February - March 2006

     And the artists gathered.  And they congratulated themselves.  They said...

     "I am impressed by the way that you rendered that painting of a palm tree.
It is very contemporary."

by Daniel Hoskins

A successful tourist industry can quickly turn a place into a parody of itself.
 

My Paradise Paradigm involves juxtaposing surplus cultural and aesthetic information - leftover attitudes, values and belief systems with current social norms, as I perceive them.
 

I try to use prints as individual phrases within a personal absurdest language.
 

I have a deep interest in cultural stereotyping, assumptions and prejudices, and a facetious reaction to the mythic parody of Hawaii as Paradise.  Many resident appear to believe the fantasy as fervently as tourists, and this also intrigues me.  I find it more exciting, and rewarding to take inspiration from the aspects of life in the tropics that interest me:  Termite tents (flea circus), camo-painted, jacked up monster-trucks, boredom, rain, sun, the mass development of rural land, and other such curiosities.
 

Notable graffiti I have seen in Hawaii:

"Barefoot and Pregnant"

"There is nothing to do in Hilo"
 

  "A gem of a show in a splendid setting" - an apt description for Dan HOSKINS' one-man exhibit at idspace. This creative English printmaker did his B.A. at Southampton University with a 3-month sojourn at U.H. Manoa. That short stint has brought him back to Hawaii where he's now employed, married and spelunking uncharted worlds of printmaking in a decidedly
unique manner.
     This intimate gallery, located amidst a wonderful botanical setting in Hawaiian Acres (call for viewing appointment: 966-8943) has been transformed time and again by the dozen plus artists invited to show here by owner/sculptor Stephen Freedman. Each previous outing has been fresh and inventive but Hoskins' touch with serigraphed imagery on display walls makes id a completely different space. Amid a screened forest of
inverted fans, his small editions are luminous with both promise and intellect. Each oozes experimental finesse and at the end of the well-attended opening - quite a few were heading into private collections. What a great show with a fine young talent to brighten the often repetitively dismal shows our island suffers through regularly.

- Amaury Saint-Gilles