Kakaako Art Hunt: Exploring POW! WOW! Hawaii
HONOLULU PULSE STAFF / honolulupulse@staradvertiser.com
Annual street art festival POW! WOW! Hawaii returned with 50 local artists and 49 from the mainland and international locations — including Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Israel, Portugal and Taiwan — creating more than 50 works over five days of painting.
Click on the map image above for a larger version; details about each location are below, as is an interactive map of Kakaako with images of the completed artwork.
(NOTE: Street addresses apply to buildings/businesses. Paintings may be beside or behind the location given. “Mauka” means facing the mountains, “makai” means facing the ocean. “Ewa” means facing Ewa Beach, “Diamond Head” means facing Diamond Head. Click here for complete Pulse coverage of POW! WOW! Hawaii 2014.)
1. Dabs and Myla. 388 Koula St. Mauka wall of Cutter Mazda, 800 Ala Moana Blvd. Originally from Melbourne, these Los Angeles-based graffiti artists work as a pair. They are painting with New Zealand street artist Misery.
2. Trav. 388 Koula St. Ewa wall of Cutter Mazda, 800 Ala Moana Blvd. L.A. artist Trav is a veteran of the MSK graffiti crew, known for his classic, hand-worked style.
3. Skinner, Spencer Keeton Cunningham, Whomu. 744 Ala Moana Blvd. Diamond Head wall, adjacent to Auahi Street. Oakland, Calif., artist Skinner, founder of art and apparel company Critical Hit, makes pop culture- and heavy metal-influenced art that has been exhibited worldwide. San Francisco artist Spencer Keeton Cunningham’s graphically bold work often reacts to stereotypical Native American imagery. Whomu is a Hawaii artist.
4. Mural from POW! WOW! Hawaii 2013.
5. VHILS. 401 Cooke St. Makai wall. Portuguese street artist Alexandre Farto creates work, typically portrait-style faces, by carving into walls.
6. Tatiana Suarez and Aaron “Woes” Martin. 740 Ala Moana Blvd. Ewa wall facing Cooke Street.
7. Buff Monster and Nychos. 330 Cooke St.
8. Bask and Meggs. 330 Lana Lane. Alleyway.
9. Dzine, Quest, Ohana, Dmize. 330 Lana Lane. Ewa wall of alleyway. All four artists hail from Hawaii.
10. Cope2. 704 Ala Moana Blvd. Mauka wall facing Auahi Street. Fernando Carlo of the Bronx in New York City has been painting since 1978, and has gained international recognition for his classic “wild-style” graffiti. As part of a crew, he was subject of the graffiti film “Kings Destroy.”
11. Indie184. 704 Ala Moana Blvd. Mauka wall facing Auahi Street. New York City-based artist Indie184 was born in Puerto Rico. Her “wild-style” street art is known for playful, “feminine” embellishments.
12. Lady Aiko. 704 Ala Moana Blvd. Mauka wall.
13 and 14. Katch 1 and Ekundayo. 324 Coral St. Structure makai of building, mauka and Diamond Head walls. Hawaii’s Katch 1 has designed graffiti-based clothing, painted entire train cars in Los Angeles and co-founded the Natural Koncept skateboarding company. Ekundayo is a Hawaii artist known for his “surreal grotesque” figures.
15. Matthew and Roxanne Ortiz. 699 Auahi St. Diamond Head wall, facing Coral Street. Matthew and Roxanne Ortiz, previously known as Vers, create fanciful, optimistic cityscapes.
16. Push. 371 Coral St. Ewa wall. L.A.-based artist Push has been active since the 1990s, creating abstract, graphic-oriented works with brushes and spray paint.
17. Anonymous. 661 Auahi St. Ewa wall.
18. Roid and INSA. 660 Ala Moana Blvd. Makai wall. L.A.-based, U.K.-raised Roid, a member of street-art crew MSK, is known for graphically pristine and conceptually bold imagery; Forbes magazine named him one of “The 30 Most Important Artists and Designers Under 30” in 2011. INSA, a creator of murals and animated Web art, is influenced by consumerism/fetishism and pop art.
19. Aloha Family, EV crews. 458 Keawe St. Parking lot.
20. Gage Hamilton. Friends of the Library building, 690 Pohukaina St. A Portland, Ore.-based artist and designer.
21-29. Hawaii artists Ckaweeks, Beak, Remi Mead, Bother, Danny King, Jesse Velasquez, Alina Kawai, Zhi Hao Situ and Chris Broy. Friends of the Library building, 690 Pohukaina St. Ckaweeks is known for boldly graphic, comics-influenced animal characters. Beak, a prolific graffiti artist, is known for his sardonic bird characters. Remi Mead, an Okinawa-born artist now residing in Hawaii, often incorporates bunnies and girlish figures in her street art.
