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

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Big Mahalo to Kevin Hipp for creating this "Making of" video of "The Sea Witch".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlKWNcvVcLw&feature=youtu.be

aloha tiki tribe,
working on the WANDERER…

Detail of …

And a wider look at the painting...

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Back on Da Island after big doings at Body Glove HQ and a meeting with La Luz de Jesus Gallery!
Wondrous Tiki-fied Exciting things going on for the July 4th Fourth Show!

Hope to see you there!

aloha tiki tribe!
Finishing up "The Wanderer" 2 nite…i Hope!

aloha

the wanderer - My Hawaiian Yoda told me that Hawaiian is "Ha" of the breath and then "Wa" …er I forgot but "Wa" was something cool and important, then "II" which stood for the Hawaiian supreme being, but one that no one spoke of by name. Hmmmm, I had never heard of this before, in all my reading and talking to Hawaiian folk, and thought that was a nifty bit. Yoda rattled off a longer version of the name no one should speak, and it was impressive.

So, at first, I had thought Ha-Wa-II was some thing about the "Breath of life" between the "sea" and "sky"…but I was off, according to Yoda. More like the "breath of life" from the supreme being or something like that. My Jedi training is going slow I suppose. Mostly I still really dig painting tikis, I guess there is a deeper full fillment I get from painting them, and sure, we all know they can represent other things. Or at least could if we wanted them to. Represent man, or man's creative spirit, or a higher being the sea or some force of the cosmos. Still mostly I dig painting tikis… because I dig painting tikis.

the wanderer
No German philosopher but a surfer looking for the perfect wave. Not looking down into the sea of moist, but looking down into the sea.
A few brush strokes on the sea and it'll be finished.
Aloha and laters….

aloha tiki tribe!

The Wanderer
15" x 30"
Acrylic on canvas
SOLD
Will be is display at the La luz de jesus show July opening july 4th
hope to see you there.!

Aloha Tiki Tribe
Submitted for your approval...

The Wanderer
15" x 30"
Acrylic on canvas

detail 01

Detail 02
The Wanderer
is SOLD . It will be on display at "the La luz de jesus Gallery" Art Show July opening july 4th.
Hope to see you there.!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!

Step 1

step 2

step 3

step 4

step 5

Excellent tribute to Friedrich's Wanderer above the Mists
Seeing as it was painted 1817-1818
It's like a hundred years later...
contemporized and deepened...
given a new meaning for a new age...
now dats what art is all about!
Keep em cookin Brad!
Looking forward to seeing your treasures
and seeing YOU! Soon!

this new fellar is already nailin it!

Thanx LLT!
I wouldn't be makin da' tiki-art with out all your support … remember in the beginning I would call you like every 5 minutes to ask you what I should do next! Watching you paint on Tiki Central got me so excited about main king Tiki Art …that well… you are my inspiration. Still are!

Now, I'm gonna' take TIKI to Washington DC!
Check out his News link:
http://damontucker.com/2014/06/17/cutting-edge-local-art-company-attending-hawaiis-first-ever-hawaii-on-the-hill-in-washington-d-c/

I'm going to Washington to represent small business on the Big Island to Congress and the law-makers of our great nation. Who knows, maybe I can give the President a Tiki Art Calendar? Wouldn't that be a hoot in the oval office! Oh well, first I got to get ready for my July 4th Art Show at La luz de Jesus Gallery in Hollywood California, then on to the White House! Then, we're gonna be drinking at the Mai Tai Fest here in Kona.

THEN in Sept, we are having the first ever Science Fiction convention in Hawaii…

right here on the Big Island!

I'm setting up a booth with my Hawaiian comic book making buddy Sam Campos ( the creator of Pineapple Man & Dragon Fly! ).
'
I wanna get Abbas to dress up like Nick Fury.

He can maybe tip the valet guys to let us park the Bat-tiki-mobile out front the hotel.

Should be easy - Abbas in a long black coat, dark clothes, with an eye patch.
...and I think I might dress up like the Riddler ( the Jim Carey version, course )

…but sort-of the tiki-fied version; with a green ALOHA shirt, and LEI, and like dat.
I got tickets for some of my starving big island artist friends, and my apprentice...

