I’ve been looking forward to hanging some art on these beautifully faux-rusticated walls since Zia’s first opened. Some of the “antiquing” is now genuine. Zia’s being one of my favorite places to eat also adds to my delight!
The wonderful transition of the (pretend) cracked walls (and Sienna and sand colors) into the paintings and composition is mostly serendipitous. However, we did create a couple of paintings specifically for this occasion and place. “The Zia in Venezia”, the oil painting with the faux marble finish and ornamental keystone finial frame has intentionally gotten involved in the theatrics of this funky, decaying but beautiful world. Also, “The Blue Grotto”, aka, “ La Grotta Azurra di Isola de Capri” (please excuse my bad Italian…) explores the dark, enigmatic underbelly of that world famous natural phenomenon. My boss, Mrs. Jinny Braden and I want to take this opportunity to thank La Familia Suderman for this opportunity.
As an introduction to us, we are the artist chosen from over 200 applicants nation wide to paint “The Best Beaches of Hawaii” by the City and County of Honolulu in 1990. Maybe the most glorious highlight of Bill’s art education was the academic year (1979-1980) he spent in Italy, as part of the Rhode Island School of Design’s European Honors Program. For Bill and Jinny, Kailua High (1975), there’s no place like home. Now, to have this venue to blend some of our Hawaii paintings with works depicting other enchanting world famous waters is a dream come true.
DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC PIECES
#1. “The View from a Tahitian Motu” oil on canvas, 4@ 30’’x30”, $12,500
(reproductions are available in various sizes, mediums, prices, please call us)
The wall to the left side as you enter features a Quattrotych (four panel work), “The View from a Tahitian Motu”. We worked with (at the time) Hotel Director of the exclusively Tahiti based cruise ship S.S. Paul Gauguin on this piece to decorate the Gallery/Piano Bar of the ship. It shows a view from a typical Motu (islet) on the edge of a lagoon looking out toward the Sea. There is even a humpback whale in the left most panel. We swam with a humpback off Moorea but that is a story for another time. The concept for the cruise ship painting was to offer the ultimate South Pacific view (especially if the weather is off during some cruises). Anyway, the Pandemic hit, the Paul Gauguin stopped sailing and we’ll see where we are with this project as the world re-opens.
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#2.“The Blue Grotto”, 30” X 30” oil on canvas custom shadow box black frame $6,500
(reproductions are available in various sizes, mediums, prices, please call us)
On the small adjacent wall we present “The Blue Grotto,” aka “La Grotta Azurra,” Capri, Italy. Next time I’ll add the chain at the tiny entrance to the cave that the boat men use to pull their vessels into this magical world famous place. Oars must be contracted, all heads must be 1lowered. There is a larger underwater opening below the surface entrance that allows filtered light to create this extraordinary blue light phenomena.On the cave wall there is some graffiti advertising Zia’s, and also, is that the ghost of Roman Emperor Tiberius? Supposedly, There is a tunnel there connecting this place to his fabulous ancient villa up on the cliffs. What got me excited about painting this phenomena is in the using my technique of having the white of the canvas to help create the glowing blue.By using a blue glaze with the light reflecting off the white gesso primer below, I’m able to create the blue that can not be made by just mixing opaque paints. Like a stained glass window, it’s the light streaming through the colored translucent layer that makes it glow.
#3. “High Tide” Lanikai triptych, giclee on watercolor paper, 3@7”x7” image size, Koa wood frame with custom mat by Brillhante Picture Framing, $500
(art is $100, special framing is $400).(reproductions are available in various sizes, prices, mediums, please call us)
As we move to the other little wall beyond the kitchen and restroom entrances, we have a small framed view of our “signature” artwork, “High Tide”, Lanikai Triptych, 1980. What does it say about an artist when his bestseller is more than 40 years old? Say no more.
#4. “Kaneohe Bay” oil on canvas, 12”x36”, $3,000
(reproductions are available in various sizes, prices, please call us)
Next, on the left side of the main wall, we pay homage to our hometown of Kaneohe with a view of K-Bay from Kalenakai St. This was a commissioned work for an Air Force Officer and his Wife of their view. They specified including the C-17 jet plane coming in for landing at the Marine Base. They also wanted the orange spinnaker on the sailboat sailing out of the Yacht Club. Why do we still have the painting if it was commissioned? Sometimes we do two variations of an idea and our clients chose the other one. It had a line of monkeypod trees in the bottom foreground.
