TikiMiki - Myth & Reality - Solo show, LeStudio Gallery, Paris

Farewell Song 2018 pencil and acrylic on paper 40 x 50 cm

Forbidden Fruit  40 x 60 cm ‘Les Deux Filles Hinano’  photo on canvas 

Opening in the Autumn, this show was the evolution of TikiMiki - Tahiti.

I wanted to show several sides of Tahiti simultaneously. The images of a semi fictitious romantic idyl that colonials like Gauguin and Lucien Gauthier helped propagate, and the present day reality of modern Tahiti - a cocktail of American and French influences with the trappings of globalisation, and the challenges that come with it.  With much of its tradition lost, Tahiti is now amidst a renaissance - looking inwards and to the past for a sense of identity, rather than to the west.

Beyond Tahiti, this series explores the more global issues of overconsumption, waste and landfill, the influence of America and global popular culture and lifestyle on primitive traditions. 

see the paintings

see the photographs