The Lurid low-brow Tiki-Art of Brad (tiki-shark) Parker

Aloha Tiki Tribe!

I'm working on the "Haunted Hotel Honolulu" - 24 " x 30" …. more of the wood work, the ghost-tiki looks more see-through, and the lighting from the window and sunset are better…
more to come...

Light that makes shadows is at times so confusing. I've had to re-work paintings too. I'm glad you saw the light at the end of the tunnel!

Fun boards. I see them at Mahalo Tiki's shop. Your art sure makes them special. Congratulations, Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2014-10-29 22:29 ]

Thanks Wendy!

Aloha Tiki-Tribe!

I was very happy when I saw them too! Ya never know how things will come out till they do…. these came out better than I was thinking.
So….
almost HALLOWEEN, and I'm working on a DEAD-line. (HA!)

Heres me makin' da Tiki-Art.
Next thing I gotta finish up the wave and Diamond head.
Next I also wanna' put a shelf on the wall behind "Scardy-Cat". On the shelf will be three icon-like items identifying out sub culture. Low-Brow. Rockabilly. Tiki.
Three things. I think they will be...
1.) A Skull.
2.) A Jack-O-Lantern.
and
3.) A Tiki-Mug.
...that is unless someone out there can think of a more interesting icon like object that might go on there…. (hmmm?)
Oh Yeah, I gotta paint the cover of then album leaning up behind the record player…."But What Album, Brad? " You might ask.
Well. Here's a hint. It might look like …

This.
But it's gonna be tricky painting it all perspective-y and like dat, and still be readable… might have to get out the REALLY tiny brushes.

2 nights sunset was nice. "Madam Pele" is kicking up a lot of VOG. My friends say they can feel it. I don't know if I do yet.

Here's something cool to watch if ya' got some time, and like cartoons. I had this on video tape back in collage. Was fun watching it again.

"The Collect Call of Cthulhu"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7iLMsJOAxg

Gotta get up early and going snorkeling with some friends - so can't stay up too late painting….but it's a DEAD-Line so Gotta get back to it!
ALOHA!

Happy Aloha-Friday Tiki-Tribe!
and…..
Happy HALLOWEEN!

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2014-10-31 17:00 ]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TIKI TRIBE!
Todays The Big DAY!
In case you need more monster in your All Hallows Eve - I'm opening the old creaking art studio door tonight (and tonight only)
with a mother TREAT!

I got 5 "Monsters on Vacation" (featuring all four Famous Monsters)

Up for sale at $75.00 each. FREE shipping to North America. (other countries pay only $13!)
(These go for twice that at the gallery.)
20" x 16" Giclee on Heavy Paper
Made with Archival fade resistant inks

Only 5, first five who reply, get 'em!
This TREAT is on for Halloween Night only!
I take Paypal at [email protected].

Happy Haunting!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!

Working on a artist's remark on a BIG art print….

"Say hello to my little friend!"

That's one huge "Forbidden Island" print. And I really like these cool varieties of gecko's we have here on the Island. Here's a pic of my recent visitor.

Aloha Tiki-Tribe!

Cute! I love it when they get tame and hop around in your hands!

Heres the next step…

And a drawing of

"A creepy tiki"

ALOHA

Lookin good shark man.,..

Thanks so much for taking pics of the evolution of HHH Brad, very informative and it looks FANTASTIC!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!

My pleasure cy.
Here's the latest on my current painting…

"Haunted Hotel Honolulu"

aka "Scardy Cat meets the Ghost of Exotica"

Yeah - I know. Guess who grot a Go pro!

more later!

ALOHA

Aloha Tiki Tribe…
More from the fish eye lens of my new go pro… yes my 4 other cameras are ALL f-ed up …this tropical weather does not like electronics!

Here's a better look at the album that Scardey Cat is listening to.

Here's my messy art studio as seen by a gold fish.

Here's a CU on Scardy Cat

Another look a that rum bottle and record.

The the whole thing.
"Haunted Hotel Honolulu"
aka
"Scardy Cat Meets the Ghost of Exotica"

More laters!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Happy Aloha Friday!
Here's Friday's sunset…

Putting the finishing touches on the "Haunted Hotel Honolulu".

