The Lurid Low-Brow "Tiki Art" of Brad Tiki-Shark Parker

I gotta say Brad, all your stuff is amazing but "Jungle Witch" is my fave.

hehe

Thank you AlohaTexasTikiCo!

Here's "The Sea Witch"
24" x 30"
Acrylic on Canvas.

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
A cool business called Custom Grafix in Australia asked to use two of my paintings to decorate their show room for their customized cars.
They wanted to blow them up to enormous size. I thought it sounded like a really dramatic visual and if they could spend the cash to get it done right… sure!
Here's how it came out, what do you think? Their customers have had great response to the new showroom.

It gets printed on to Giant sheets…quite amazing what they can do now a days!

Nice!

A low-Brow Boat!


Beautiful!

Wow…not what it is about my work that makes it look nice when blown up so large.

It's the same thing about me always worried that I did or did not have a "Style".

After about 50 paintings I can say I guess I do have a "style"

I didn't pick it… it simply developed as how I paint.

At first I just tried to paint like the artist's I liked.
Patrick Wooddroffe - (who did the cover of the first "Judas Priest" Album and got me wanting to be a professional artist.)
Robert Williams - Blew my mind with his Zap Comics, and his Zombie Mystery Paintings, and his "Super Cartoons" these changed my life.
Changed me from commercial artist to Gallery Artist. the seed was planted.
Robert Williams coined the name "Low-Brow Art" and once I saw his painting "Patrick Has a Glue Dream" I knew I had to be a "Low-Brow Artist"! I was still working in Hollywood, and it took another 10 to 20 years to
get out of the $ hand cuffs - I finally had to go cold turkey by moving to the big Island of Hawaii so I couldn't do any art but Gallery Art ...for tourists.
But I also knew I wanted to "talk" more about Tiki-Culture like THOR, Big Toe. Ken Ruzic. So- That was where I went - after my heart. "Do what you Love. Love What you do."
Mark Ryden. - his Low-Brow is so good that museums are now buying it. He was scary at first, because his subject matter was nearly kiddie porn, but it was Art - it broke down walls.
Then I discovered Todd Schorr. He's amazing. Todd's Low-Brow Art was almost exactly what I wished I could paint like. So, I must admit to drooling the most over his Art.
I secretly wanted to be Todd Schorr - but on permanent vacation in Hawaii (and thus painting tikis!).
Of course, all my childhood I loved artists who did comic book art, pulp paper back covers, Horror magazine covers.
Most of my comic book collection was for the artist heroes who drew them.
Mike Mignola's HELLBOY. Berni Wrightson's SWAMPTHING. Stan Lee. Frank Frazetta. Rick Rietveld. Damian Fulton. Shawn Dickinson.
SHAG. Ragnar. Tim Hildebrandt. Basil Gogos. James Bama. Burne Hogarth.Stephen Hickman.
And my personal friends who are artist, Christopher Michals, Ken Ruzic, Tom Laura, Erioc October,
Almost every artist who's shown at "La Luz De Jesus Gallery" in LA,
...and/or who's been shown in Art magazines like "Hi Fructose".
I love art books, and books "The Art of" such and such movie or animated Show, like The HELL BOY movies & Pacific Rim are amazing "The Art of" books.
And

When I failed to paint just like any of my heroes - what every way I was left painting in became my "Style".
I'm lucky it's a Style people like, and that seems "buyable"
...and it blows up nicely to make big cool walls! (who would have thought of that? Not me!)

Oh, wow! Look at that! Now we're talking! Swanky!
That made the whole project worth it right there!
ALOHA!

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2015-02-27 03:34 ]

I wish I were more articulate but here goes again...WOW! Your work turned the car show into something really special.
My friends Mahalo Tiki are with you now on the Big Island. I like thinking of you all having a fun time together.

Carry on, Wendy

Thanks Wendy!
The Event on the big Island was amazing fun… and so much work putting it together (whew!)

