When Maika’i Tubbs isn’t organizing Bank of Hawai’i Family Sunday, he is creating some of the most exciting art in the islands. He was in the Bishop Museum exhibition “‘Ili Iho: The Surface Within” last fall, and has three works in the current “Hi’iakaikapoliopele: Visual Stories by Contemporary Native Hawaiian Artists” at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center.
continue reading "Talented staff: Maika‘i Tubbs in Hi’iaka show (just 4 more days!)"

What goes into an art loan? Joleen Oshiro reveals the backstory of the loan to the Senate Appropriation’s Office Conference Room. http://bit.ly/NIyFI

A lot of the museum’s staff—from every department—are artists. Security guard Calvin Collins’ work was last seen at the late Nu‘uanu Gallery. Now he has a solo show, “Anomaly,” at the HPU Gallery in Kane‘ohe.  “My paintings and drawings traffic heavily in the realm of identity politics and allegory,” says Collins in his artist statement. “I am emboldened as I am fascinated at times by my experience as a biracial person living in a world that is trying politely to adjust to its post-colonial skin and all that identity encompasses. Pluralistic and whimsical in nature, these works revel just as much in the possibility and quality of materials as they do in narrative.”

Anomaly is on view through Sept. 18. HPU, 45-045 Kamehameha Hwy, Mon-Sat 8am-5pm.

In an incredible case of art kismet, Honolulu has two simultaneous exhibitions up examining war—Francisco Goya’s 19th-century etching series “The Disasters of War” (pictured below) at the Honolulu Academy of Arts and the contemporary woodcut series “The Depravities of War” (pictured above) by Los Angeles artist Sandow Birk at KCC’s Koa Gallery. Both artists comment on the atrocities of armed conflict of their time—and seeing both shows make it clear that not a whole hell of a lot has changed in almost 200 years. It is an amazing opportunity for us to be able to compare and contrast the two.
continue reading "The art of war: Goya and Birk"

I just spent four days at the American Association of Museum’s annual conference in Philadelphia. It’s a chance to exchange ideas with peers from museums across the country. I chaired a panel session on rebranding. I gathered the branding experts Mark Minelli of Minelli Inc. in Boston, Beth Tuttle of Met Strategies in Alexandria,  LeAnne Ruzzamenti of the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, and Honolulu’s own Bernard Uy of Wall-to-Wall Studios. The session was a success. Rebranding is a hot topic among museums, which are straining to attract new audiences. Many people say museums are important, but why? The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance produced a short film called “Spark,” in which everyday Philadelphians answer that question. The film was shown at one of two general assembly meetings, and had a big impact on the couple thousand museum professionals who watched it. (”He was just a common guy, but man, look what he left behind.”) Have a look for yourself. We’d like to hear from you—does the Academy ignite a spark in you? And if yes, why? Do you have a favorite work in the museum that makes you feel good?

Reading Erin Hogan’s road-trip/art history memoir “Spiral Jetta,” about her land art sojourn in the Southwest, I stopped short when she lets slip early on that she learned “to drive in the suburbs of Honolulu.” Her trip begins with a pilgrimage to Robert Smithson’s “Spiral Jetty” in Utah, and a few pages later she writes “I vividly remember the photograph on the cover of my very first art history book, “Artforms” by Duane Preble. It was the first image of ‘Spiral Jetty’ I had ever seen.” Preble, one of Hawai‘i’s most influential artists—he is professor emeritus at the University of Hawai‘i  and  has made an impact on generations of Hawai‘i students—is an Academy trustee. I called him up to tell him about his citation in this well-received book. He was flattered but pointed out that the first edition of “Artforms” featured Christo’s “Running Curtain” on the cover. Still, the always thoughtful Preble pointed out that error or not, Hogan’s reference underscores the power of art, and the hold it can have on the memory and perception.

For three years Trisha Lagaso Goldberg, as curator of thirtyninehotel’s gallery, has been running the most exciting indie art program in town. Thanks to her—and the unflagging, generous support of thirtyninehotel founder and managing director Gelareh Khoie—Honolulu has had the opportunity to experience the work of artists such as Rajkamal Kahlon, Los Jaichackers Eamon Ore-Giron and Julio César Morales, and Jenifer Wofford. She draws on the art relationships she cultivated during 13 years in San Francisco, where she attended the San Francisco Art Institute and was the executive director of Southern Exposure community art center. (She’s also an artist, and was included in The Contemporary Museum’s 2006 exhibition “Alimatuan.” Plus she’s an Academy member and former ARTafterDARK committee member. Thanks!)
continue reading "Don’t miss: Street artist Aaron Noble talk Feb. 5"

In the French film “I’ve Loved You So Long” (Il y a longtemps que je t’aime), a Golden Globe nominee for best foreign language film, a key scene involves a painting. Kristen Scott Thomas plays a woman who has just been released from prison. She was incarcerated for 15 years for killing her six-year-old son. She is staying with her sister in Nancy and has hardly said a word to anyone. One day she is in the Musée de Beaux-Arts and she is stopped cold by Emile Friant’s “La Douleur.” The viewer doesn’t yet know the cause of her crime, but her reaction to the work, depicting a woman clad in black grieving at a grave, is a big clue that the “murder” wasn’t the act of a Munchhausen nutjob. The film documents the protaganist’s re-entry into the world. Art and literature play a big part in the healing of her psychic wounds. “I’ve Loved You So Long” is playing at Kahala 8. You can come to the Academy for your visual medicine.

The HPU Gallery may be a glorified lobby on the Windward side, but with artist Sanit Khewhok as curator, it’s THE place to see young local (or at least residing on O‘ahu) artists’ new work. In the past couple years the space has seen shows by Christopher St. John, Rujunko Pugh, Alan Konishi, Jennifer Callejo, and Michael Sweitzer. (OK, so a bit of an art mafia thing going on…you can also catch established local artists such as Ka-Ning Fong and Noreen Naughton at the gallery.) Just opened on Sunday is “Vanity” by Mat Kubo (along with recent works by Mark Fujishige—who is teaching English in rural Japan at the moment and mailed his stuff in). You might remember Kubo’s name from his island-wide installation “Miniature Monuments to Empire,” which caused such a brouhaha that the Advertiser’s military reporter wrote about it. Mat even glued one of his metal Stryker cutouts on that crumbling cement structure at Kaena Point. He went back out there this past summer—it was gone. This past summer Kubo also spent time at the Academy, as one of Jean Shin’s volunteer assistants on her installation “Unraveling,” which was part of the exhibition “One Way or Another: Asian-American Art Now.”
continue reading "Mat Kubo: ‘Vanity’ @ HPU Gallery"

aloHAA doesn’t cover only Academy goings on. We like to highlight notable art events around town—we just want people looking at art, no matter where it is. Don’t let last year’s lackluster UH graduate art show (it was marked by poor execution and lack of well-thought-out ideas) keep you from seeing what the students are up to this year. It’s an exciting exhibition that inhabits the gallery space well. (Bravo to Art Dept chair Gaye Chan and the rest of the hardworking faculty.) And it illustrates how local art venues can nourish each other—Allison Uttley’s mural, the charting of a marriage, makes it clear that she took inspiration and new technique from her experience as an assistant to Megan Wilson at thirtyninehotel. San Francisco-based Wilson, with Los Angeles artist Carolyn Castaño, did the explosive wall installation “This Fever I Can’t Resist” at thirtyninehotel last year as part of its artist-in-residence program 39CARP.

continue reading "Go see the UH graduate student exhibition"