Since I put in the Exotica album and Rum bottle in color, I needed to balance it with the three nick-nacks on the shelf also being in color. The pumpkin is …ah…orange. Then the Tiki will be Diga Diga Doo blue, and the skull will be yellowy bone in color.

Almost done… have a good week end!

More Laters!

Aloha!

"Scardy Cat & the Ghost of Exotica"

I'm working on the Mug and Skull… gotta get 'em perfect!
(obsess!)
Then a few more cracks and chips and weather & ruin….then it's done!
an all-nighter? Maybe?
( Hmmm what would LLT do or Big Toe do? )
OK.

an all-nighter…..

Laters!

Good morning Tiki Tribe,
OK guess I'm getting too old to pull all nighters..I couldn't do it. Konked out …but up and had a morning walk now.

This is what the Big Island and the big Blue looks like at 8AM Sunday.
Back to the studio and to finish Scardy Cat!

http://www.ovguide.com/tv/hawaiian_eye.htm

An episode of "Hawaiian Eye" with a VERY young Jack Nicolson as "Tony"…check it out!

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2014-11-16 13:59 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Well, There is a really fun side to being a Low Brow Tiki Artist…

Remember early in the year we started making skate boards with my tiki art on them.

It seems a major retail chain liked them, and ordered some.

I saw them in the stores in Honolulu, and they are in the store here in Kona.

And the Next Generation of Skate-boarders are now being introduced to "TIKI ART" via the TIKI-SHARK boards!

It's pretty heart warming to make something that I thought was cool and swanky,
and then, see kids enjoying the heck outa' them too!
That's gotta' be one of the best parts of this job.
(makes me feel all warm and mushy inside)

What Rewards you are reaping from your art and hard work!
Well Deserved!
That rum soaked cat and his Hainted Friend turned out....Perfect.
as twas expected.... When you say "weather"..like on the walls....like water drips and / or stains?
ooooooooooh....hope so!
Your work is always a wonder and a joy to look at!
GO,you PRO!
(i've had one for 3 years and still haven't even read the instructions.....is it easy to figger out?)

LLT - It took me a while to digger out. I read the entire instruction book, and still didn't get ti. Then I went on you tube and watched a few tutorials, and that helped a lot. It's easy once you learn the secret way it works. What the cryptic symbols on it's tiny screen mean. It's actually fun to play with - with that sacked fish eye lens. You never know what you got till you down load the thing. A feature it has that will be a lot of fun for you and me, once we learn it, will be the Time Lapse feature. We can set it up and let it take time lapse photos of us painting, then I think the small movies are easy to up load to you tube or suck, and we could link to them from TC, and the tiki tribe could watch us paint… once we figure out how our Go Pros work!

Like these:

HHH -finished… for now…I think.

Worms eye / fish eye view

I put it on the wall and will just let it be. I think I'm in danger of over working it.

Later on Tiki Tribe!

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2014-11-18 13:49 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!

Sunsets…
"Haunted Hotel Honolulu"
or
"Scardy Cat Meets the Ghost of Exotica"
24" x 30", acrylic on canvas

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
I think it's finished now.

"Haunted Hotel Honolulu"

"Scardy Cat meets the Ghost of Exotica Music"

24" xd 30" acrylic on canvas

hang10tiki just did this for me after I carved a mug for him. Looking at your painting I would like to put it here for you because you painting is so fine!

My pleasure cy.
Here's the latest on my current painting…

"Haunted Hotel Honolulu"

At first glance, I thought you put a tiny photo of your four Monsters in the current painting. The ceiling lines of your room match with the painting's.

My pleasure cy.
Here's the latest on my current painting…

"Haunted Hotel Honolulu"

At first glance, I thought you put a tiny photo of your four Monsters in the current painting. The ceiling lines of your room match with the painting's.

Thanks danlovestikis & Teakey!
U all RAWK! Don't know how I'd get the courage to paint without the aloha of the tiki central tiki-tribe!

I came back from a business trip to da mainland… and saw what was bugging me about
"Scardy Cat meets the Ghost of Exotica" or HHH….
the Lighting! Even though I wanted to make a black and white Cartoon land from the 1930's…
It just didn't work as a realistic light source from a color sunset into a black and white world…without putting in color rim lights on
the stuff in da room.

