ART REVIEW
'Committed Generosity' a wondrous gift for Hawai'i

By Victoria Gail-White
Advertiser Art Critic

•	'Committed Generosity' Henry R. Luce Pavilion Special Exhibition Gallery Through Feb. 16 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays Honolulu Academy of Arts 532-8700

The donors of the artworks deserve all the credit for this extravaganza. Upon entering the exhibit, you are greeted by Jim Dine's "Heart II" along a wall of names, floor to ceiling, of individuals and families who have given the museum treasures to care for and display. The Christensen Fund alone has given 2,120 works.

Gifts of 5,000 art objects bequeathed by founder Anna Rice Cooke helped establish the Honolulu Academy of Arts, and the generosity of donors and art collectors has increased the present holdings to more than 37,000 works of art.

What is unique about this fascinating exhibit is the brilliant curation and installation of diverse art works. Academy of Arts director George Ellis and curators Reiko Brandon (textiles), Jennifer Saville (Western art) and Julia White (Asian art) joined forces, and the result is a masterwork — an exhibit that communicates more than just the objects on display. We are guided through a fun-house adventure to consider the wonders of creative expression. It is a testimony to the interconnectedness and talents that flow from the imagination of humans of all cultures and races.

To give you an insight to how varied and intriguing this exhibit is, about 135 pieces span a time from as early as the Protoclassic Period (100 B.C. to 250 A.D.) to works created in Hawai'i in 2001. For anybody with a chronological sensibility, this might not track.

However, this is precisely the beauty of it. It is not calculated or systematized. A lightness and humor emerges from the thoughtful juxtaposition of objects, and much of the overall impression becomes more emotional than intellectual. We laugh or are tickled by the surprises that greet us around each turn. It is the genius of a comedian to catch the audience off guard, and that same genius is at work in the installation of this exhibit.

Here, the electric colors of Andy Warhol's screenprint "Vesuvius" hang not far from the finely-detailed woodblock print "Bijin in Western Style Bathing Suit" by Terazaki Kogyo. A rustic, wooden ancestral carving from Papua New Guinea (early 20th century) stands within sight of the refined and ornately-carved jade hanging vase from China (Qing dynasty, 1644-1911).

The functional cooking pot from Papua New Guinea is displayed beside David Kuakoa's "Untitled" earthenware, smoke-fired pot as if they came from the same tribe.

A wedding gown from Belgium (late 19th century), made of rosepoint lace, linen, silk and netting, is displayed across from a mudcloth panel from Mali (20th century) made of mud-dyed plain-weave cotton. It's enough to make one giddy.

A group of pendants made of gold and copper alloy from Costa Rica, dated 1000-1500 A.D., are in a wall case not far from Frances Picken's "Lei Pua'olu," made of silver and 14-karat gold fill, dated 1995.

Religious effigies of the world congregate in the show, as seen in the bronze dancing Krishna (14th century) and granite Shiva (15th century) from India. They are in the good company of the head of Buddha from Thailand (16th century) and the "Santo: Immaculate Conception, Crowned Madonna and Child" from the Philippine Islands (19th century).

Modern abstract painters such as Robert Motherwell, Frank Stella, Jim Dine, Dennis Oppenheim and Edward Ruscha are sprinkled through the exhibit alongside Impressionists such as Mary Cassatt and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

The selections of Theodore Wores' "Hawaiian Child and Poi Bowl," George H. Burges' "Queen Street, Honolulu," and John Melville Kelly's "Seated Woman," "Hawaiian Idol" and "Makapu'u Point" ground the show and remind us that we are still in Hawai'i but on a simulated whirlwind art tour of the world. These pieces serve as breathing and resting places before we continue on the art roller-coaster.

The show includes a fine selection of well-known past and present resident artists: Franco Salmoiraghi, Keichi Kimura, Louis Pohl, Tadashi Sato, Renee Iijima, Hanae Uechi Mills, Cade Roster and Jerry Okimoto.

An abundance of textiles includes ceremonial war coats, bridal clothes, kimonos, a dragon robe, tapestries and a Hawaiian quilt. They have travelled from Bhutan, Korea, China, Indonesia and other parts of the world.

Some of the pieces you may have seen before, for example, Charles Bartlett's "Janpur" series from his solo show of paintings and color woodblock prints featured last spring. However, many gifts donated within the last five years are on display for the first time.

What a wondrous and delightful gift: to be inspired by art from everywhere, art that fits together and lives on in perpetuity.