Pacific to Atlantic: Contemporary Artists from Hawai’i
WESTWOOD GALLERY NYC
Nov. 9, 2024 - Dec. 30, 2017
WESTWOOD GALLERY NYC presents a group exhibition of thirteen contemporary artists entitled Pacific to Atlantic. All the artists on view are connected to Hawai‘i and the cultural, social and environmental influences are present in their work and a source of inspiration. Hawaiians often say “the past holds the future,” and many of the artists have produced bodies of work that embrace the rich cross-culture of the islands.
This exhibition is in conjunction with the announced launch of Art Hawaii International (November 1-4, 2018), a new art fair in Honolulu by the owners of Westwood Gallery NYC (at Hawaii Convention Center). Pacific to Atlantic integrates Hawai‘i’s growing hybrid of local and international contemporary arts and culture.
On view in the gallery exhibition are woven wooden forms inspired by fisherman’s knots from Aaron Padilla; negotiations of cultural containment heard from the Native perspective of Kaili Chun; extraterrestrial Polynesian voyagers by Solomon Enos; sculptures utilizing problematic ocean debris morphed from the childhood nightmares of Aurora Robson; superpositions of purposeful insect damage on photographs of the U.S./Mexico Border from Gaye Chan; visual meditations on scientific colonialism from Jane Chang Mi; otherworldly forms painted and sculpted by John Koga; arguments of industrial and environmental warfare by Kapulani Landgraf; preservation of the human eye into totemic forms from Charlton Kūpa’a Hee; configurations of beach trash photographed by Lawrence Seward; examinations into intersection and transcendence captured on camera and film by Andrew Binkley; an austere view of the unadorned figure in the darkness of Berlin from Peter Shaindlin; and a euphoric window into traditional kava ceremonies from Taiji Terasaki.
Collectively, the artists have relationships with the Oahu art community spearheaded by Honolulu Museum of Art and Spalding House, Hawai’i State Art Museum, Hawai’i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Bishop Museum, the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Art Gallery, Honolulu Biennial and the Pu‘uhonua Society.
“‘Umia ka hanu! Ho’okahi ka umauma ke kīpo’ohiwi i ke kīpo’ohiwi.” Hold the breath, be patient and persist! Walk abreast shoulder to shoulder. Be of one accord, as in exerting every effort to lift a heavy weight to the shoulder and to keep together in carrying it along. (Mary Kawena Pukui, ‘Ōlelo No’eau, Honolulu Bishop Museum Press, 1983, #2876)
PACIFIC TO ATLANTIC ARTISTS
Aurora Robson | Solomon Enos | Kaili Chun | Jane Chang Mi | Charlton Kūpa’a Hee | John Koga | Andrew Binkley | Lawrence Seward | Gaye Chan | Kapulani Landgraf | Peter Shaindlin | Taiji Terasaki | Aaron Padilla |