Thanks everybody for stopping in before, during and after Oasis.
I've got lots more pictures to post and will do so soon, but wanted to post this interview I just gave to the San Diego News Group before it was edited down to a paragraph and published.
Aloha Anthony!
I hope you will include some photos with this article as the artwork is really unusual. (... and that you won't feel the need to edit it down to a slender sentence. Haha.)
Mahalo - HodadHank
Proprietor /Curator
FREAKY BOUTIKI GALLERY
3742 Mission Blvd
Mission Beach CA 92109
SDNG- Explain a little bit about this special event? Will local artists be participating?
HH- *In coordination with our tenth anniversary and the launch of FREAKY BOUTIKI GALLERY, we're hosting TIKI ISLAND 3, an international group show including work by many San Diego area artists; all influenced by mid century American Tiki culture as well as original islander inspirations. The exhibition explores the creative processes and divergent paths used by each artist in their personal journey to create modern primitive artworks using various mediums.
TIKI ISLAND is an annual Polynesian Pop art show initiated by San Diego publication Tiki Magazine and this year supported by GUAVA BEACH BAR & GRILL, who are offering a special vintage tropical cocktail menu all month, and MR TIKI's MAI TAI LOUNGE in the Gaslamp Quarter offering food discounts to gallery patrons.*
SDNG- Why should people come check it out?
HH- Polynesian Pop is a truly American artistic phenomenon, like Jazz, particularly here in San Diego, born as the greatest generation returned from the Pacific theater after WWII. Memories of island life inspired many to re-create them on the mainland resulting in a cultural movement paralleling and incorporating elements of the futuristic space race. Tiki's primitive influence was vast and spread from southern California across the nation and the world. While its prominence has ebbed, one need only look at the surging popularity of San Diego's Polynesian Pop landmarks like Mission Beach's own Catamaran Resort or Shelter Island's Bali Hai, Half Moon Inn or the Kona Kai Resort to realize San Diego owns a very special place in America's legacy of Tiki which should be honored, preserved and most of all enjoyed.
SDNG- What are some other elements of the new gallery?
HH- *FREAKY BOUTIKI GALLERY is not a stuffy affair. We currently have a dazzling selection artwork to appeal to all tastes and budgets. FBG remains the only official MUNKTIKI CERAMICS dealer in the northern hemisphere, premier makers of limited edition hand made tiki mugs. We are also proud to introduce the artwork of PAIPO, renowned New Zealand micro-carver and expert lapidary artist for his first American exhibition. We are above all, a gallery BY artists FOR artists and will be offering our favorite lines of art and carving supplies beginning this fall. We are a working artists' studio; painting, jewelry-making and carving on site every single day.
Our adjoining 1200 sq foot tropical gift shop FREAKY BOUTIKI features board shorts, sandals, aloha shirts, Marini's famous Salt Water Taffy, Exotica, Jazz, Caribbean vinyl and CD's, as well as curios like hard-to-find Pacific art resource books, boars tusk jewelry, glass fishing floats, Tapa cloth lamps, puffer fish and shrunken heads!*
SDNG- What is the significance of your 10-year anniversary?
HH- *When compared to legendary neighbors Saska's, a Mission Beach landmark for almost sixty years, a decade seems like a tiny blip on the radar. But for me, this is a great personal triumph. A goal finally realized. Spending so many years kicking around as a freelance illustrator, cartoonist, working with Navajo silversmiths in the desert, art directing or curating the Imagine Gallery on Route 66... the road to opening my own gallery has seemed long indeed.
Being a part of historic MB is a dream come true and I have enjoyed every moment. I have great neighbors and am proud to do my part to make my neighborhood a regular year round stop for San Diego residents as well as a must-see destination for visitors from abroad.*
SDNG- So, what are the hours of the gallery?
HH- Freaky Boutiki Gallery is currently open six days a week from ten to six. Dark Tuesday. TIKI ISLAND 3 show reception will be Friday, September fourth, from six to eleven pm.
SDNG- Is the gallery taking the place of your smoke shop?
HH- Ah, yes. The question on everyone's lips! I suppose the answer is yes AND no. While The ORIGINAL Freak Factory Smoke Shoppe is a thing of the permanent past, FREAKY BOUTIKI remains a licensed tobacconist and a regular stop for aficianados craving premium Cuban seed cigars, collectable hand carved briar wood and Meerschaum pipes or fine tobaccos.
