Aku Aku Moai Papa(?) interior carving

I've been waiting for the chance to acquire this piece for a few months now and earlier this week I got it! It was first discussed over in the Aku Aku Las Vegas thread in General Tik.

The origins of this carving might be a complete mystery if not for this interior shot provided by Vintage Vegas on Flickr:

I'm pretty sure this guy (girl?) is the third carving on the left in this picture. Here's my best attempt at Photoshop-ing a better image: (side by side comparison)

I have no idea how this piece wound up in Kansas City; there must have been a sale of the interior contents of the Aku Aku at some point so maybe there are more of these guys out there. From the photo there looks to be at least 9 figures.

I understand that Eli Hedley did the interior decor for the Aku Aku. Did he do the interior carvings as well? I bought both books currently available on him, but there's no mention of this project. (When are you going to do the Book of Eli, Ben?!) I'm curious if there is any more information about this carving.

Congratulations Silverline!!!

It's great to see an actual something from that mysterious interior.

Wonderful! Here is my cropped and lightened up version of that dark interior above:

How many of these were there? Will we ever find a crisp, well exposed photo of these totally unique room dividers?

Terrific! Another vintage artifact of Poly Pop history is saved and in good hands. Congrats! Good detective work too.

On 2010-06-17 13:36, bigbrotiki wrote:
How many of these were there? Will we ever find a crisp, well exposed photo of these totally unique room dividers?

Thanks for the image Sven. It looks to me like they were staggered with the center figures facing the other side of the room. There's a small hole for a screw in the front of this figure's head, and a larger hole in the back, likely for a peg mounted in the beam. I'll get a better shot of the back posted ASAP.

Arrrr, it's so frustrating to not be able to see better....you know, initially it looked like six figures in a row to me, but now it seems there are 2X two with some other (lobster claw shaped?) things between them... outch, my eyes hurt

For completion, here is my post that explains the "PaPa" monniker:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=1845&forum=1&vpost=445339

Here's about the best I can do with the whole image; started with the largest image I could, ran some heafty noise-reduction, gamma-correction. etc. I'm still am not sure what's going on up there.

Where are those CSI computer-ehnacement algorithms when you need them?

That is a great looking Tiki. Great finds in KC. Glad it found the right home.

Beautiful piece!

Good work, Silverline, looks MUCH better. See what I mean about those middle pieces? They seem to be standing on a pin point, with an opening in the center...

Love those backlit Chinese tiles! What are those arches behind the back rests? And I think the table lamps are black Duncan mold Moais..

And what about those design panels at the end of the room to the right?

Secrets of the Aku Aku!

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2010-06-18 11:00 ]

that's some serious tiki business going on in this thread...

congrats on a fine piece!

I wanted to ad this piece of information I found in the Berlin Museum of Ethnology:

I am always interested in reports on how EARLY the production of tourist carvings began, and how much Oceanic art from the post-contact period was already affected by Western demand, proving that the claim of "authenticity" is somewhat relative in many cases.

Hmm . . Interesting. I wonder just how LATE they were exporting these carvings. Maybe this figure (and the others) was carved on Easter Island??

I keep asking her where she came from, but she's not talking.

I severely doubt that, not in that size. But I like unlikely theories like that: Inspired by that text, one could fabricate the theory that these were Easter Island tourist trade overstock that did not sell because travelers preferred the Kava Kava versions. :)

But seriously, by the style I judge these as fine examples of American Tiki art, equally as rare as their Polynesian counterparts, because i know of nowhere else in Polynesia Americana where they were employed.

...what a great artifact SilverLine! It's size and unique poly pop style are very very cool! I dig it a lot, excellent find! :)

Interior decorators New York operates on the wide selection of tasks at home enhancements to college restorations, stately house makeovers as well as piece of art workplaces.

[ Edited by: Hakalugi - Spam link disabled/modified - 2012-04-14 20:52 ]

Oh good! I want all four walls of my living room lined with these, please!:

Life-sized, of course. :D