Here's a color test I did in photo shop.
OKAY …. one last late night ARTING to finish it!
A L O H A !
oh, speaking of sunsets………...

This is how BLACK FRIDAY ended here in Hawaii!
...but you can still last minute X-mas shop for "Tiki-Shark Tiki-Swag" at...
http://www.tikishark.com

Aloha Tiki Tribe

Yeah, bringing in the sunset into the B&W 1930's cartoon room as a hot rim light helped bring the comp together. A few alterations of yellow to orange rim light in a few areas and it'!s done…. right? …I think? …maybe?

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2014-11-29 11:57 ]

Dig this snip of painting "Scardy Cat"…
https://www.facebook.com/bradtikisharkparker

aloha tiki tribe!
Okee-dokee! I worked late into the dark warm Hawaiian night, as the trade winds whispered in the palm trees out side my window, and my old fan creaked in my art studio made too warm by bright lights to let me see what the heck I'm painting…. (I swear, I used to be able to draw with out all these lights, but I must be getting old!) anyways, I finished up the painting! It was inspired by another artist's work: Shawn Dickinson. He paints Surf Art (or Out-sider Art) and was featured in the book "SURF GRAPHICS" with me and BigToe and 27 other artists who have surfing, or Island life style, or TIKI as a theme in their art. Great collection by KORERO books.
http://www.korerobooks.co.uk
Anyways, Shawn paints what looks like animation cells from a cartoon from the 1930's. Like Popeye, opt Betty Boop. but with his own characters, skeletons, Ghosts, monsters, cats, hula girls, surfers, and like dat. Amazing, fun , wonderful stuff. I was in love with it the second I saw it. BUT, I didn't want to just rip him off, so I contacted him and asked him about what his thoughts were, and showed him a sketch. He's a great guy, asked if I'd mind changing the cat head to be more like one of my cat heads, which was no problem at all, and away I went with his blessing! Thanks Shawn!

"Scardy-Cat meets the Ghost of Exotica"
or
"Hanuted Hotel Honolulu"
24" x 30", acrylic on canvas.
I wanted to capture that 1930's black & White feel. And that oh so classic One room hotel room, with old style wooden boards like I always loved seeing in underground comics like The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers by Gilbert Shelton, or anything by the brilliant R. Crumb! Yet, I still am influenced so much by my environment - a remote volcanic tropical island! So I HAD to put in a beautiful red colored Sunset made so by Pele's VOG venting out of Kilauea. So I had a window in the Black & white Hotel Room with a view to a full color cartoon Hawaiian Sunset, threw in my obsessive need to paint the perfect wave, and there we go. Next I love Exotica music, and people tell me it's Dead… I think there a new exotica bands still making Tiki-fied music, but It would be funny to play with a "dead type of music" as a ghost. I picked a famous Exotica album, painted it side ways in forced perspective…not as easy as I thought it was gonna be (WHEW!) and let the other mandatory "Cool Black Cat" play along with an old record player… there!

I can't tell you how easy I thought this was gonna be… it seemed like a great idea. However I felt troubled through the whole thing. It never felt right…then I was done, but still felt wrong. I was in danger of over-working it. but didn't know what to do. …and I had to go to the dive show DEMA in Vegas to see some clients, meet an art Patron, and have a meeting with a writer who I'm working with to bring you a illustrated mystery-history-novel that takes place in Hawaii during the end of WWII - & the Birth of Exotica. Fun stuff!

Well the trip was great. It brought me a fresh perspective when I got back to my island studio, and I took one look at the painting and I knew what was wrong. I forgot the first rule of Saint Tim Hildebrtandt (Patron saint of all fantasy artists) "Thou shalt not forget where thy light source is cometh-ing from!" Sure enough I needed the full color sunset to touch the black and white world inside the hotel room. Hit the cat and the ghost and a few things with a rim back-light of yellow/orange. I jumped to it, and now it feels right. (HOO-RAY!)
Hope you dig it. Here's another shot:

as you can tell someone has bought me a GoPro which I am learning.
Big Mahalo for watching the paint dry - ALOHA!!