Suede; He's NEVER been to a Comic-con, or a Sci-Fi con!
I'm not even sure he's been off island much yet! He's really excited!
It's fun to see kids get excited about the same stuff you got excited about when you were a kid.

Laters tiki tribe!

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2014-06-19 16:23 ]

aloha tiki tribe,
The tiki…

step 4

step 5

The Wanderer is amazing Brad! Great work!

zerostreet - Thanx solo much!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Here's where I am on the newest painting…. the tiki in the middle of the big canvas.
Here is a Mark Ryden just to show you that every idea has been done before - this is his little kid in the middle of a big canvas:

And here is a pencil sketch of some thought s about this painting… like it might have flaming skulls floating around it's head or ghostly shark 'aumakua swimming around it's feet. (like the Shark-Tiki Tiki-Mug)

Here is where the Tiki is at right now.

Since he is woody color and warm, the back ground will most likely be cool blue/green or purple /Grey in tone so he pops.

Took a "Sunset Brake"

Now back to work slapping' paint and makin' da' Tiki-Art!

Some one pointed out this tiki looked like one of the tikis in "Forbidden Island", well this basic design was also used in "Hawaii-Ween".

Well thanks for watching the paint dry - more laters….only days away till the big show in LA at La Luz de Jesus Gallery! (OMGAWD!)
So I better get back to it!

aloha tiki tribe!

Here's the "Peace Tiki" or what ever I will end up naming it. The "Red Tiki" ? Maybe?
This might be part of a bigger project in which I must design 4 to 6 tikis, all with a back story all with some "supernatural -souvenir power" it will grant o the tourist who will purchase it. I think I want to have all their "stories" be read as short limericks or rhymes on the back of their hang tags.

Here is a closer look see.

More laters….

The 4 tiki men of the apocypoc?

Badd Tiki - hmmmm that's kinda cool!
I was also thinking of like the white knight , the black knight, the red knight… have the black tiki, the white tiki, the red tiki the blue tiki… we shall see. It's a project that has ti's first presentation Aug 4th.
Right now it 420 AM (Duuuude)
Here's the art:

This tiki has layers and layers of color and texture…

Don't know if it's giving me what I want, but often I go through a long strange journey with my art before …

…suddenly it clicks and all come together and looks right.
It's starting to feel like it 's getting close to a click point… (I hope) .
Anything in Acrylic paint that has more and more layers of thin paint helps make it look better I have found out, so I kinda paint knowing that I'm going to change this in the final brush strokes on top of all this. It's a slow way to work, I know, but it ofter get really cool results I could not have found other wise.

Especially art 420!

Duuuude!

Thanks for watching the paint dry! ALOHA!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Submitted for the July 4th Tiki-Art Show in Hollywood.

"Vacation Gone Wrong". Original.
Acrylic on (distressed) canvas 17" x 27"
Mounted inside 33" x 26" Bamboo Box Frame w/ Black Back-ground.

Due to it's unique nature this is a one of a kind piece, No giclee art prints shall be created.

Contact the gallery for pricing, Matt Kennedy, La Luz De Jesus Gallery 4633 Hollywood Boulevard Los Angeles, CA. 90027 (323) 666-7667

Every picture tells a thousand stories…or something like that.

If you want to know the "real" story on how "The Tourist" transformed into "The Vacation Gone Wrong",

Buy it and I'll let you know all the sordid juicy details why a commissioned painting was slashed with a large knife and left on the door step of an art patron I know very well.

It' a strange, and somewhat amusing , if not a tad scary, cautionary tale.
It will show at the
"RED TIKI LOUNGE" art show
At La luz de Jesus Gallery
all through July.
Email: [email protected] attn: Matt

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2014-06-20 15:49 ]

Brad, loving the new "red tiki" painting. Great details on that guy.

I have to admit the slashed painting is really intriguing. Would love to know the whole sordid story, but alas, not in my budget at the moment. Love the way it is framed.

