Tiki at the Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock

I was in the Center this afternoon where they are currently displaying some art pieces by local artists.

When I woke up this morning, I had no idea that I would be seeing this today.

An erector-set tiki

(Closer shot)

This piece is a faux fossils-in-rock sorta thing.

Nothing better than finding tiki where you least expect it!

The Erector set tiki is part of a group of artists from the late 70's, early 80's known as World Imitations Productions, composed of artists and band members from the group Monitor aka "The Tikis." Jeffrey Vallance and Michael Uhlenkott are a few artists in the show. While the group show has nothing related to the current resurrection of Tiki, it mostly was about the counter culture revolution of early punk. The 70's and 80's were the downfall of Tiki as we TCers love it, and a few of these artists observed and made artwork about the Americana Tiki vs. the authentic Tiki, which Vallance and Uhlenkott both ended up researching extensivelly with trips all over the Pacific. Vallance became good friends with the King of Tonga. I'm sure others including Sven could tell you more about it, and with more accuracy.

Here is a section of Michael's diary from one of those visits on our site:

http://www.adriftclothing.com/michael_journal.htm

http://blog.humuhumu.com/2005/12/20/traditional-tiki-artwork-by-michael-uhlenkott

http://www.centerartseaglerock.org/index.php/calendar/event/id/314