Hawai'i artists' works on life, death exhibited

Advertiser Staff

Life and death will be interpreted in an art exhibit, "Spirit of the Dead Watching," which opens Saturday in the Community Gallery at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i.

Through Sept. 17, the exhibition features 27 Hawai'i artists who examine the universal theme of life and death.

The exhibit is the first in a new art series at the Mo'ili'ili center, in which artists select other artists to be featured. Artists contemplating the "spirit" of the dead from the point of the living in this first exhibit are: Satoru Abe, Kahi Ching, Solomon Enos, Ka-Ning Fong, Sally French, Kazu Fukuda, Mark Hamasaki, Mike Harada, Ryan Higa, Tsugumi Iwasaki-Higbee, May Izumi, 'Imaikalani Kalahele, Linda Kane, Jeeun Kim, Alan Leitner, Meleanna Meyer, Cade Roster, Hiroki Morinoue, Tom Okimoto, Tadashi Sato, Randy Takaki, Garnett Puett, Franco Salmoiraghi, Esther Shimazu, Romolo Valencia, Helen Wilder and Patricia Yu.

"The life and death theme of this first exhibition echoes the spirit of the Obon (the Buddhist festival of the dead)," said Keiko Bonk, president and executive director of the center, in a written statement. "This celebration of the life of the dead is an integral part of many other cultures around the world, and artists throughout time have been intrigued by this subject."

The Community Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Admission is free. For more information, call 945-7633, e-mail info@jcch.com or go to www.jcch.com.