• Dale

Darn, I missed the day you passed 1,000,000 views. I must have still been traveling. You are right that facebook hasn't killed Tiki Central. This is such a special place and not confusing like fb. I too watch your art daily with out always writing. So much fun and so little time. See you in Hawaii one day when Dan and I are there. We need to see Gecko too. Cheers, Wendy

On 2014-06-21 07:53, danlovestikis wrote:
Darn, I missed the day you passed 1,000,000 views. I must have still been traveling. You are right that facebook hasn't killed Tiki Central. This is such a special place and not confusing like fb. I too watch your art daily with out always writing. So much fun and so little time. See you in Hawaii one day when Dan and I are there. We need to see Gecko too. Cheers, Wendy

Wha…? Ph JEEPERS CREEPERS!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Thanks everyone for watching PEACE tiki or The RED Tiki or what ever he is right now…

Here's Mark Ryden's version.

Here's mine…

Detail…

More coming…

Aloha Tiki Tribe!

Artzy photo.
ooooooooooooh.

aloha tiki tribe,

Tiki

Tiki closer

Tiki closer still

Tiki with some color thrown into the back ground'

The back ground a nice sincere blue-ish color

The tiki close up.

Upon it's finish, I think I may have over worked it at some point. I think I even like the half toned back ground better than the wholes tones back ground.
I guess the lesson is if you want to do a minimalist tiki you should stop frequently and go to other projects then come back and look at it and see if you can even remember what you thought it "needed" … if you can't remember , that means it didn't need it and it's done.

If there was a "Bigfoot" of tiki's, this guy would be it! I can just picture it now "Tiki Bigfoot sighting in the Rainforest's of Hilo!"

He does have big feet…!? I din't even really notice, but I guess most of my tikis do. Must mean there is a need I have to have big feet, be securely planted on the ground? Something like that. If this was sold in the ABC store it'd be the "Big Feet" tiki and give the tourist the souvenir powers of "Big Feet". Ah… like larger shoe sizes, and eh stuff.

Oh well a few dibs and dabs and paintings the edges black and it's all done.

"The Sincere Blue Tiki"

24" x 30" 

Acrylic on canvas

"The Sincere Blue field with a Tiki on it."
24" x 30"
Acrylic on canvas

The big expanse of blue is not the background I associate with your work, but the Tiki is very much a Brad Parker Tiki. You figured out how to do something different, but clearly your own. That can't be easy but you did it beautifully. Congratulations.

Professor , thank you very much. I was extremely nervous doing something so different, but I really enjoyed the idea. However I'm afraid I may have over worked the Tiki a little in my nervousness, but it still came out darned close to what I was wishing for. I like it, and I might want to try a few more. I guess a little of that depends on how the public receives it. (although I know it's not supposed to) If any one is interested in this painting it's only 1 of 3 , or that might be 2, that are not already pre-sold for my July 4th art show at "La luz de Jesus Gallery" in Hollywood. You can contact the gallery
Matt Kennedy
La Luz de Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 666-7667
http://www.laluzdejesus.com

I think I will make giclee Art Prints of this one: 16" x 20" on a paper edition.
Plus a limited edition run of only ten on canvas, same size, gallery wrapped, signed and numbered.

Brad (Tiki Shark) Parker
"You have not appropriated the Culture of Hawaii…the Culture of Hawaii has appropriated you."
K. Angel Pilago (Hawaiian Elder & my own personal Yoda)

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2014-06-23 23:15 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Look this cool drawing I found in an old sketch book!

It's an early study for the Jungle Witch.


Got a great fresh-ness to it.

Cool huh?

Brad (Tiki Shark) Parker
"You have not appropriated the Culture of Hawaii…the Culture of Hawaii has appropriated you."
K. Angel Pilago (Hawaiian Elder & my own personal Yoda)

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2014-06-26 00:31 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Working up some more sketches for up coming projects, had a hard time though… the 'ol art wasn't flowing like I wanted it to…. needs more practice.

Working on an idea… just at the idea stage here…something is wrong with his head for sure!

After I warmed up a bit, this side view came out better. I think this "Token Tiki" could be on his knees? Maybe…

Then, I had this weird dream last night, and this one image was stuck in my head so I had to get it down on a paper.

