Brad Parker “Tiki Shark” Art – Tales from the Tiki Lounge

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Events and tagged with Art, Brad Parker, Tiki, Tiki Art, Tiki Shark May 9, 2013

The retro-style paintings of Shag may have gotten me into tiki in the first place, but there are many talented tiki artists I haven’t talked about nearly as much. Another one of my favorites is Brad Parker, aka Tiki Shark, who had a show called “Tales from the Tiki Lounge” at La Luz de Jesus gallery last summer. (I know I’m quite late to the party with this post.)

I first found his work a few years ago on Tiki Central and I was an instant fan of his beautiful, mystical and whimsical style. I also love how he brings in other pop-culture influences like comic books, noir and the Universal movie monsters. (Before moving to the Big Island he had worked for DC and Marvel Comics and also in Hollywood production design.)

He’s had a longstanding gig designing beach towels for Body Glove — I have a couple and they’re awesome — and for this show he handpainted a 1980s surfboard he’d specially picked out from the “vaults” of the surf company’s headquarters in Redondo Beach.

“Tales from the Tiki Lounge No. 10: Happy Hulaween” is a pulp-fiction-style revisiting of the “Monsters on Vacation” series I mentioned from the 13th annual Everything But the Kitsch’n Sync show a few years ago at La Luz de Jesus.

Brad continued that theme with “The Invisible Man Goes Surfing,” who’s decked out in Body Glove gear, of course. Notice how every surfer is supposed to wear a lucky tiki pendant and this guy is no exception to that rule.

His designs have been adapted to other items like these limited edition skate decks and tiki mugs, too. Tiki Farm has produced several of the latter, including Diga Diga Doo and Lil’ Dig (based on one of his paintings), the bestselling Hawaii 50th anniversary statehood mug and the lovely Makalani Bowl (a personal favorite). Coming up in October is the release of three sea creature tiki mugs he designed for the 60th anniversary of Body Glove.

Thor Heyerdahl’s Peru-to-Polynesia voyage was a cakewalk compared to the shark-saturated waters in “Kon Tiki Dream.” It’s impressive how Brad depicts the static solidity of the wood tiki carving while simultaneously evoking so much emotion through its scared smile.

Meanwhile, “Hawaiian Eye” pays tribute to the 1960s television show of the same name, which was based on the escapades of a private detective agency in Honolulu. (The Book of Tiki 10th anniversary art show at M Modern in Palm Springs also featured a painting inspired by that series.)

You can see all the art from this exhibition on the web site for La Luz de Jesus gallery, and if you’re lucky enough to be on the Big Island you can find his other original paintings at the Wyland Kona Oceanfront Gallery. (His postcards and calendars have been popping up in souvenir shops on the Islands, too.) Brad Parker also keeps this Tiki Central thread updated with his latest projects.

Modernism Week – Retro-a-Rama at M Modern

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Events and tagged with Art, M Modern, Modernism Week, Palm Springs, Retro, Shag, Tiki Art April 8, 2013

In conjunction with Palm Springs Modernism Week, M Modern Gallery presents a group art exhibition. Last year’s “The Contemporary Idol” had a tiki theme, while this year’s “Retro-a-rama” skewed more mid-century modern.

Some submissions, like “Episode 9” by Glenn Barr (above) and “One Eleven” by Chris Reccardi (first image), went for a futuristic style that I was digging. Other featured artists for this show included Tim Biskup, Lynne Naylor, Bosko and, my personal favorite, Shag.

I was also pleased to find two paper sculptures from Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily, who create awesome art and collectibles for Disney (recently the 50th anniversary of the Enchanted Tiki Room). It’s fitting that they would find inspiration in Tomorrowland and its Utopian vision of the future from a mid-century perspective. I loved the sweeping lines in “Goodyear ’67” — named after the company that sponsored the PeopleMover.

It took me a second to realize the setting for Shag’s painting “The Refill” was the Kaufmann House, a Palm Springs local landmark designed by Neutra we’d seen last year on the Modernism Week architecture bus tour.

