Artists take a shot at impacts of golf
By Victoria Gail-White
Advertiser Art Critic
The group show "Four Rounds" by Robin W. Lee, Bernice Akamine and Nicole Morita grew out of an issue they felt compelled to address individually and then collaboratively (for the first time) on 18 boxes: golf courses in Hawai'i. The controversy is not new, but their approach is.
ABOVE: "Round No. 1" is a mixed-media work by Nicole Morita. The artists created 18 boxes on the theme of golfing and its environmental impacts. Photos by Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
Each of the boxes has a golf cup in the middle, surrounded by artificial turf and framed in a fence of wire-wrapped golf tees.
TOP: "No. 3," part of the Four Rounds exhibit at the Hawaii Pacific University Art Gallery, is a mixed-media piece by Bernice Akamine.
Each cup contains a fact about a golf course identified by a small brass plaque on the wall. For example, "Non-Members Fee $150" (Mid-Pacific Country Club), "Strung with barbed wire to prevent landing by enemy aircraft" (Waialae Country Club), "No. 13 & No. 14 Sacred ground" (Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course), "The most difficult course in the nation" (Ko'olau Golf Course) and "Environmental impacts may affect food-gathering activities" (Hickam Golf Course).
The artists weren't flippant about their theme or facts. They researched and followed up with visits to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and looked up deeds and titles from 1941.
"I myself am a golfer," said Robin W. Lee (an art lecturer at the University of Hawai'i), "but I feel guilty for participating in the sport. It takes so much water. It is elitist, even on the public courses."
The municipal Ala Wai golf course is the busiest course in the nation, according to the Guinness World Book of Records. "In order to play at Ala Wai," says Lee, "you are given an automated tee-off time with an allotted number which may not jibe with your schedule. And the course is not free." According to Lee, the Ala Wai grounds were at one time thriving taro farms turned into territorial fair grounds for the public. Families were displaced and the land was condemned.
It was the artists' intention to lead viewers to reconsider the sport's impact on the environment. Golf is not an Earth-friendly sport. It takes place in an artificial setting; there are consequences in land use, water consumption, runoff, and lack of benefits to most of the tax-paying public. As these artists imply, it has become a tourist attraction for the wealthy. "Golf can be relaxing," says Lee, "but not for everyone."
In his contribution, Lee takes a humorous look at the concept of tees, using tea leaves as a medium for his sculptural sand-like paintings of a golf tee, T. rex, T-bone, Model T Ford, etc.
Bernice Akamine (who recently won an Award of Excellence for her work in the Fiber Hawaii 2003 exhibit) enjoyed the seamlessness of the collaborative pieces. "We wanted each person to have his or her own voice," she says.
Although she is not a golfer, Akamine finds the symbol meaningful. "In the Rough" describes her pieces well: six golf balls, two crocheted with beads and the remainder covered in a variety of painted thorns resting on artificial turf and capped by a glass dome.
Through March 14 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays Hawaii Pacific University Art Gallery 45-045 Kamehameha Highway, Kane'ohe 544-0287
"I was struggling with the pieces," she says. "It wasn't only about frustration, but also about the possibility of getting out (of the rough). Through adversity, we gain strength, and it challenges us to become better than we are. If you look at the thorns, they are pointing out of the ball."
'Four Rounds'
Akamine's mixed-media pieces also represent a protective shield. She credits Honolulu artist Sanit Khewhok for installing the exhibit and giving it greater readability.
Nicole Morita also tackles the theme humorously. "I thought of having your own private golf hole and being able to take it with you," she says. Morita decided to create an installation of "potted holes" (buckets of lush grass with putting holes and flags), because she wanted to address land use, the restrictions of privilege and the question of ownership.
Morita has been watering and caring for her "putting holes" twice a week in the gallery.
"They are not as lush and green as they were when first installed," she says. "It shows process and time as it relates to the actual maintenance of a golf course. There is an impact on how just a little plot of earth and grass relates to the bigger picture. I have taken an outdoor piece and brought it inside. Now that some of it is dying, it gives another level to the piece."
| • | 'Four Rounds'
Through March 14 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays Hawaii Pacific University Art Gallery Highway, Kane'ohe 544-0287 |
 |
|
5-045 Kamehameha