I was listening to the Stray Cats yesterday, so the "Don't cross my path" phrase was in my head.
Then, I had a dream about the Night Marchers (Local Hawaiian Ghosts) and how a friend of mine sez her house is right on one of the
"Paths" of the Night Marchers, So she does these "precautions" to keep every thing pono in her house.

Anyway's, The phrase "A black cat crossing the Path of the Night Marchers" was put together while I slept, and I woke up
mulling it over all day. Then, as I was driving home from some where, I remembered my wonderful M.C. Escher book.
So I thought, that's what I'll try! Do a Low-Brow / Tiki-Art version of M.C. Escher's "Ascending and descending" lithograph.
So I'll make it in the jungle, all tiki-fied tiki-hut like, with the night marchers walking forever up, and …a black cat crosses their path
On a big ol' log that has fallen across their magical path. Kind of animated…I like that.
Funny, huh?
Still, needs a BUNCH of design work on the night marchers. These are very rough, skeletons in a 1930's cartoon style, with tiki heads?
Hmmmm ….needs work.
I've wanted to paint them for a long time but could not find a hook on them.
I was just happy to get the idea down on paper at least.
More to come!

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2014-06-26 23:43 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
So, I'm working on my design of the night marchers , now that I have an idea how to design a painting of them.
I though each should have their own light source (which will make for a dynamic night time scene, although complex).
So torches… tiki torches? Or there is a flower on the Big Island called a Torch, so I thought what if they could have those torch flowers that glowed like real torches?
Might look mighty swanky.
Plus I really need to work on my token tiki designs for the night marchers. They gotta be really great looking. '
So here a study. Perhaps one of many to come for this painting.

More laters!
ALOHA!

Tiki Escher - like the sound of it & LOVE the look

FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

WAAAAAAAAAAAT??!?!?

Masterful..simply masterful....
i owe all the chops i got from doing studies of Brueghel,Durer,Blake,Hokusai,etc
Seeing you apply your Penultimate talent to the masters
with Escher this time
is AWESOME!
Sometimes ,when that desert,that Dark night of the Soul,Spirititual Dustbowl happens
it's just a mild recovery and BAM! Some Night Marchers and a Dream
and some Heavy Plodding and BAM!
This one is gonna be great..
Take your time and savor it
Take a leisurely pace
Consider it one of your laurels
from two Incredible friggin laLuz shows!
This one is gonna be a goodie!
You could work a series out of this one
and the fact that Escher has both that artistic and graphic sensibility
it's a perfect pairing...
i can't believe you got inspiration from a Stray Cats song....
I'm so jaded it takes Vivaldi's "Stabat mater" to rile me up...

Anyways,after you tackle this Escher
I'd like to see a Piranesi inspired Treetop Dank Cannibal Tree Village Please!

See you in about a week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LLT - Thanx for the kind words! I'm jazzed you dig the way this one is going. I'm pretty excited too that I finally figured out a
interesting way to show the Night Marchers. It's really fun figuring out ESCHER'S work. His personal notes on "Ascending and Descending" are
really bleak…about how we walk forever up-stairs trudging on and on, getting no where. Or we can turn around and scamper down stairs …also going no where at all.
M.C. sez:

"Well then… I'm working my fingers to the bone, believing I'm ascending. How absurd it all is. Sometimes it makes me feel quite sick."

Boy, M.C ESCHER was totally the introverted, & depressed artist we all are! HA! Yet what a genius! I think he was even alive long enough to have his work become very
popular with the hippies in the 1960's. But, he was kinda' freaked out the pot-smoking flower children were grooving to his Art. Hmmm. Typical! Huh.
If mine works out with the illusion intact, I'd be thrilled if Art patrons broke out the Mai Tais, or the paca-lolo, and really grooved on looking at it. That's my goal actually.

OK….
On my own endless path to no where in Tiki-Art world.
One step at a time.
I had to work out just exactly what my "Night Marcher's Endless Path" would look like.
Here it is…

I think that will work.
It's gonna' not be brick, but more Tiki-ish.
Somehow, because they are supernatural spirits that often kill the poor living folks who foolishly stumble onto their path, I guess, I don't seem depressed that they are marching forever up, or down.
However, I think I'm gonna have them going only one way… up.
I just had to get the thing to look like it was endless.
More Laters!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Here's the "endless path of the Night Marchers"…

I think It'll have Diamond he'd in the Back Ground so you know it's Hawaii, and a tiki bar in the
lower right so you know it's… ah…me.

