Aloha Dreams (2007) – Laura Kina

**Tina Hyun Giving Me A Pedicure**, Acrylic on canvas, 40×30 in., 2006
Private collection Poulsbo, WA.

Laura Kina: Aloha Dreams
June 9–July 21, 2007

Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts
2043 N Miami Avenue
Miami, FL 33127

2007 Artist Statement

My mixed media paintings explore dreams of paradise. Like the Post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin’s paintings of Tahiti, Aloha Dreams uses Hawai’i as a tropical muse to explore pattern, color, figuration, and abstraction. Beyond the gloss and allure of palm trees and plate lunch, the works in this exhibition delve into a more complicated history using images from popular culture, textile design, and my own family history as sugar cane plantation workers on the Big Island of Hawaii to focus on immigration/migration, heritage tourism, and Orientalist fantasies.

—

The ideas I was muddling through in this series have since come into focus through the critique of colonial complicity offered by Asian Settler Colonialism. See Iyko Day’s 2018 “Settler Colonialism in Asian North American Representation.” Also, Gauguin was an Orientalist pedophile.

PRESS RELEASE (PDF)

**Raising Cane**, Oil on canvas, 40×30 in., 2007
Private collection Poulsbo, WA.

**Michelle Tucker Dying My Hair**, Acrylic on canvas, 40×30 in., 2007

**Hanahana**, Oil on canvas, 40″x30″, 2007
Private collection Poulsbo, WA.

**Diamond Head**, Acrylic, Envirotex on panel, 14 x 18 in., 2007

**Ewa Beach Sunset**, Acrylic, Envirotex on panel, 14 x 18 in., 2007
Private collection Washington DC.

**Me and Joe at Paradise Cove**, Acrylic, glitter, Envirotex on panel, 14 x 18 in., 2006

**Mequitta Ahuja**, Acrylic and glitter on canvas, 27 x 48 in., 2006

**Sam**, Acrylic, glitter and origami paper on canvas, 27 x 48 in., 2006
Private collection Washington DC.

**Flowers for Your Heart**, Acrylic and ink on paper 9 panels, 30×30 in. each,
2003 and 2007, Private collection Chicago, IL.

**Aloha Dreams: Tabu**, Oil on wood panel, 30×30 in., 2007
Private collection Washington DC.

**Aloha Dreams: Matson**, Enamel on wood panel, 30×30 in., 2007
Private collection Washington DC.

**Aloha Dreams: Porthole**, Oil and colored pencil on wood panel, 30×30 in., 2007
Private collection Washington DC.

**Aloha Dreams: Pearl Harbor**, Oil on wood panel, 30×30 in., 2007

**Aloha Dreams: Over the Rainbow**, Enamel, acrylic and colored pencil on wood panel,
30×30 in., 2007, Private collection Chicago, IL.

**Aloha Dreams: Loco Moco**, Acrylic on wood panel, 30×30 in., 2007
Private collection Chicago, IL.

**Mishpoche**, Acrylic enamel on MDF, polyurethane, tatami mats, slippers,
145 x 147 in., 2004–2005 (destroyed 2007)

**Ocean View Inn**, Oil on wood panel, 30 x 30 in., 2008

**Piihonua**, Oil on wood panel, 30 x 30 in., 2008
Private collection Chicago, IL.

**Primo**, Enamel and acrylic on wood panel, 30 x 30 in., 2008
Private collection Los Angeles, CA.

**Hana-hana**, Mixed media on wood panel, 2 panels 30×30 in. each, 2008

Installation Photographs

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