#5. “Makapuu From the Beach” giclee on canvas, 12”x36”, $400
(reproductions are available in various sizes, mediums, prices, please call us)
Below the Kaneohe Bay painting is a canvas reproduction of a painting commissioned by Kaipo and Marla, a local couple of the husband’s favorite beach, Makapuu. Kaipo even took the photo from which I did the oil painting. The original was 2’x 6’, so there is a lot of detail in this compressed reproduction. It also happens to be the manager of Zia’s, Jesse Suderman’s favorite beach.
#6.“Beyond the Reef to Beach”, pentatych, oil on canvas, monkey pod frame, 5 @ 18” X 36” panels, $11,750
(reproductions are available in various sizes, mediums, prices, please call us)
The center of the main wall features the five panel, pentatych, “Beyond the Reef to Beach.” This serial work is a variation of the “Reef Series”, work I’ve been painting since I was first commissioned to paint “Hawaiian Waters”, like the famous impressionist Claude Monet’s “Water Lilly Pond Series”, by Architects Hawaii in 1983 (for the two 50’ long oil on linen pairings at Queen Liliuokalani Gardens Condominiums two lobbies). The beauty of Monet’s water series are the gorgeous reflections contrasting the dirty scum pond water. Hawaiian, or clear ocean waters’ allure is the exact opposite, the reef, shadows, sand and the exquisite turquoises to deep blues of clear, practically transparent water. A pentatych like this is a study in the sublime shifts in color of deep blues of beyond the reef ocean gradually transitioning to the contrast of red and brown reef contrasting with blue green water, turquoises, the shallow wet sand reflecting the blue sky to finally dry sand.
#7. “The Zia in Venezia” 30” X 30” plus frame, oil on canvas $6,500 (reproductions are available in various sizes, mediums, prices, please call us)
“The Zia in Venezia” was so much fun to create. Unlike the clear translucent tropicals waters, my specialty, the turbid green waters of the Venetian canals are basically an excellent backdrop for reflections, the warm hues of painted, re-painted, plastered, re-plastered walls, brick, marble, wrought iron, etc.. The gently undulating mirror surface of the canal transforms the reflections of it all into an abstract, awe inspiring and wildly romantic wonderland. Old and decrepit, yes, funky and even smelly, yes, and yet so transcendent.
Then there is the narrative behind Pointe Bernardo. As they say, you have to get lost in Venice just to find that special place in your heart. Our Daughter’s ex-boyfriend Leo’s grandmother has this apartment there. As you come out the gate of the courtyard, you’re right there, Calle Ponte Bernardo. From the small apartment’s window you can see the gondolieri and their passengers, eye to eye. This canal is so narrow that the gondolieri have to push on the walls to make the corner. The front door has a wooden board you insert to hold back the aqua alta, the high water flood. Fortunately we have our Zia’s right her win Kaneohe. Is that Leo as a little ragazzo trying out his folded paper boat?
The custom frame is where the fun continues. The architectural molding is copied in the frame even the keystone feature has been aped. The ultimate fun was in distressing the frame by hammering, then painting it to mimic the old marble arch of the bridge. The veining and the anitiquing had to be tuned to match the color in the painting.
#8. “Pipeline with Flowers” left panel only, giclee on canvas, 22” X 22” $500 (reproductions are available in various sizes, mediums, prices, please call us) curly koa frame $400
Continuing around the bend on the little wall in the corner, almost as a filler, we put this left panel of “Pipeline with Flowers” triptych. The original oil on canvas painting was commissioned by Jurgen and Karin, the owners of the Sullivan Estate (one of the most beautiful estates ever) to go above the fireplace of their tudor style mansion. Though their view of the entire North Shore form the edge of Pupukea Pali is fabulous, they wanted something North Shore, powerful and colorful. Thus the bird of paradise (colorful), Kaena Point (North Shore landmark), and the wave at Pipeline (powerful).
#9. “South Pacific Reef Study”, oil on canvas board, 8” X 10” monkeypod frame $300 (reproductions are available in various sizes, mediums, prices, please call us)
Finally on the tiny wall of the column between the sliding doors facing the main road, we wanted to put up something that would contrast the faux brick wallpaper. This small “reef study”, original oil on canvas board was done on our South Pacific Seas Expedition on board the research vessel Norwegian Gem (cruise ship). We were probably in the port of Noumea, New Caledonia (or was it Suva, Fiji?). Even the harbors have such pristine waters. It’s the view from the channel looking toward sandy, reef shallows.
