Our Honolulu
Raising controversy with statue
Bob Krauss is on vacation. This column first appeared in The Honolulu Advertiser on Aug. 19, 1990.
By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist
As everybody in Our Honolulu knows, nothing sets our juices to flowing like a new statue. Father Damien on the mauka side of the Capitol was good for weeks of heated controversy.
Exceeded only by the argument about Queen Lili'uokalani on the makai side.
And so the anticipated unveiling of our beloved Duke Kahanamoku in heroic bronze, bigger-than-life at Kuhio Beach has already begun to reverberate among serious students of sculpture such as the beachboys.
Because Duke will stand with his back to the ocean. Any 'opihi picker knows this is an invitation to disaster.
"The statue should be facing the water," said Jill Kahanamoku, whose grandfather was Duke's brother. "I don't think he should be facing a cement building with his arms extended."
"The beachboys are all huhu," said Rell Sunn, champion surfer from Makaha. "They think it's wrong. It's not the Hawaiian way. They know Duke, and they think he should be facing the sea."
Duke belongs to us all. It is fitting that his statue be the subject of public discussion. There is no better way to enjoy a new statue.
It is probably for this reason that Duke has become the focus of the warmest art discussion in a decade.
"Everybody had a different idea about where we should put the statue," said Scotty Bowman, vice president for government relations at the Waikiki Improvement Association.
"Some people said it should be near the Moana Hotel, where Duke spent so much time. Another group said he should be at the Hawaiian Village Hotel because that's the area where he was born and grew up.
"Some are worried that Duke shouldn't be near the ocean because of storms and tidal waves. He should be inland like at Gateway Park. Others think he ought to be in Kapi'olani Park close to Steamer Lane, where he made his longest surf ride."
Even the concept of Duke's statue caused debate within the Duke Kahanamoku Centennial Committee.
"We chose the artist, Jan Fisher, from a model he submitted of Duke riding a big wave on a surfboard," said Bowman.
"It was a gorgeous statue, but we discussed it and decided Duke was more than a surfer. He was an Olympic swimmer, an international ambassador of aloha and an asset to the state as a humble, majestic individual.
"So we went back to the artist and asked if he could submit a work that represents the total Duke Kahanamoku. The concept changed to Duke as an ambassador greeting people to his playground in Waikiki.
"I was born in Hawai'i. We all know that no waterman turns his back on the ocean when he's on the shore. But Duke won't be on the beach. He'll be just back of the sidewalk."