30. Remio. Friends of the Library building, 690 Pohukaina St. A Vancouver graffiti artist and designer.
31. Dmote. Friends of the Library building, 690 Pohukaina St. A New York-based artist, originally from Sydney, where he was considered one of the “25 Greatest Australian Graffiti Writers,” according to Complex magazine.
32. Axis. Friends of the Library building, 690 Pohukaina St. An L.A.-based artist arising from the skateboard/punk rock scenes.
33. Andrew Schoultz and Hannah Stouffer. 450 Cooke St. Makai wall, facing Auahi Street. San Francisco’s Andrew Schoultz is inspired by 15th-century German maps and Indian miniature paintings, with murals marked by his trademark, intricate “waves.”
34. APEX. 521 Cooke St. Ricardo Richey, aka APEX, creates colorful abstract murals and paintings as part of the Gestalt Collective in San Francisco.
35. Reach. 742 Pohukaina St. Makai wall. Taiwanese artist Reach creates bold murals and 3-D works.
36. 123Klan. 461 Cooke St. Mauka wall. Montreal-based French pair Scien and Mrs. Klor bring graffiti influences to work on logos, characters, illustrations and Web design.
37. Gaia, Prime, Solomon Enos, Estria. 805 Pohukaina St. Baltimore’s Gaia joins Hawaii artists Prime, Solomon Enos and Estria for a mural based on Native Hawaiian culture and soul of the aina.
38. Reka. 810 Pohukaina St.
39. Jessie and Katey. 506 Ahui St. Jessie Unterhalter and Katey Truhn are a Baltimore-based team known for bold, board game- and nature-inspired patterns.
40. Jessie and Katey. 537 Ahui St. Makai wall.
41. Tristan Eaton. 517 Ahui St. Mauka wall. L.A. native Eaton, a founder of Thunderdog Studios, has worked as director of toy design for Kidrobot and taught at the Parsons School of Art and Design.
42 and 43. Kinsey and Kofie. 863 Halekauwila St. Diamond Head and mauka walls. Dave Kinsey, of Pittsburgh, has designed work for Absolut and Kenwood Vineyards, in addition to founding design studio and gallery BLK/MRKT. Augustine Kofie creates abstract murals with contemporary fine-art influences.
44. Ron English. 912 Ilaniwai St. Ewa wall. English, a prolific illustrator based in Beacon, N.Y., mashes up classical and contemporary allusions in a style he calls “POPaganda.” He’s creator of MC Supersized, the mascot featured in the hit documentary “Super Size Me.”
45. Madsteez. 807 Ilaniwai St. Diamond Head wall.
46. Defer. Kamea Hadar, Norm. 831 Queen St.
47. Cyrcle. 831 Queen St. Parking lot wall. New York City-based artist Cyrcle creates street art, gallery work and design pieces commissioned for toys, skateboards and shoes.
48. Brendan Monroe. 902 Kawaiahao St.
49. DavesAction, TSG, Mung Monster, Puff. Cafe Duck Butt, 901 Kawaiahao St.
50. Seth Globepainter. 633 Ala Moana Blvd. Mauka wall. Internationally known French muralist Globepainter’s murals typically feature children and pay tribute to the cultural traditions of the site.
51. Askew One, Zes and Reyes. 633 Ala Moana Blvd. Diamond Head wall. New Zealand artist Askew One’s murals often blend portrait technique, graphic design and classic “wild-style” flair; he’s a veteran with more than 20 years of experience. Zes, an L.A. artist and tagger, has been sought out for his obsessive, explosive abstract style. San Francisco’s Victor Reyes is also an illustrator, known for his swirling, graceful images and obsession with letters.
52. Know Hope. 886 Queen St. Diamond Head wall. Tel Aviv, Israel-based Know Hope creates site-specific murals, usually including a trademark, elongated figure. He has exhibited his work worldwide.
53. INTI. 766 Pohukaina St. Diamond Head wall. Chilean muralist INTI’s murals are inspired by his native and pop culture, often including unsettling allusions to both childhood and violence or unsafe practices.
54. Persue and Slick. 1717 Kalakaua Ave. Mauka of Kapiolani Boulevard and the Hawaii Convention Center, on the makai wall.