“Get Nutz” is tattooed on a decaying rose. An intricate, lined pattern of oranges, yellows, and a hint of green on cotton rag paper. Tiny mobile carts decked out in camouflage and pockmarked with bullet holes.
Welcome to the world of celebrated Big Island artist Keith Tallett. Working in a variety of mediums, the Hilo native’s tongue-in-cheek approach to deadly serious topics makes his art as accessible as it is beautiful, not to mention topical.
That bullet-ridden mobile cart? It’s a commentary on the unfair distribution of land to indigenous Hawaiians. Like, if you can’t find a place to live, why not try this glorified but miniaturized wheelbarrow? Better than what the government is offering you, anyway.
But irony is only one weapon in Tallett’s quiver — that “Get Nutz” inked on a rose literally withering on the vine notwithstanding. Indeed, look no farther than his series on surf-ready waves on cotton rag paper. Those colorful lines are meant to symbolize the surfer’s view of a foam-flecked swell rolling toward the shore. And to surfers, there’s nothing more important than the ocean serving up opportunities to ride.
On his website, Tallett, — who’s received numerous grants, including the prestigious Joan Mitchell Foundation Sculptor and Painter Grant this year — describes art-making as “a way of creating dialogue between his cultural knowledge and practices, and his investigations as a contemporary artist.”
Sound serious? It is. But it’s also fun — and, often, funny.