I watched your drawing of the shark on facebook today. That was terrific. I have my 2015 calendar to enjoy too. Good job.
Cheers, Wendy

Thanx Wendy!
That was fun, and I hope to get more out soon on line. Working out tech snags with my tech guy, for the http://www.tikishark.com

Here the first day of December's sunset from Hawaii!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Happy ALOHA FRIDAY!

Have you seen This woman?
She works at the "RED TIKI LOUNGE"…or does she?
Maybe she's the Dragon Lady who runs the Criminal Underworld in post WWII Honolulu?
Or is she a Japanese Spy?
But she could be an American/Japanese double agent?
Well, then there's a chance she's just a pawn in a game of life & death played by powerful Primitive Gods that have the Hawaiian Islands as their playing board. Well, That's the story, I guess…

Something about…
The end of World War II. A million Navy boys are drinking their last Mai-Tais at the RED TIKI LOUNGE and shipping home, while many-a island resident is seeking to relieve them of their US green-backs before they go. But, the wars changed everything. Terrible weapons have been loosed upon the world and shaken the pillars of Heaven and even drawn the attention of the Tiki Gods.

America doesn't know what to do with it's citizens of Japanese ancestry. Bets have been made. People are seeing strange things like spirits. Tricks and Traps have be put in motion…. and an ancient, evil force of great destruction is waiting to seize this moment to rise up … to mastery of the Earth!

The the owner of the RED TIKI LOUNGE is in trouble cause this guy who goes by the name "Don the Beachcomber" likes his joint and wants to open one just like it, or maybe nicer, right across the street! Just when he needs all the luck he can get.... his lucky RED TIKI suddenly Disappears!

Good thing an ex-Navy Commander lives above the bar in a flea-trap apartment that doubles as his detective agency. If he can help find the RED TIKI, and get the 600-pound-plus idol back in it's proper place in front of his Tiki-Bar… maybe the owner will forget about the commander's bar-tab (which is the size of Diamond Head.)

Of course, ya' know, that Japanese woman might be a character in a novel written by my friend S.P. Grogan. That Novel is a hard cover, 200 page-or so book that has a whole lot of black & White and full Color Tiki-Art in it made by a crazy street-person named Tiki Shark. This artist sells his weird-o paintings out front of the RED TIKI LOUNGE on busy nights to the folks waiting in line to get in and dance to the music of this new piano player named Denny.
Well… that's the story, anyway.

You can find out if any of that really IS the story... in MARCH, when...

"Atomic Dreams in the RED TIKI LOUNGE" is released for sale!

MARCH 6th & 7th we're having a big party here in Kailua-Kona...at the Royal Kona Resort…

…and at the Kona Oceanfront Gallery.

...with Live Music, & guest musicians maybe…

Dancing and drinking (& Don's Mai-Tai Bar is gonna' have a new drink called "The Atomic Zombie"!)

I hear the local radio station (LAVA 105.3 FM) might broad cast from the event.

It's rumored even Billy Kenoi, the Mayor of the Big Island, may drop by,

...along with a few other Big Island ( or So Cal.) V.I.P.s…
If you are HERE, you might even get your HARD COVER, 1st edition copy AUTOGRAPHED by S.P. Grogan and Brad "Tiki-Shark" Parker!

WELL, ...that's the story I hear…
anyways…

Stay tuned for more info as we get closer… ALOHA!

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2014-12-05 23:50 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe,

I'm grateful for TC and all the great people I've met through TC.

aloha tiki tribe!

So the other night I was a drawing …designing some tikis for a up coming project really…

I wanna design a new "Shark Tiki"

…here's some sketches…Ideas like a water line. It's crawling with sea life, as if it were half sunk. And swimming' with Shark Aumakua (spirits). Here it's holding a Pirate Treasure chest…that may be a bit too much. Dunno yet.

Here's an early doodle, just thinking of the concept…but how to translate it to a actual 3-D figurine? Tricky stuff.

Here's six ideas for six Tikis… very rough… top left is a "Dragon Wrapped Tiki " an idea I've been kicking around for a while now…

Here's a sketch I did a while back. I was inspired by Big Toe's "Fink Dragon" Wanted to do a painting, still do, now this project came up and I was wondering it if could translate to a 3-D figurine. Sure will need to be made much more simple to be put in a mold. That parts for sure.

Here's the start of a side view - I already am in question of what the heck to take out and how to make it work as a figurine. This one may not make it. But I'm gonna try.