Sculpture :
#10. “The Bronze Tan”, solid bronze lost wax process casting, 12” x 3” ( x 3 1/2” height), #4 / 450 limited edition. $2,000.
The base: 4’ height, 1’ x 1’, including plexiglass cover, rusticated granite top, koa frame, hardwood column, optional beach sand dressing. $2,500
With different bases and sometimes clear cases, and the very nature of lost wax bronze sculpture, each “Bronze Tan” presents differently. #1 was attached to a sand stone base, #2 was attached to a scale koa surfboard as a base. #3, currently at Full Fathom Five art gallery in Kahuku lays on a bed of sand, with a clear plexiglass cover on a koa framed base. Most have different color bathing suits.
Often at art sales events, I encounter the objection,”we love your paintings, but we don’t have any more wall space…” Well, what about that floor space in front of your Bill Braden beachscape? Seriously, by activating the 3rd dimension, the interior of the room starts to become even more part of the “Best Beaches of Hawaii” decor. Though an empty beach or seascape might be desirable, a friendly attractive fellow beachgoer (albeit small in scale and made of bronze) sometimes adds that perfect addition to a sublime atmosphere. There is a whole lot to be said about the space in between things, the narrative thus created. As an artist, I have learned the hard way that my forte is not in the explanation. Indeed, some art sales representatives have made clear how my ramblings are counter productive.
The backstory should maybe include that I was a Sculpture major for my BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. I was a guest student at the Royal Academy of Art in London before going to RISD.The Royal Academy is a graduate school of art that embodies the “Beaux Arts” type of traditional “old master to apprentice” style of teaching. Students did life drawing in a medical amphitheater like drawing studio with different models of all ages and shapes coming in shifts all day, every day. Sometimes, we would get so tired of naked bodies that we would sketch any clothed figure, i.e., resting model, fellow student, or the flayed life cast plasters on the walls. So when I got to RISD, a “Bauhaus” type of art school that combined art with industry, and rigorously demanded cutting edge thinking about art and design, I chose to not subject my already developed traditional 2 dimensional art skills and sensibilities to re-education. However, Sculpture / 3-D, Art Theory and even Architecture were open game and a most rewarding schooling ever. The 100 ton stone sculpture “Trailmarker I” at the entrance to Waimea Valley, or the galvanized steel relief sculptures /entrance features to St John Vianneys Catholic Church in Kailua are examples of my more cutting edge ideas of sculpture.
In the late 1990’s, I modeled the original clay (plastiline) figure, and had the master mold and the first casting at the New England Sculpture Foundry in Sommerville, Massachusetts. Since then, I had them cast another one about a decade later. When that foundry closed a few years ago, I had them send me the master mold. The following is a brief description of the Lost Wax casting process. Molten wax is poured into the flexible, reusable master mold to create a positive, a faithful reproduction of the original clay sculpture. This wax positive is then set into a “waste mold”, the wax is melted out of this secondary mold, and molten bronze is poured into the cavity. Previous to setting the wax into the Waste Mold, wax “gating” and “sprews”, plumbing to allow the molten wax to exit and molten bronze to enter the mold must be custom fabricated and attached to the positive wax sculpture. When the bronze cools and solidifies, the waste mold must be chiseled off, and the now bronze “plumbing” must be cut off the sculpture. This process of fixing the rough, imperfect, freshly cast sculpture is called “chasing” and requires specialized skills and tools. Sometimes the molten bronze fails to fill parts of the mold and must be repaired or redone entirely. This is an extremely time and labor intensive job. You can see where some gating was cut off the casting at the tip of the hair bun on“Bronze Tan”; see the saw mark? This is a birthmark, an example of the uniqueness of each individual casting/sculpture even though they all come from the same master mold. The Patina, polishing, and added coloring also contribute to the individual character of each bronze sculpture.
“Bronze Tan”, #s 3,4,and 5 were cast right here in Kaneohe, by master sculptor and foundry owner Jackie Mild Lau. She also teaches sculpture and casting at her Kaneohe Studio, right beside City Mill on Kahuhipa St. Lost Wax Bronze is an art that is many thousands of years old and developed in different parts of our world, you know, the Bronze Age. Her email is [email protected]
CONTACT INFORMATION
phone or text:
Bill Braden 808 223-8974
Jinny Braden 808 429-4215
website:
billbradenart.com
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