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Here's the first placement of some trial figures of "Night Marchers" on the endless Pathway".
These are not the final design by a long shot…but gives you an idea how they might look.

I think They have to be smaller to fit more on.

M.C. 's figures are quite small.

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Going through some designs for the Night Marchers, I was looking at few designs I did
for Menehunes, and some of them could work, or be adapted to be "Night Marchers".

Here's one…

and another one…

This one was from a dancing design...

This was the long ear tiki from "jungle Witch"...

This is a ghost light - a burning ball of green to blue fire -
that are often seen in the jungle on the other side of the island.

Here's "The Menehunes only come out at Night" .
More to come...

Wow, this is a favorite. Love the sketches too. Wendy

Thanx Wendy!
ALOHA TIKI TRIBE!
Okay so working on my next painting.
The working title is "A Black Cat Crosses the Path of the Night Marchers".
Still unsure of the size other than it will be larger than 24" x 30"

So it's a painting about "The Night Marchers". I wanted to do a painting about them for years, but just wasn't skilled enough to tackle it.
I also didn't have an idea that would help express them visually. Then I had a dream about it - in the dream my friend was telling me about how she thinks her house is right on one of the paths of the "Night Marchers". And music by the Stray Cats(which I was listening to before I went to bed). the phrase "Don't Cross my Path!" stuck in my head, made it's way into my dream. Then, I thought of the endless paths/stair ways of M.C. ESCHER. It all clicked into place, or at least, it started to.
So... I want their path to be a M.C. ESCHER endless stair way.
I worked out what that would look like. Added in things to let you know it's in Hawaii (like Diamond head, & the Big Blue Pacific, & a Tiki Bar).

I tried out some figures on the endless path. Walking up.

Not up and down like M.C. ESCHER's amazing "Ascending and Descending" 1960 litho.

The question came up as to how many Marchers should I paint on this path?
I chose 8. In this drawing there are seven, but I think I'll add one more.
Why 8?
Because there are 8 major islands in the Hawaiian chain. (Then, of course, there are many, many, others that string out some 1,500 miles into the big blue Pacific. 137 "islands" total: This includes all minor islands, islets, and atolls.)
But 8 major ones.
7 of which have people living on them.
So I'll do one Marcher for each major island.
Because each island is so different, it will help me design 8 different looking Night Marchers.
Each marcher would have visual aspects that reflect the island they're representing.

Like the "Big Island of Hawaii" Night Marcher might look like one of the "Lava Menehunes" (in my painting "The Menehunes only come out at night".)
BECAUSE, it's the only island that has active volcanic activity.
The "Molokai Marcher" might look a lot like a skeleton because in ancient Hawaiian lore they thought that Island was inhabited only by evil spirits.

More laters!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Here some more work on "A Black Cat Crosses the Path of the Night Marchers"

Last episode, I decided on 8 marchers, one for each major island in the Hawaiian island chain. So
To know what was what I drew up a map of the islands.

Here's one Marcher… not really hooked up to an island yurt, just a "Marching" pose being worked out.
'
This ones a bit more worked out. I think I'm not gonna tell you which marcher matches which island.
Leave that up tot the imagination, as each are so different.

Here's a third Night Marcher. with "Torch floor and Prehistoric Shark Tooth War club!
Starting to get some nifty detail.

More laters!

You show all these cool drawings and then you disappear for 17 days. Where are you? Oh, maybe you are in Southern California for the art gallery show. Hummm, time for photos of the show. Wendy

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Sorry I was off-Island for my art show at La Luz De Jesus Gallery:

Here's some pics !

I got the green room this time - very swanky - big thanks fro Curator Matt Kennedy and owner Billy Shire!

I had shipped most my art ahead and it was already hung!

I get goose bumps every time I hang at La Luz De Jesus Gallery- it's the world famous Birth place of the Art movement I work in and love - Low-Brow!"

