Bill Braden's Work - Public Commissions and Displays                                        (Page 2 of 5)

Liliuokalani Gardens Condo: 300 Wai Nani Way, Waikiki

Ordered by Architects Hawaii (the largest architectural firm in Hawaii at the time) and the developers (Haseko Development Company) the two 50’ oil on canvas paintings of “Hawaiian Reef” decorate each lobby of the King and Queen towers at this Waikiki site. First created for the building in 1983 -84, the “Hawaiian Reef” paintings have become an increasingly popular theme for this artist, who was chosen specifically for his ability to convey the feelings of the quintessential reef and Hawaiian water experiences. (More of this genre of work can be seen in the Reef Series Gallery of this web site.)

Architects Hawaii specified mural size work like Claude Monet’s Water Lily Series but of Hawaiian water. By excluding the horizon, the work became a more “modern” format. These friezes connect the elevator hallway to the open lobby areas of each tower. The King Tower mural is of just water and reef. While the Queen Tower mural, which bends and connects to area beyond the elevators, depicts deep, “beyond the reef” waters, to reef, then to brackish waters within a lagoon.

There is also a round painting in the Queen Tower lobby titled “Pali Tondo” and a stone sculpture drinking fountain in the King Tower. Both of these pieces have spawned other subsequent progenies: the Koolau Pali” painted 20 years later for the Waikiki Banyan , a neighboring lobby site, and the Trailmarker Project.

Honolulu Police Headquarters:
801 S. Beretania, St. Honolulu

This six panel oil painting depicts a 360 degree view of the beach in Kahala (near Hunakai Street beach access). It was painted on location in 1981. And then was purchased by the City and County of Honolulu. Since then it has been split into two triptychs to decorate two public interface offices that flank the main entry to the Police Station on Beretania Street. You will notice the continuous grain of the oversize koa frame that the artist built for this piece. The same koa continues from one panel to the next.

 

 

 

 

 

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