Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Most artists would feel uncomfortable if people laughed at their paintings. Not Steven Maier. Icons pop right
out at yaBy Cynthia Oi
Star-BulletinHe wants people to chuckle, he'd even like them to guffaw because he's an artist whose purpose is parody. This weekend, a new show called "Local Icons" will display his pop-art approach to island images.
For example, a work called "Shades" adds sunglasses to a famous portrait of a Hawaiian warrior done by John Webber during his travels to the Sandwich Islands with Capt. James Cook. Other humorous pieces include "Mona Lei Seller" with the face of Mona Lisa imposed on a historic photo of lei sellers in the early part of this century, and another he calls "Mickey Mao Club," a picture of the communist leader wearing Disneyland mouse ears, an icon of capitalism.
But it's not all laughs Maier hopes to elicit. He's also making political and social statements, he said. A closer look at "Shades" reveals reflections of today's Waikiki skyline and Diamond Head in the lenses. In another work, red, white and blue strips of the Hawaiian flag are imposed over images of King Kalakaua, Queen Lili'uokalani during the overthrow of the monarchy, and music and lyrics from "Hawaii Pono'i."
ON VIEW
What: "Local Icons" exhibition and sale
Maier has been working on his exhibition pieces in his spare time for about seven years. His studio is the garage of his Kapahulu home. Maier's artistic bent comes more from osmosis than study. His mother, Fran Maier, is an artist and he has worked with and watched artists for most of his life, he said.
The director for Diamond Head Gallery said his views of island icons came after years of setting up exhibits and showings for others.
"One day I looked around at Hawaii art and there wasn't anyone doing pop art and Hawaii has great iconography that lends itself to pop," he said. "To be vital in the Hawaiian art market, you need a variety of art and approaches to art."
Pop art, he says, is appealing because "it's non-elitist, low brow. Pop lets people in. It was a significant art movement in the '60s."While some may argue that statement -- his traditional artist mother, for one, hates his art, he said -- he has embraced it.
Maier chose the alias Sonny Pops because "it sounded fun, like 'son of pops' and Sonny sounds like a local name and made me laugh to say it. It gave me the freedom to be able to do my art."
His inspiration comes from a number of artists. Andy Warhol's famous piece of Marilyn Monroe is adjusted for Maier's canvas with a blue hibiscus. Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture in Philadelphia is adapted, using instead the word "Aloha."
The Southern California-born Maier, father of four children ages 27 to 8, has lived in Hawaii for more than 20 years. He majored in music at Arizona State, worked as a contractor but settled into the art world, and this show excites him.
"I want to make people laugh and feel good."
Click for online
calendars and events.