Color Study.
"The single image is best offered in isolation in all it's glory or stupidity."
~ Andy Warhol

ALOHA TIKI TRIBE!
Production Art for souvenir Tikis.

"Tiger Shark Surfing" on a Body Board.

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Here is the finished design for a "Tiki Toy" to bye produced by a Hawaiian Souvenir company: KC HAWAII.
There will be a series of these TIKI TOYS.
The idea is that you can spin the top, - the double sided tiki will spin until it stops on either the PONO (good) side or LOLO (Crazy side).
So like the old "8-Ball" toy, you can "tell your fortune" by given' the Tiki a spin… then the Tiki-Gods will intervene and make it stop on one side or the other!
( Well, you get the idea, I wanted a "tiki - toy" that would have a kooky feel like the mystical urban legend Tiki Magic I always thought was floating around Hawaii when I was a little kid)
…and taa-daa! ...you have a fortune told to you by the TIKI !

The Lucky Tiki

Pono or Lolo possibilities for your Luck!

The Color scheme…

I will post pics of the finished Toys when…
( ...if ?! Cause so many things can still go wrong in production of a toy, so ya' never know something will make it all the way to market until it really gets out in da' stores )
… and it's finished!

ALOHA!

Aloha tiki Tribe!
Here's a google for ya…. wow.
Strange days… I never thought I would go onto a thing called the "inter-net" and find image after image of my tiki-art that I never put up there…. strange days….

https://www.google.com/search?q=body+glove+60th+anniversary+tiki+mugs&biw=1392&bih=1053&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0CDAQsARqFQoTCK2V_K_W88cCFcUxiAod_J4P6A#imgrc=y7EAjFLg_eRlOM%3A

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2015-09-16 02:30 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
I hand painted a Skate Deck that had a damaged print job during production. Instead to tossing a beautiful maple board away,
I re-painted it, loosely following the image that was on the board, and adding in an element or two.

I then took it to my printer to see if he could "Scan" it in for future Giclee Art Print production. Luckily, he could,

• he was as happy and surprised at how well it came out as I was. Here is the board, and the giclee Art print on paper.

Aloha Tiki Tribe!

Had a gig come up to do a drawing of a local celerity for a special event.
They wanted swanky "art-prints" to sell & have him autograph, along with his cook-books, and other swag.
Sam asked me to do a nice ink drawing of "Iron Chef Sam Choy!"
He's so nice... I could not say "no".

Rough sketch:

Pencil study…
NOTE: Well, I am NOT a portrait Artist, that takes a special talent to get a
good likeness of someone, AND (very important) make them look nice (not like a scary-cartoon-monster)
So this pencil study is the lst of many pencil studies… like about 5 or 6, or like... 17 or…or 23 attempts.
What it was, WAS… I was up all night trying to get it to look like the beloved "Uncle Sam Choy",
Recognizable, but not in a scary-cartoon-monster-kinda' way.
Sam wouldn't mind,
( he's such a warm hearted guy, he'd just laugh )
No, but I'd get thrown off the island by all his ADORING fans for sure! So, I was "sweating bullets"
over this one pencil drawing…. (whew!) what a night!
Jeepers Creepers!

Ink Drawing - portrait of "Famous Local Chef Sam Choy."

"Tiki-Chef San Choy cookin' at Tiki-Island"

Of course I had to put in a the "Tiki-Culture tikis…everywhere. Like the whole island: every rock , incise it's lava tubes, it's
totally carved with Moai, some finished, some roughed out.. a strange, mystic, volcanically active, geologically unstable,
unpredictable currents, dangerous reefs, spawning waters for many spec ices of vicious fishes, with legends of buried treasured
inside it's ever-changing, always eroding-contours…... a "Coco-Island kinda' place!"
Not heard about the legend of the real life Coco Island?
It's weird!
Here's a link:
http://www.amazon.com/Cocos-Island-treasure-pictorial-narrative/dp/9977540268

or:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sharks/island/legends.html

Larger than Life - Celebrity Chef Sam Choy!

