Kaua'i artists shine at Linekona
By David C. Farmer
Special to The Advertiser
The late University of Hawai'i art historian Prithwish Neogy maintained that historically in the "provinces" of the world — those areas the greatest distance from metropolitan art-world "centers" — a greater artistic vitality tends to produce more vital art.
Academy Art Center at Linekona
The current Academy Art Center at Linekona exhibition of the works of 15 Kaua'i artists certainly suggests the proposition still has some validity.
"Wife and Home," a pen-and-ink by Christine Faye, is among the works by Kaua'i artists at the Academy Art Center at Linekona.
The well-designed exhibition — curated by Linekona curator Carol Khewhok and artist Sanit Khewhok —Êall but brims over with fresh, exciting energy. Media include ink, wood, metal, glass, beads, found objects, pastels and fabric created by artists from Kekaha to Kalihiwai.
Highlights include Patricia Yu's "Wish Lantern: Talking with God," a totemic assemblage consisting of used tea bags and threads, matte medium, pipes, ink and paraffin that magically expresses a sensitive, tactile sensibility through found object forms visually enhanced by copper green rust patina and weathered orange paint.
Carol Bennett's tough monochrome linoprint variations on a design theme, punctuated by single bursts of red and inspired by surfing, work nicely both individually and as a series.
Wayne Zebzda's protean pieces accompanied by DVD videos of 5 of the works in process are also extremely engaging.
"Hoop Drawing" is a clever, almost da Vinci-esque but solidly tongue-in-cheek exercise created by an ink-laden hula hoop dancing on a fragile, scotch-taped paper ground, with the hoop leaning against the footprints mounted on the wall.
Academy Art Center at Linekona
Sally French's hallucinogenic doll faces — such as in her offset monotype "'B' & 'D,'" a boy sticking out his tongue out at a rabbit-eared girl, sperm-thoughts floating above his head — are extremely accomplished and haunting.
John Katsuumi Altomare's "Frickin Rust" was done in acrylic, ink and pencil.
Carol Kouchi Yotsuda's poig-nant "Mother-Daughter Moments" — executed in a leporella-style narrative book and machine stitchery formats — is expressive of deeply personal and moving experiences, both in substance and style.
Karen L. Gully's impressive quilts, especially "Her Robe," softly bloom in a profusion of pinks and blues and greens, images of garden and birds and flowers, all conceived and executed with a particularly feminine delicacy.
John Davison's "Puppet King," a whimsical acrylic on wood, linen thread and metal construction, has just the right balance of playfulness and careful design.
Academy Art Center at Linekona, 1111 Victoria St. 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 1-5 p.m. Sundays, through Sept. 30
The R. Crumb-inspired gro-tesques of John Katsuumi Altomare, all teeth and mechanical disembodiment, are skillfully rendered in ink, acrylic, pencil and watercolor. Douglas Britt's canvases and found objects serve as vehicles for a strong painterly color control and an inventive use of materials.
'Currents 2004: Fifteen Kaua'i Artists'
Among the other artists whose works are featured in this third Honolulu incarnation of this Kaua'i group exhibition are A. Kimberlin Blackburn, Sharon Britt, Kathy McClelland Cowan, Evelyn de Buhr, Christine Faye and Laurel Hoskins Quarton.
David C. Farmer holds a bachelor's degree in painting and drawing and a master's in Asian and Pacific art history.
