Surprising, unusual and amusing are elements woven into art pieces on display in the newly unveiled “Creatures and Characters” exhibit at the Hawaiʻi State Art Museum. Works created by University of Hawaiʻi artists are among the pieces featured which include five UH Mānoa and UH Hilo alumni and seven faculty from UH Mānoa and Windward Community College.
The exhibit opened on Friday, August 3, and spotlights creations through a diverse mix of media and artistic approaches such as ink jet prints, bronze and wood.
Brightly colored fabrics dotted with vintage-esque Hawaiʻi scenes of shady palms and pineapple are featured in artist Brandon Ng’s Aloha Wear(y) photograph print. Ng, who earned a BFA from the Art and Art History department at UH Mānoa, exposes hidden and disguised psychological ramifications through art.
“I’ve often found that when traveling on the continental U.S. and abroad, I have to explain to people why I am not Hawaiian despite being born and raised in the islands,” Ng said. “Using generic ‘Hawaiian Shirts” and tropical fabric motifs as a stand-in for pervasive ideas about paradise, I call attention to the complication of self-identification through the lens of Hawaiʻi‘s nuanced ethnic dynamic.”
Dark art
Print artist Katya Lee Hutchinson believes her artwork possesses a dark intensity often heavily influenced by literature, examining ideas around escapism, isolation, and social evolution. The UH Hilo art alumna poured views about our society into Bessemer Bubbles, her intaglio and monoprint print.
“The industrial cycle of labor/production/consumption has had an immeasurable impact on culture and the environment,” Hutchinson stated. “Haunted by the insidious nature of industry and materialism, Bessemer Bubbles examines my own role as a passive participant within a flawed system.”
Featured UH alumni artists
- Katya Hutchinson, UH Hilo
- Jackie Mild-Lau, UH Mānoa
- Brandon Ng, UH Mānoa
- Johannette Rowley, UH Mānoa
- Fred Roster, UH Mānoa
Featured UH faculty artists
- Jean Charlot, professor emeritus, UH Mānoa
- Claude Horan, professor emeritus, UH Mānoa (founder of ceramics and glass programs)
- Phil Jung, lecturer, UH Mānoa Department of Art and Art History
- Shigeru Miyamoto, professor, Windward Community College Department of Art
- Fred Roster, professor emeritus, UH Mānoa
- Mamoru Sato, professor, UH Mānoa Department of Art and Art History
- Suzanne Wolfe, professor emerita, UH Mānoa
“Creatures and Characters” will be available for viewing in the Hawaiʻi State Art Museum through summer 2024. Learn more about the exhibit at the Hawaiʻi State Foundation on Culture and the Arts website.