It wasn't the show I wanted to put up, but there were a lot of good pieces, and it was very well received! Big Thanks to my hard core patrons and fans! Big Mahalo!!

The Gallery Also displayed my new Tiki-Towels - Who Hoo!

The show was very classy looking - thanx Billy!

I even got to show off the new Skate Decks! These came out really spectacular and I'm excited to see what happens when they hit the retail stores next season!

Did I say the 4th was a strange day to hold an opening? And yes the HARD CORE fans showed up!

…and mama Tiki Shark of course!

If filled up, not the usual shoulder to elbow room only for an opening, but it was nice you could actually see the art!

Great time, and all but two pieces sold that night!

Great to meet friends I had not seen in a while, and meet folks I only knew from the net!

Great crowd, all came looking for the Tiki-Art. I really dig how Billy hung the skate decks!

I was so happy that one of my oldest mentors showed up! He was very pleased to see one of his students making it this far into the art world.

And let's not forget the Gallery was fully stocked with Tiki Mugs and Calendars And other Brad Tiki-Shark Parker Swag!

Right now I think it's the last place you can get a full set of the rare "Body Glove Set of 3 Tiki-Mugs"!!

The less then over crowded amount of folks made it possible for me to take questions about my art and what each piece meant!

The Owners of Body Glove Came Out - and Jenna helped me demonstrate how art is really made!
And , of course, for a shot of courage , I could always slip next door to the Tiki Ti !!!

They build an altar to my tiki -art and summer stuff!

The 4th of July is a strange night for an opening, so the crowd wasn't the usual shoulder to elbow room only, but a lot of die -hard tiki fans showed up!

Tiki Al and I had a loud Aloha Shirt contest!

All my Ohana got Aloha Style hugs if they wanted them or not!

Other big time Tiki Artists showed up like LLT - aka Kenny!

I got to show my terrible man-crush I have on Kenny in front of the whole world!

Here's what some one called the Three Kings of Tiki Art - (L to R) Some guy, Kenny Ruzic and Big Toe Aka Tom Laura!

Tiki Tribe Who come to the Gallery get a FREE copy of my home town paper where I made the front page in a battle over the rights to my art work!

It was a great show, and an honor to hang at the "La Luz De Jesus Gallery" - Big BIG Mahalo Billy Shire!!

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2014-07-20 17:41 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!

Once Again I have to say a big Mahalo to Billy Shire for all his guidance and support on my path as a low-Brow Tiki-Artist.

Hanging at La Luz De Jesus Gallery is a mile-stone in my career, and a huge honor.
What happened later, after the opening, was even more exciting. The curator called my agent and said a European Collector had placed a larger bid on one of the already sold pieces. Seems this collector is big-time, and heavy-duty. This might introduce my work into a new realm of the Art World.
My Agent, of course said, "What? A Big Time Art collector from Europe? Hmmm… Sure! Brad will paint another one for the first buyer and we'll make it all work out no worries!"

And happily enough it wasn't a problem. The first buyer was one of my first mentor's and he was only too happy to see his student raise a bit higher in the art world - as it reflects well upon him by cranking out such well received off spring (as it were).

"The Red Tiki Lounge"
24" x 30"
Acrylic on canvas.
Still don't know who this European Collector is. Seems he never only purchase one piece, and then (I would hope) shows off his new "discovered" tiki-artist's work to his other horribly wealthy European Art-collector friends. Oh, I can imagine some swanky cocktail party, in a giant manner house, or maybe a castle, and a cool suave Art Collector describing "The Red Tiki Lounge" to his friends… "This artist… he lives on a active volcano! …and sez he only paints what he sees!" But, like da' guy would say it in French ya' know!

European, hmmm…. I guess that means they look like this?

Anywho...

Big Aloha!
Try to swing by La Luz before July 27th and check it out!
ALOHA!

Brad (Tiki Shark) Parker
"You have not appropriated the Culture of Hawaii…the Culture of Hawaii has appropriated you."
K. Angel Pilago (Hawaiian Elder & my own personal Yoda)

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2014-07-20 20:08 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Still working on things in my sketch book during my travels. I have my 8 night marchers to match the 8 major islands of Hawaii still working around in my skull, but while that was happening, this "Rawkin' Maori Warrior" also came out onto the page:

More Laters…

Aloha Tiki Tribe!

