Photo1Q3.20: Pow Wow

As a newcomer to Pow Wow, the most I've seen from this event is when I'm driving through Kaka'ako around this time of the year. I've seen a lot of the beautiful works they've had and I've always wondered what happens to the work they have (unfortunately they're often painted over, which sucks or is a beautiful thing to do depending on your interpretation). I frequent Kaka'ako area during the Summer so I've seen some of the works before and the area overall. I plan on going with the field trip group to check out the work there.

Knowing that this is the event's 8th year, I believe it's absolutely required for local artists and international artists to come to Hawaii and be featured/spotlighted because this place is a boiling pot of background. There's so much diversity, and the only way to create more of that diversity is to get artists to work together, even though they may be unfamiliar with each other. Pow Wow is an amazing way to do that, and I feel that Jasper Wong is doing great things with this event.

ARTIST 1: JASPER WONG

I'd like to meet the founder of this entire thing because I'm interested to see where he came from and how he came up with the idea of Pow Wow. Upon viewing his work, it's actually quite interesting. I was attracted to the near-psychadelic, but not really, type of vibe he has. It can appear chaotic and with order at the same time. They're pretty "out there", but there still exists definite artistic principles.

ARTIST 2: JESSE VELASQUEZ

A local artist, Velasquez had some really interesting murals on his Instagram. I was especially attracted to the noes below largely due to their composition. There's simply something very nice about the way his work flows and the placement of the design elements in his work.

ARTIST 3: TRAN NGUYEN

A Vietnamese artist, I was incredibly surprised at the work that Nguyen produced. There's an old, classical history that she paints/draws with, but whether its through her color palette, the subject matter, or simply having work that isn't done before, Nguyen's art is very beautiful and unique.