Artists of Inspiration

5 artists that I find inspirational:

I'm generally inspired by art and artists that relate to my cultural background; which is Tongan, Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese. I'm also inspired by things that I love... like rugby!

1. Kim Taylor Reece

I have always loved photography! Kim Taylor Reece does such a wonderful job at capturing hula and its intensity, gracefulness, and beauty. I also love black and white photos. He's truly a great photographer!

Left- "Kakau" Right- "Kauaheahe"

2. Herb Kawainui Kane

I've always had a love for mythology and even more so the tales of Hawaiian Gods and Goddesses. My favorite Pele. I recently, over the past year or so came across the works of Herb Kawainui Kane and fell in love with the way he's able to capture so much in a painting.

Left- "Romance of Hi'iaka and Lohiau"

Right- "Pele's Battle with the Sea Goddess"

3.Katsushika Hokusai

In high school, I was really into Chinese and Japanese artists. They're all truly inspiring. Katsushika Hokusai was an artist that caught my eye when I was doing research... and an artist that I studied a lot, even into college. When I realized that he was the one that created "The Great Wave" I wasn't at all surprised why my interest was so high... I've always loved that picture since I was a little girl.

Left- "The Great Wave" Right- "Two Men Washing A Horse In A Waterfall"

4. Paul Gauguin
So he's the only artist that I could find that did studies in the pacific when researching for 'masters' for an amended painting study. To my surprise I was actually quite familiar with his work... I just didn't know it... I guess it does pay to study.

Left- "Poemes Barbares" Right- "Two Tahitian Women"





5. Stuart Brown

I found out about Stuart Brown when looking for a poster of 2 of my favorite rugby players, Jonah Lomu and Tana Umaga, from my favorite team, the All Blacks from New Zealand. I still have yet to do more research on him and his work... but if you want something interesting to read, you should look up the process of how he capture the action in the photos below... GOOD STUFF!

Both were done for ADIDAS. I'm not sure about the proper titles but I'm just using the ones on the poster.

Left- JONAH LOMU "He's the Speed. You're the Bump."

Right- TANA UMAGA "Hits This Hard Usually Involve Crash Test Dummies."