Hawaii Investigation: Tourism and Fantasy
Island Fever
Charcoal and Watercolor on Watercolor Paper
18 x 24
I wanted this work to comment on tourism and the commercialization of Hawaii and the "island aesthetic". The piece includes stereotypical caricatures of Hawaii (hula girls, alcohol, surfers, palm trees), while also nodding to darker elements (such as the sugarcane workers in the lower left corner). I was inspired by previous drawings I'd done that contained swirls, patterns, and colors for the purpose of a psychedelic or dreamlike mood, and old Pan Am advertisements. The title was a nod to fever dreams, and I wanted this piece to raise questions about perception, the fantasy of island life, and Hawaii as a tourist destination.
For materials, I used a charcoal pencil and watercolor paint. I also used rubbing alcohol and table salt to create distortions in the watercolor. I initially planned on using the same materials as in my extended blind contour drawing (lower left), but I wanted to experiment with watercolor and I wanted a more subtle and blendable material for drawing the figures. I used references for many of the figures, and when it came to the hula dancers, I deliberately used tourism images, and not images of traditional/actual dancers to further the work's theme. I began by drawing the charcoal elements and finished with watercolor before strengthening the dark charcoal lines. Before making marks on the paper, I experimented with rubbing alcohol (using an eyedropper) and salt on test swatches to play with the effects of these materials. They ended up enhancing the painted background, and I think they add variety and distortion to the image.
In terms of my process, my materials certainly changed once I moved beyond my idea generation sketches. Some of my initial ideas never made it into the finished work, like the faces that I had originally planned to include. I wanted to experiment with line variation in ink, but this was scrapped when I switched to charcoal. My basic layout was decided, but many details fell into place as I went along. The salt and alcohol were a nod to the theme, and created distortions in the watercolor which added to the dreamlike mood. In the end, I left certain areas and elements black and white to force the viewer to toggle back and forth between the sections, perhaps leading them to question what in the image is truly real.
