Post #712342 by Tiki Shark Art on Fri, Mar 28, 2014 2:49 AM

Aloha Tiki Tribe...
I've been thinking about Tiki Art... and appropriation...again. (I know, sorry.)

Okay. You know why some folks get confused & upset by me painting "Tiki-Culture Low-Brow" Art? It's politics. Yep. There was a political over throw of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and people get that confused with the breaking of the "Kapu" religion by Queen Ka'ahumanu in 1819. If I painted Perseus fighting Medusa, no one would say, "Hey… I why are you (a non-Greek) painting that? No one would wonder if I was secretly worshiping Zeus in my basement. Or question if I was pushing Paganism on people trying to disrupt their proper Christian beliefs.

But, in Hawaii, there is a strange guilt still lingering in people's minds. They don't want to talk about the history here, even though it is really exciting stuff, with rich cultural mythology as wonderful as Greek mythology. But, we "don't want to scare the tourists" is the rule in the art galleries here. So, "Happy Dolphins" is the major art form in Hawaii.

I have this great "Low-Brow Hawaiiana" Idea for a Big painting - a real Low-Brow Tiki-Art Masterpiece: Madame Pele the Volcano Goddess, riding a Tiger Shark, With some Tiki (this is a giant shark) She's in a sea-battle with a "Skeleton-Pirate-Nosferatu" version of Captain Cook (his ghost ship infested with plague-rats like the Demeter in "Dracula") off the coast of the Big Island (Kilauea erupting in the back ground) … a big dramatic canvas, like 5 feet wide, 3 feet tall! Man, that in the front window of the Kona Gallery would stop tourists in their tracks - what a hoot!

But… it' might scare 'em off, not get 'em to come in-side and buy art. Or, so the gallery thinks. SO…. I have to get to a place where I really do not care about what "sells to tourists" to paint real Low-Brow Art about Tiki-Culture. I have to be ready to be tossed out of the one gallery that will show my work now. I gotta' make a living, so I'm still not there yet. Maybe one day, If I keep inching toward more and more true Low-Brow art (that my inner art-muse is telling me to paint) maybe … my audience will come along as well, if I'm good enough. I don't think I'm good enough yet.

Now, all this don't mean I dislike Captain Cook. No, I really think he was a real life historical hero - explored more of the globe than anyone before him. Quite amazing guy who hd an amazing life, read up on him!

Nor do I dis like Christians,. My art agent is the only Muslim who is a graduate of BIOLA (the Bible Institute of Los Angeles), and I've had folks from BIOLA come to my low-Brow art shows at galleries like La Luz De Jesus, and we had a great time. As a matter of fact, they were more wild and fun than a lot of the hipster art crowd.

I don't want to make light of Hawaiian culture either. I love Hawaiian culture, history, and mythology - it's all really great stuff. It's sad kids don't get to read about the demi-god Maui as much as they get to read about the demi-god Perseus fighting Medusa. I loved learning Greek mythology as a kid, spending the week end at the library reading books... not any on Hawaiian mythology though. There are hardly any. There's this one book, a big ponderous book, that is written so darned dryly it's hard to get through. No kid would ever pick it up. Sucks all the adventure and excitement out of some amazing myths.

So, really I got no political/religious agenda. Well maybe I do.... I just have an urge to paint something that will have some real meaning… maybe make people think …more than "a happy dolphin painting".

I just gotta' become a better painter...