Post #392956 by Tipsy McStagger on Thu, Jul 10, 2008 5:05 AM

PS: And there's lots wrong with a Tiki with a pineapple on its forehead, especially if it is the only thing that people think of as Tiki. Just because the concept stuck doesn't mean it's good. Wayne is a great artist, but he did what sold best, and along came bozo armies of imitators, so the pineapple thing spread like a weed. When I saw it at the Hard Rock Cafe in Lahaina, I knew it had gone too far. :D

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-07-09 22:53 ]

..actually....those imitators were other carvers that wayne had hired and trained to carve in his style...he was getting so much work, that he needed a few more carving hands...not all the carvings were done by wayne....if you wanted him to carve one you had to specifically say "wayne, i want YOU to carve it, not one of your employees"...or ask him to point out the ones he actually carved....otherwise you would end up with a carving by someone else......

long story short, many of the carvers wayne trained wound up quitting and when they did, they went into business for themselves miles down the beach, carving the same tikis wayne showed them how.....it always pissed wayne off and rightly so....not only did he invest time and money into these carvers but now they were stealing his thunder and cutting him out......

this is the legend of the big tooth tikis!!

incidentally, i also have pics from way back at the leeteg art gallery opening in huntington beach...where copies of waynes tikis were sent overseas to be duplicated and sold at the opening....and this was back when few people had even heard of wayne and his style wasn't so widespread....