Another idea I like was my old design of a "Hero" type Tiki. I like this design. A warrior but with a modern twist.
Old idea I had, but it should translate well I hope...

More Laters…. Thanks!

Mele Kalikimaka Tiki Tribe!

As you know, we went to a charity event tonight for the Kona-Kohala Chamber of commerce with donation going to the Hawaii Food Basket.

We donated a giclee fine art-Print of "The Sunken Tiki" for the auction and a Tiki-Shark Skate-Deck.
The president of the Chamber made a big deal and introduced me to the crowd and told us how grateful they where for our donation!

Wow, we were not expecting that! Very nice people live here in this small town, on this erupting volcanic island… quite amazing how much they have welcomed me, my art, even Abbas: my "larger-Than-Life Ultra-Swanky Hipster Art -Agent / Partner"! These are the same people who voted us to go to Washington DC and represent Small Business from the Big Island of Hawaii this last summer.

The things you hear about "ALOHA" are all true. We have it in the Tiki community in So Cal. But I'm glad to say it's Maybe not on the big hustle and bustle of the Honolulu all the time, or the uber-rich Maui hipsters rock-stars and movie stars all the time, but here in this "sleepy fishing village" of Kailua-Kona, I've been made to feel so welcome, that this kid from 25 years in LA just didn't know what was going on at first. Now I cannot leave my house, go to the post office, the store, the beach, with-out people who to me are strangers, coming up and saying "HI!, gosh I love your art, and have it all over my house after I framed all the sheets out of the calendar (I never have the heart to tell them that the calendars are cheaply printed and they that might fade) and they ask, "What are you painting on now?"

These thing never happened when I went to the store in LA or the Post office. This is a very small town. I rethink it's really helped my art. I hope I can life up to all the aloha and support and create some really great stuff for my next big art show …back in Los Angeles at La Luz de Jesus Gallery. Cause, big island or not, the "swank west coast Art Scene all happens in LA baby!"

Don't know if you read this or not, but, I was surprised, and thrilled, then scared half to death when I read this…
http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/news/2014/12/09/hawaiistiki-shark-art-sells-out-la-art-show-two.html?ana=fbk

"Scared?" you ask? "What do ya mean?"
Well, yeah. Funny, cause a few years back. Before anyone out side of the group of folks on line watching Tiki Central… When I was taking care of an aging parent who was dying of Alzheimer's, I recall painting the "Moon of Manakooah", and I was listening to "Vegas Vic's Tiki Lounge" Pod Cast of exotica music on my computer. I was actually thinking that " Wow, SHAG had a waiting list of people who wanted his art. That's amazing! " Jeepers -Creepers! I dreamed that one day, wouldn't it be so cool to be like that. To be like SHAG. A waiting list? Wow! That was job security! In the art world, that is unheard of…I thought it was just a day dream. A struggling artist's wish.
Well be careful what you wish for.
Now…it seems (for the moment) I have that waiting list. However, along with that waiting list comes ...the pressure to preform!

See when I paint, it's like I feel like I reach into my rib cage, and through my guts, through the very fiber of my being, and pull forth something that HAS to be better than what I've painted before. Like, at the end of Ray Bradburys;' "The Halloween Tree", I feel like I am giving up one year from the end of my life to create each really "good" painting. It takes a piece of my soul or life-force right outta' me. Then, I gotta brush that blood and sweat and tears onto the canvas to really create something special that will make people pause and go "Hmmm, wow, there's something you don't see every day. That's cool."

Please, don't get me wrong, I am so excited about this chance. I am numb. However, I am also terrified I will blow it. What if I am all out of Art-Life Stuff? I've never understood what makes the creative process work. I have things I do, that are guidelines for me to know if I'm making art or making ka-ka-poo-poo, I'm not posting these thoughts on FB. FB is a TV commercial where I have been lucky enough to sell my stuff. I keep my real thought for you guys, my hard core Tiki Tribe on Tiki Central.

Big Mahalo to all the tiki tribe, Merry Christmas, Mele Kalikimaka! - no matter where you live, Thanx for all your support and Aloha!

Mele Kalikimaka Tiki-Tribe!

ALOHA!

