Post #397870 by bigbrotiki on Wed, Jul 30, 2008 11:57 PM

In my opinion, this is an example of too much human-like naturalism in Tiki sculpture. The essence of original Polynesian and other primitive art is abstraction in the cubist and modernist style, while maintaining a physical dynamic. This is why "primitive" art inspired the moderns of the 1920s in the first place, it was breaking with the naturalism of Western art. And this is where later the mid-century designers picked up from to put their spin on the art form. To marry a human body with a Tiki head is caricature and cartoon at best, but the same concept would be so much more compelling if it was done in a stylized, simplified, cubist way.