Sam said an artist was going to do a piece of art of him
cooking over the volcano years ago, but, sadly, it never happened.

When I showed him my rough-sketch-idea for what I was going to try,
he was very pleased!

Finally he'd get his art-piece of him cooking' over Lava!

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2015-09-26 22:23 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
It's October, and a low-budget horror flick my friend wrote and directed is coming out through RED-BOX on the 27th just in time for Halloween. I design the monster for his script, with out the Hollywood Union ( Local 790 ) Senior Production Artist Price Tag. (That's what I did for a living before I became A Tiki Artist) I tried to make it something their budget ( which was nothing) could afford to create. Here it is:

The film is called "TRACE".

This is the EVP "Demon".
I have not seen the film, and don't know how they were able to create it, but I hope you enjoy the peek at this first Concept Art of the monster.

Look for it Oct 27th 2015.
Mahalo!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
I'm working on this epic painting of the Night Marchers. What are the Night Marchers? They are a local Legend about a procession of ancient spirits that "march" across the Hawaiian islands at night.

This is a study for one of the Marchers.
I'm starting them as skeletons, and then "Tiki-Fy-ing" them from there. Yeas, that is a black cat. The Painting is called "A black Cat Crosses the
Path of the Night Marchers".

color sketch and acrylic painting
"Scaredy Cat" sketch
"Scaredy Cat Meets the Ghost of Exotica"

Hand painted skate deck

"Scardy Cat & Mr. Tiki"

Hand painted skate Deck
"Tomb o' da' TIKI"

Hand painted skate Deck
"Tomb o' da' TIKI"

"Scaredy Cat"
Acrylic on Newspaper

Framed
Acrylic on News-paper

"White Ship" aka "Kea Moku"
& "Scaredy Cat"

"White Ship" aka "Kea Moku"
Acrylic on News paper

Sketch of the White Ship

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2016-04-07 22:00 ]

"The White ship"
"Kea Moku"
Acrylic on Newspaper
Framed

"The Moon of Manakoora"
original Sketch, the Acrylic Painting, and as a fan's Tattoo

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2016-04-08 20:10 ]

[ Edited by: tiki shark art 2016-04-08 20:07 ]

Hana Hou! Magazine

Hana Hou! Magazine

Hana Hou! Magazine ( the in-Flight Mag for Hawaiian Air Lines )
April-May 2016 issue

Hana Hou! Magazine ( the in-Flight Mag for Hawaiian Air Lines )
April-May 2016 issue

Hana Hou! Magazine ( the in-Flight Mag for Hawaiian Air Lines )
April-May 2016 issue

Tomb o' da TIKI framed

"Scaredy Cat meets thee Ghost of Exotica"

Love your new pieces, thanks for posting.

those ones under glass look STELLAR Brad!
Lots of wonderful things
a reward for your long tireless hours!
KU-friggin-DOS!
RAAAAWK!

Big Mahalo Kenny!
You are my inspiration, man. this post is for YOU!
On my next piece, it was one I wanted to do for a long time. It all started in Ken Ruzic's Art Studio!
I was hanging out admiring his way cool Art Cave when in drops Tom ( Big Toe) Laura. He shows me
A painting he did galled "Fink Dragon".

It's a classic Chinese Dragon done as a "Rat-Fink" Character!
I was in awe! This was a masterpiece of Low-Brow Art!
I was urged to create this Fink-Dragon myself by my own Low-Brow Art Muse. Driven.
I asked Tom if he was OK if I did a Fink Dragon painting - or My version if it.
He being the super cool and generous guy he is said YES.

I did some drawings. This was an idea for a Tiki Mug that got shot down.

This was a design for a figure that I was told was too complex to make.