Brad - Really like your idea and sketches redoing the Tiki Shark...Even though you said that some of the sketches may be "too much", I really like the one holding the treasure chest. Your right, it has allot going on...but it's extremely cool and I think would make a top notch mug.

Not that you need any ideas (creativity is one of the defining characteristics of your art that we all really appreciate), but I had a thought while I was checking out the sketches...I started thinking, wouldn't it be cool if instead of the shark taking a bite of the head, it had a hammerhead shark coming over the top and the brow of the tiki was the hammerhead sharks head? Maybe flowing down the back to represent either a spine or more flowing like hair? I started imagining how it would look if you drew it...and thought I may want to just throw it out there.

Just an idea. Love your art. Look forward to seeing what you come up with next.

Robert

RVICTOR - that's brilliant!

Brad your AWESOME!

THANX! Really, very much.

Mele Kalikimaka Tiki-Tribe,
Here's some drawings I was commissioned to do.

"The Sweet Tiki"
Some were from previous done designs, but that remain very popular,
so I do occasionally draw a very popular "Tiki" again for an Art Patron who missed out on buying the original, but REEAALLY wants to have an original of it now. Well, anything is possible, and my agent Abbas can make about anything happen - at least it seems so to me! (Thanks Abbas!) .

"Tiki Island"
I usually don't, as I like to move forward not backward, or just not get trapped re-drawing the same "Happy Dolphin" so many time you get burned out. The Artist "Wyland" is a very popular artist for his dolphin oil paintings, and many many many many people want an original dolphin from him. Great, when you are staring out as a starving artist I bet! Now, 30 years later, sometimes he looks like he might not be getting his full satisfaction from his work. Not always, now, I've seen him live many times, and he lovesY o make art, and he LOVES his marine creatures…. you can see it in his eyes when he's working…But once I asked him "Hey, what number dolphin is this one?" Wyland paused painting, and gave me a smirk and chuckled a bit.

I know, it IS WORK. And, as artists, we should be very happy to even have work in this VERY difficult and VERY competitive field.
I am very grateful to have work!
Please don't get me wrong, I LOVE making Tiki-Art…. but, I don't think I've ever painted the same exact tiki twice… OK - two special gigs, where the patron missed buying the original, and REALLY REALLY loved it, and had to have an original. BUT, that's only a handful of gigs like that.. so far.

And I always change something….. ACTUALLY, Truth is I CAN'T seem to recreate perfectly any of my own stuff… I TRY to maintain a nice consistency and CAN'T! At least in my eyes! the same image over and over in my search down this path for true "Tiki" perfection.
However, some characters strike deep and hit a pop-culture bone, and take on a life all their own, ...and then they become fun to draw.

"The Ghost Tiki"
Like, I think that THIS tiki design is one of my most popular …it was first named the "Ghost Tiki" - now, that I've lived here on the Big Island, and know more about local legend, I think it's more along the lines of a "Night Marcher", or maybe it's a "menehune" that has gone over to he dark-side of the FORCE.
This wicked little Tiki/Skeleton looking creature has become one of my most popular designs that have made the jump over to the Tattoo world! Yipee!!
I'm always happy when I see tat photos of my work! Amazing! It's a HUGE complement for an artist, I think! …and I've seen several photos of folks with "The Ghost Tiki" Inked on them-selves!

It's quite cool to think you've made a "mark" on pop-culture … Wow!
That my Art can mean that much to some one.
Jeepers-creepers, that's really mind blowing.
I'm thrilled that I can bring that kind of joy and happiness to someone with my Art that they want it so much that some people are taking my Art with them ...EVERY WHERE they go, ...FOREVER!

Guess he's my tiki version of the ever popular: "Angry Wood-Pecker smoking' a cigar" .

At least, so far….

Happy Holidaze…and happy Holiday shopping!
If you wanna' tattoo for Christmas, may I suggest taking a look-see at http://www.tikishark.com to see if anything grabs your fancy? Cool!
Oh, and if you want to make something not-possible into maybe-possible, try talking to my Art agent Abbas at [email protected].

ALOHA!

Mele Kalikimaka Tiki-Tribe!

Sketching Tiki-Ideas for an up coming project…still. Gotta get these babies worked out soon.

I wan a get 6 to 8 good "types", like this is what I'll call a "Hero" Tiki.