Hey, the Big Island of Hawaii has asked me to represent small business at a special Hawaiian Business Expo on Capital Hill In Washington DC.
First Time ever in History!
http://www.cochawaii.org/hawaiis-industries-to-gather-at-the-nations-capitol-for-the-first-ever-taste-of-hawaii-on-the-hill/

I Know! My art agent and I went to the head chair person of the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce to make SURE they knew what I kind of Art did …and she said "Yes! The Mayor of the big Island loves your Art! So does the Governor! We'd love you to go to Washington DC and show your work on behalf of the Big Island!"

Wow! OK! How do you say no that that? Well…you don't! So, We're gonna set up our table & show some way swanky Tiki-Art! Hand out autographed Tiki-Art calendars to every Congressperson and Representative we can! We got key chains, post cards, magnets, …ah…towels, all kine stuff! Of corse no one will tell us if the President is going to be there or not….but, I got a funny feeling since this has NEVER taken place before, and the President just happens to be from Hawaii, maybe he'll do a walk through… If so... I gotta' get a photo of him and me doing a "Shaka"!

Off I go - gotta catch my flight!
A L O H A !

Brad (Tiki Shark) Parker
"You have not appropriated the Culture of Hawaii…the Culture of Hawaii has appropriated you."
K. Angel Pilago (Hawaiian Elder & my own personal Yoda)

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2014-07-20 20:58 ]

As one who knows how long it takes to post photos here I say a huge thank you for the fantastic ride though your missing days. Very very cool indeed. That was a tiki feast. I hope you do meet the president from Hawaii. Someone photoshopped such a picture of Gecko and he was thrilled. It would be great for a real one. However what you have scheduled far exceeds most trips.

Cheers, Wendy

danlovestikis (aka Wendy) thanks! Yeah it was crazy! I don't think I'll ever again Have an art show at The Biggest Low-Brow gallery on the West Coast : La Luz De Jesus, & an invitation to represent the Big Island of Hawaii at an Expo in Washington D.C. PLUS an invitation to the owner of Body Glove's special river Vacation hone named "THE TIKI SHACK" all in a few weeks again in my life! Whew! Dat was nuts!
Let me tell ya' a few high lights if you have not been looking at FB… here's some different stuff more for Tiki Tribe ears and eyes!
Pretend you are sitting in my swanky home Tiki-Bar" and I got a slide projector and you got a ice cold Mai-Tai…or like dat and here we go…
(Click)

(L to R)
My Art Agent Abbas, Hawaiian State Senator Mazie Horono (sweet lady!), and then some low-brow Tiki-Artist guy.
OK…. It all started after I was working like crazy getting my big Tiki-Art-Show ready for La Luz. Thank the Tiki gawks, that all went really well! THANX everyone who came out on a Holiday, and bought Tiki-Art, or even just was there spreading the Aloha! Awesome!

….even though I was totally freaked out. Inside, I don't think I was ready. I was visualizing a bigger show. 'Cause the time I was supposed to be getting Tiki-Art done for da' show, I was all distracted by this dag-nab-dumb copy-right law-suit where Cafe-Press stole my art. Yep...It's still going on, and I have no idea what's happening. Really, my lawyer sends me e-mails, ….and I know they are in English ….and I know I can read. ...but I still have no idea what they say. They are written in some sort of Lawyer-Secret Code… and no guy on da' street can ever figure out what they say, mean, or are about.
Well, at least I can't!

Anywho…. "The Chamber of Commerce of Kona-Kohala" asked me to represent the Big Island of Hawaii at a first-time-ever "Taste of Hawaii Business Expo on Capital Hill"!

Wow!

I mean, I wasn't really ready to leave my beloved island again just yet, BUT... you just cannot say no when your STATE asks you to rep them in D.C. …especially HAWAII, (which I dearly love) …nope, just can't… Not to a honor like dat! And asked by such nice Hawaiian Folks. Wouldn't Be ALOHA. So Gotta'!

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2014-07-31 00:08 ]