16 Pacific Rim Artists Show a Common Theme

Hawaiian artist Doug Young captures the pristine coastline of his native island in his large watercolor “Molokai Sequence.” He wants to document the land before developers build hotels and alter it forever. “I want to show the beauty of these local images the way they were in my lifetime,” he says, “because they probably won’t be that way for long.”

The decaying environment also troubles artist Bob Alderette of Los Angeles. His piece “No Cal/So Cal” starts out with images of clear water that transform into gray smog. “What’s happening in California, my home, is unsettling to me,” Alderette says. “I concern myself with issues here and how they affect the land, the water and the people.’

Both of these pieces and works by 14 other artists are on view in the “Pacific Currents” show opening today at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center and continuing through March 4. As the name suggests, all of the artists in “Pacific Currents” are from places that border the Pacific Ocean. But guest curator Edward Den Lau, director of the Space Gallery in Hollywood, says he made sure the artists he selected for the show shared more than common coastlines.

“I wanted artists who cared about the land, the geography of the places they’re from. I wanted to focus on natural materials as much as possible--on getting back to a simpler state of things,” Lau said. “No artists I can think of in the show use synthetic materials.”

Twigs, wood, paper, stone and water are seen in works throughout the exhibit, evoking the indigenous materials of Japan, Alaska, Korea, California and Australia--places that the artists represent.

“That’s another unique thing about the show,” Lau said. “It’s not just made up of artists from China and Japan, places people normally think of when they hear Pacific Rim. I wanted to expand people’s concept of the Pacific Rim. Just concentrating on Asia doesn’t tell the whole story.”

Broadening the public’s idea about Pacific Rim art, Lau also focuses on uncanny similarities between diverse Pacific Rim artists. While putting the show together, he looked for connections and he found so many that even he was surprised. “It’s amazing,” he said. “The connections are all over the place.” He attributes them to “the melting pot of the Pacific Rim. . . . The artists are from different cultures, but the cultures, although unique, can become blurred. It’s partly because they all border the Pacific, which makes cultural exchange easy.

“The show bridges Eastern and Western cultures. One can’t help but see multicultural crossovers. I wanted to get at the great cultural exchange in art, and in lives.”

Water is the most obvious connection between the artists, and Lau said that he centered the exhibition around the Young piece showing the Hawaiian coast, a nine-foot work of rolling waves and jagged cliffs.

The water theme comes up again in Alderette’s “No Cal/So Cal” and again in a piece by Seiji Kunishima, a smooth granite and bronze sculpture which makes use of actual water. “There is water in one of the branches,” Lau said. “It gives a very real, natural feeling. It symbolizes rain, and the port city that Kunishima is from in Japan, Nagoya. It’s very poetic.

“And then we have boats, which also relate to water,” Lau continued, pointing out kayak-like shapes in the work of Alaskan artist James Bachman, who uses birch and oak branches in a piece called “The Great Ship: A Chart.”

The Bachman structures also evoke a feeling of shelter, Lau said, referring to a piece--three spindly branches joined at the top--that makes Lau think of an Indian dwelling. “It’s very Pacific Northwest,” he said. “But look how it relates to the Australian artist John Davis,” whose skin-like canvas pulled taughtly over twigs evokes “a very natural type of shelter. It reminds me of the camouflage the Aborigines used to shelter themselves.”

And so the connections continue.

The concept of simple structures is particularly appealing to Lau, as they remind him of his own upbringing in Hawaii. “When I was growing up,” he recalled, “there were a lot of open spaces. I used to sleep at the beach, where there was a wonderful sense of freedom. Now, it’s overbuilt with large structures. When I see this, my mind goes back to the simple structures I’m nostalgic for.”

His nostalgia is yet another link between the works in the exhibit. Lau noted that the work of Rolando Castellone, a native of Nicaragua who now runs the gallery at UC Santa Cruz, demonstrates the importance of history.

Castellone uses old pieces of paper covered with mud to make new artifacts, which he calls “pre-Columbian found objects.” He describes the process as a sort of recycling. “I give old things new life, but I make them look old,” he said. “So there’s a strong feeling of the past. It’s important to convey feelings of the past as we move forward in a pluralistic society.”

As the Muckenthaler is geared toward educating the public, text will help the visitors understand the works, and a slide show will offer looks at additional works by the artists. Lau wants viewers to get as carried away by tracing the connections through the show as he is. “I want them to ask questions.” he said. “I want viewers to piece the show together like a puzzle.”

“Pacific Currents,” an exhibition of work by 16 contemporary artists from the Pacific Rim, opens today at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center, 1201 W. Malvern Ave., Fullerton. Hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Admission: free. Through March 4. Information: (714) 738-6595.