The M Modern owners also operate Shag: The Store and have worked with Josh Agle for years, so they often have rare items you won’t find too many other places, like “Shag Map of the World.”

“Drawn by memory from the artist Shag, based upon his travels of Planet Earth,” it amusingly matches signature cocktails to their cities and countries…Mai Tai to the Bay Area (for Trader Vic’s), Blue Hawaiian for Hawaii and so on. Shag’s web site has a larger, detailed version.

It was originally made for the “Shag: Outbound with the In-Crowd” show last November at the Outré Galleries in Australia. The remaining framed prints are only available Down Under, but M Modern has an edition of 10 giclées on stretched canvas priced at $4,000 each. (If only I could stretch my pocketbook that far.)

Well, that’s a wrap for our “Palm Springs Weekend” — hopefully we’ll be able to come back next year for some more fun in the sun and mid-century modern merriment.

Tiki Festival Long Beach – Ohana by the Sea

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Events and tagged with Bow-Tiki, Festivals, Long Beach, Tiki Festival, Tiki Stores, Tikis August 22, 2012

Last weekend was Tiki Oasis in San Diego, the biggest Southern California tiki event of the year, but again I wasn’t able to muster the forethought or finances. (In related news: We bought a house!) Coincidentally, August 18 & 19 also happened to be the 12th annual Tiki Beach Festival in Long Beach, which was free, closer and being attended by some good friends.

The event featured an island marketplace, food stands and Polynesian dancing and music performances throughout the day. Also mentioned on the Tiki Festival web site were tiki carvers and canoe racing, but somehow we missed those. Parking in the Belmont Shore area is not fun, but we were able to snag a space in the Granada Beach lot (free for the festival) since people were starting to pack up by the time we arrived around 4ish.

Hawaiian chef Sam Choy’s food truck, Pineapple Express, has just started roaming the streets of Los Angeles so it was fitting for it to be there. The truck was serving up ahi poke, loco moco, pineapple upside down cake and several other dishes.

The rest of the “Aloha Food Court” had a good range of grub, from sausages and garlic fries to Hawaiian BBQ, authentic shave ice and malasadas (Portuguese doughnuts) from Dough Dough’s. The only bummer was several vendors ran out of food by late afternoon.

I had prepared myself for the kind of price gouging we encounter at the L.A. County Fair, but was pleasantly surprised to find that spam musubi was just $2.50. It was a perfect mid-afternoon snack.

This late summer heat wave was still in full force, so the best way to keep cool was with a frozen piña colada ($5). They were non-alcoholic, alas, but I did appreciate the effort they put into garnishing each drink.

The sidewalk leading to the food court and stage was lined with booths for island-inspired jewelry, aloha shirts and Astroturf (?!). A few folks were selling handcarved tikis, while others displayed the common imported tiki masks similar to the ones I see at Terry’s Palms & Tikis at the fair.

In my eyes the most interesting of the vendors was Bow-Tiki, which operates a vintage boutique that opened earlier this year in the East Village Arts District of Long Beach. I liked how they blend tiki with turn-of-the-century style.

They had set up their space to look like a bazaar tent with bohemian rugs, antique storage trunks and tiki and nautical trinkets. Erin, one of the owners, told me it was sort of a mini version of their store.

Their wares were a mix of vintage, handmade and new but retro-inspired attire. My favorites were the girly t-shirts from Japanese company Queen Bee. There were several cute designs, including mermaids, fish, cat-eye glasses and corsets.

Around 7 p.m. we brought out our blanket and beach chairs on to the sand to relax while we waited for the sunset and the finale of the fire knife dancers.

Next year, if we’re not at Tiki Oasis, we might just be back here.

The Tiki Chick

A California girl chronicling modern tiki culture

Category Archives: Events

Brad Parker “Tiki Shark” Art – Tales from the Tiki Lounge

Modernism Week – Retro-a-Rama at M Modern

Tiki Festival Long Beach – Ohana by the Sea