These are ideas from one of my favorite sources… Crazy AL! I always love his designs. so animated and expressive, with out being "silly" or "disrespectful" to what a Tiki can really look like.

One of my most popular designs (the one that made it into becoming a tattoo the most) is this one, the "ghost tiki", here he's in a more "Palm tree" shape than a "stalking" shape. To lighten him up maybe he gets a uke instead of a shark tooth war club?

And I really want to re-visit my "Shark-Tiki" and see what other things I can do with it.

Someone suggested using a Hammer Head on top of his head, which lead me to make his head one with the Hammer-head. Hmmm…

Something interesting is starting to develop I think…

Lots of teeth and claws, am I influenced by my environment?

Here's another beautiful Hawaiian Sunset for you… where ever you are… even if your looking at snow.

Laters!

Brad - Love the direction you took your sketches in. I think your onto something with the hammerhead face. How many hammerhead tiki mugs are out there? I don't recall seeing many. I'd be first in line to buy one of those. Very cool man.

Mahalo for sharing your work with us all.

Brad - Love the direction you took your sketches in. I think your onto something with the hammerhead face. How many hammerhead tiki mugs are out there? I don't recall seeing many. I'd be first in line to buy one of those. Very cool man.

Mahalo for sharing your work with us all.

Sketch books of artists are treasures. I love watching your facebook videos as you work in yours. Thank you for sharing in both places. Wendy

Thanks so much!
I'm still working on this project that has me designing several tikis.

They might be made into 3-D objects… like the resin souvenir tikis you buy at the ABC stores in Honolulu.
We'll find out which ones the company that makes souvenir tikis picks. They have their line of classic Tikis,
so these are gonna be more …ah… Low Brow, Pop-Culture versions.
This one's a Mo'o wrapped around a Tiki. I've been reading up on Hawaiian Mythology. It's full of monsters and Dragons
héros and sorcerers and sea witches … great stuff!

http://www.mauimagazine.net/Maui-Magazine/September-October-2012/The-Sacred-Spine/index.php?cparticle=5&siarticle=4#artanc

Mele Kalikimaka Tiki-Tribe!
Not sure how I feel when I read just the first 3 words of the head line…

http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/news/2014/12/09/hawaiistiki-shark-art-sells-out-la-art-show-two.html?ana=fbk

Funny, but getting the Tiki-Art out there is starting to happen like , in ways I never expected.

This one sez my Tiki-Art is for sale on Swag in Costco in Canada! Huh! What do ya' know!
Well, I guess the point of "Low Brow Art" was Art you could enjoy with out having a doctorate in Art Appreciation or Art History.
One Time Clive Barker told me, Art is for the Masses…he wasn't mad his art was in comic books, or low budget movies…he still wrote and painted…he thought it should be for every one. I had the great luck to talk to Todd Schorr about his HUGE low brow canvases…the ones owned by the big cheese at Nike. That very rich art patron keeps them locked away in a special vault that's all environmentally controlled and protected. I asked Todd of he'd rather have them out for people to enjoy every day, he just shrugged. "What can I do? He owns it!"

Well, it is nice you can still find Todd's work out there in books, if you look for it, it's in some great books! Books So important! It'd be a crime if no one could see Todd's Art except for a a few select uber rich folks!

Guess that's how it was in the OLD days…

If more eye balls roll over a piece of art does it loose it's value?
Hmmm?
If I never showed my art anywhere but at La luz de Jesus Gallery, I bet no one would even know it was there and buy it.
But since people have seen the art ion calendars and other places, when they see the original it seems more important now…weird.

I'm so proud to be in books like "Surf Graphics" with Big Toe and "Tiki Pop" with Ken Ruzic! That feel's really important.
I bet some kid is gonna be walking through Costco, see a skate deck with a Tiki-Shark Tiki Art on it, love it, and take it home hang it on the wall, (or ride it) and look at it every day. That feels important too.
What's it all mean? Who knows?
Laters!

[ Edited by: tiki shark art 2015-01-12 18:01 ]

http://www.costco.ca/.product.100151517.html?cm_sp=RichRelevance-_-itempageVerticalRight-_-CategorySiloedViewCP&cm_vc=itempageVerticalRight%7CCategorySiloedViewCP