I did research on Dragons in Hawaiian Mythology. to my surprise there ARE Dragons in Hawaiian Mythology.
Historians are distill scratching their heads over that one, as there are no large lizards indigenous to the islands.
There little lizards here, that were brought in on cargo and such. Geckos.
Still Hawaiian mythology talks about beautiful women who could transform into huge lizards with magical powers called "Mo'o".

I tried to think what a "Hawaiian Dragon" would look like.
I became more intrigued. There is even a tale about All the Dragons from all the islands getting into a battle with no less then
Madam Pele the Volcano Goddess! A grand epic adventure, indeed.

I was doing some art for an up coming art show and needed a subject for a "News Print" painting.
I revisited the Fink-Dragon.

I showed Tom (BigToe) Laura my rough sketch. He thought it was great and gave me the OK to proceed. ( what a great guy)

Got it down on the News Print…

then some ideas for color…

Worked on it night and day like all good obsessive artists…

and finally got the thing done.

"Fink Dragon vs Souvenir TIKI"
This News Print Painting will be framed floating between two plates of plexy-glass, and shown at La Luz De Jesus July 1st, 2016.
My Agent liked it so much he had it made into a high end printed Beach Towel.

Fink Dragon Lives again!

I ran a contest and the prize was one of the Hana Hau magazines with your article. Off it went to the winner in Colorado.

This is such wonderful art that I'm really happy to see you posting here. We have been missing you on "other crafts". Those step by steps you share there are very much appreciated.

Cheers, Wendy

Wow.I really love how much depth you sunk into the Tiki Dragon piece with the high contrast colors. Wicked.

Wow.I really love how much depth you sunk into the Tiki Dragon piece with the high contrast colors. Wicked.

ALOHA
Tiki Tribe!
Seems the piece in Hawaiian Air Lines in-Flight mag aka "HANA HOU! Magazine" was significant & popular enough be re-printed in the very next "Japanese language issue" of "Hana Hou! Magazine"!
This is the superior version of the magazine, I think, as it's "Ad Free" format lets the articles lay out with-out being interrupted by ads!
Really an amazing magazine! Like an Art mag. Beautiful!
Here's the first pages:

The cover. Note the "TIKI" piece made the Cover verbage!

Left Page of 2 page spread.

2nd page of the 2 page spread.
Wow, that's cool to see "TIKI" in japanese kanji characters!

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2016-10-13 02:36 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Here's the next 2 page spread:

Tiki Cat full page. (sweet!)

Opposite page.

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Here's the next 2 page spread:

Me looking thoughtful at sunset on the lava …

Opposite page; "The secret Cove" full page. (wow-beautiful!)

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2016-10-13 02:33 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Here's the next 2 page spread,

"The Moon of Manakoorah", & "Tiki of the Blue Pool".

Various sketches, and "Hawaiian Eye"

Yep. the whole article was done in uninterrupted double page spreads, with no ads to mess it up. this magazine is truly amazing. a In flight mag that seems like an Art Mag. Every piece is photographed beautifully, and really awesomely laid out. some of the best lay-Out design I've seen in any publication. Big BIG Mahalo to Hana Hou! Magazine, editor David Thompson, and photographer Jay Watson.
Really, with their amazing lay-out design, this magazine is right up there with ultimate eye Candy like "Rank & File Magazine", or "Hi•Fructose Magazine".

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Guess who gonna appear at Kustom Lane Gallery!?

Big Mahalo to the fine Folks there!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Another "TAPA cloth" piece

"The Mano & The Wahine".

What a great surprise to find your posts. It was such fun to be on a plane at the right day to get an English version of your article. I asked for and brought back a stack to share. I even gave some to your friends at Mahalo Tiki.

Congratulations on this new version and having the talent to deserve it. Wendy

Aloha Brad, are you going to be doing any more wood prints? I love my "Tiki at Midnight" and "Waikiki Mystery" prints and finally got them framed and matted.

[ Edited by: Hilander 2017-06-29 15:45 ]

Love these black & whites!!!