Trip To Hawaii

 

Study trip to Hawaii from February to March 2008, looking especially for volcanic black sand and green sand of olivine.
The paintings are inspired by photo-shootings I did in San Francisco (stop over) and on three Hawaiian islands: Oahu, Big Island and Kauai.
On the islands of Hawaii where nature is constantly mind-blowing, where the majesty of the volcanic coast and the violence of the waves will knock you out with their beauty, I finally spotted strange silhouettes abandoned along the roads: Car wrecks. ...nothing really surprising at first... But then, looking at them more carefully, I could see how the corrosion of the wind, the sun and the salty water sculpted the scrap metal and how the lush flora crept and climbed, in and out and around those skeletons of tin with a sympathetic avidity...it was just the poetry of contrasts, far away from the ”honeymoon all-inclusive” clichés of Waikiki Beach. Also the car wrecks arbitrarily laying here and there reminded me that the Hawaiian Islands are suffering from high environmental pollution, mainly leftovers of US military activities, thus largely hidden from the eyes of unsuspecting tourists. Until today only few decontamination initiatives have been established.