PO‘IPU — First impressions can be deceiving: Hula girls, Cracker Jack sailors and steamships; seascapes against lush palm-tree-laden backgrounds; seaplanes or grass huts on deserted beaches. These playful Hawai‘i icons have been a mainstay for 30-year North Shore artist and
PO‘IPU — First impressions can be deceiving: Hula girls, Cracker Jack sailors and steamships; seascapes against lush palm-tree-laden backgrounds; seaplanes or grass huts on deserted beaches.
These playful Hawai‘i icons have been a mainstay for 30-year North Shore artist and surfer, Doug Britt, who describes his work as possessing “humor with an undercurrent.”
“What bothers me ends up on canvas,” he said. “It’s reactionary to what’s happening in the world today.”
Vibrant colors and the whimsy of tropical scenes delight and captivate while simultaneously conveying subtle social commentary on the nuisance of low-flying helicopters, tourism and resort-laden, beach-front property.
A glimpse into Britt’s early works created while living in Ha‘ena 30 years ago is the focus of his upcoming opening, “Early Paintings and Constructions.” Meet the artist at an opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Galerie 103 in Kukui‘ula Village.
“I am reflecting on 30 years of work,” he said. “The art is just the trail. It’s the debris in life and what you leave behind. It’s interesting to look back and see the trail.”
Accompanying his early paintings will be ships and miniature paintings he calls “assemblances,” constructed from cardboard and found objects.
Britt’s maritime themes are recognizable not only for content but use of color and line. All of his work possesses a true horizon bending with the curve of the Earth and a green he describes as “institutional green and soothing.”
“The curved horizon is very important,” he said. “It gives you a sense of how Hawai‘i is really far out there. Living on an island the horizon is always there. It’s that ambiguous place — that gray area between here and there.”
Every image appears to bend on a Britt canvas.
“I paint colors toward each other,” he said. “There’s this tiny crack to where the colors aren’t touching — these fuzzy edges create another space.”
The familiar presence of ships and airplanes in Britt’s work is further evidence of his exposé on distance. He likens his paintings to the computer program Google Earth.
“Here is where you live and then you back up,” he said of his aerial views of Earth. “I can’t bare to look at a straight horizon in a picture. Nature doesn’t have straight lines.”
Britt’s work is in many private collections and has appeared in Honolulu Academy of Arts and the Academy Art Center of Honolulu, and is on display regularly at Ola’s in Hanalei.
Visit dougbrittart.com to see a playful film on Britt’s evolution as an artist designed by Janie Coltrin.
