two peas in a pod

 From the moment I knew that Amalani was coming - and that she was a girl - I knew there was a pretty good chance she might look like her dad.  Now, don't get me wrong, I think Inoke is a very nice looking man.  But at the time, imagining his face on a little girl did have me a little concerned.  Well, of course, it turned out that she does look like her daddy.  I love it!  

Anyway, looks aren't all they share...

 

They are both cougars...WOOT WOOT!

 They both don't like a dirty car...

 They love East High football...and Ti....

 

They both love to sleep...and eat...and sleep and eat...

And they both have crazy hair...but only one of them has crazy eyes...

recent paintings....

I thought I'd start using this to document the progress of my work.  I'm not good at keeping my ideas in one place and when I am able to find ideas that I put down I realize that I change my mind pretty frequently and am convinced of one thing one day and something totally different the next.  

Here are a few paintings that are in progress that are up on my studio walls at the moment.  For the time being, I am interested in identity and am addressing that through the lens of culture.  

I vacillate between feeling totally immersed in the each of the diverse socio-cultural groups that I associate myself with – or feeling like I am drifting on their peripheries, looking in at something vaguely familiar, even foreign.  I am passionately protective, and privately insecure about my place.  I am arrogant, and humbled to be part of something so exclusive.  

I deal with questions related to this dilemma daily.  My art reflects that.  With it, I struggle to distinguish the indistinguishable, for identity is fluid. Identity is subjective.  The very term “identity” deceptively seems to describe something finite.  I don’t know who the heck I am sometimes, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I'm working on a series of Gauguin paintings where I am inserting myself, a modern Polynesian person, into the scene as the main figure.  I'm also working on a series of tropical plants in topiary pots.  I thought the juxtaposition of something seen as wild or utilitarian in one society, and only decorative/aesthetic in another might be interesting.

18x24" Oil on canvas

18x24" Oil on canvas

24x36" Oil on canvas

24x72" Oil on canvas - 2 panels

Inoke's Birthday

(Don't know how to work this well yet . . . but Tali can fix and arrange this later - haha).

I want to thank my beautiful wife and daughter for great decorations and a fun filled day for my birthday! I LOVE them both and am grateful to have spent today with them.




What I woke up to this morning!

My GIANT, Chocolate, Birthday Card

After Tucanos in Provo, Brazilian food
(Boa comida = Grande dia)