVEN will just throw up his hands and cuss GROG for even attempting to interpret this thread as being such a beast.

So, if I tossed a monkey wrench in the works, I'm sorry SVEN and I'll just butt out. But, if I did manage to get some semblence of true interpretation, then YAY! GROG finally do SOMETHING right!!