POW WOW Hawaii In Pictures: Murals In Progress

Founded by Jasper Wong and now in its second year, POW WOW Hawaii brings a diverse group of international contemporary artists to Honolulu.

While the core exhibition opens today, the event also an ambitious mural program. The walls, which find many of the artists collaborating, form the core of the event and essentially transform an entire Honolulu neighborhood in a single week. Kamea Hadar, one of the artists and directors of POW WOW, spoke with us about the walls in progress, which include work by Will Barras, MEGGS, PHIBS, and Aaron De La Cruz. With much of POW WOW focused on the coversation between artists and with the community, watching the walls take shape is a powerful part of the story.

Kamea Hadar, one of the artists and directors of POW WOW, spoke with us about the walls in progress, which include work by Will Barras, MEGGS, PHIBS, and Aaron De La Cruz. He also talks about why they were chosen to participate and their personal connections to POW WOW.

Check out POW WOW In Pictures, Part One.

"Will is from London. He's also was here in 2011. The piece he painted then was sold at our fundraiser in November. The guy who bought it lives on the 15th floor of a posh building. It fit by dimension in the freight elevator, but not through the door. So, Jasper and I had to find a way to twist it up the fire stairs all 15 floors. It's an 10" by 4" canvas."

"When Aaron was here for his solo show, he was hitting every wall in sight. Crista, one of our directors has a white BMW. He painted it. It is now one of the most recognizable vehicals on the island. Aaron says he gets calls about it all the time, people who have been here on vacation and seen it."

"Both of these artists are from San Jose, now living in the Bay Area. Aaron was here last year, and he did a show after POW WOW in Loft In Space. Sam was invited this year by Aaron. We asked the original participating artists to invite friends this year. Sam is one my personal favorites."

"WOES is one of the local boys. He's doing big things around the world now. Last year he was out of town during POW WOW. He was so bummed. He made sure he was around this year."

"PEAP and WOES, they just went on a big tour of South East Asia. Doing both art and community work. PEAP is from Cambodia. Apparently, my name Kamea sounds very similar to the word used to describe his people."

"Eddie's from the Bay Area. I met him while I was there visiting Aaron De La Cruz and Ken Harmon. Last night, Eddie was hitting up a wall on one of the area's busiest streets. He wanted to work at night. It is a construction wall, which we had permission to paint, but a cop came and started getting at him. We rushed over, and luckily Christian (the representative from Kamehameha Schools, who own most of the buildings were painting on) was there with us to explain to the cop what was going on."

"PHIBS is one of the Ever Fresh Crew. This morning he was on the cover of the Honolu Star Advertiser, our local paper. A lot of people read the paper here in Hawaii, and because of the cover a lot of people have come into Loft In Space and asked about POW WOW and the walls."

"MEGGS is also from the Ever Fresh Crew in Melbourne. He was here last year as well. Jago is new to POW WOW this year."

"Last year, one of MEGGS collectors came. A really eccentric guy with a curly mustache showed up. Randomly. We went next year to a bar called Duck Butt, and sang karaoke with him. Random story. Every time we sang, the collector (Andrew) would act them out."

"He has some of the cleanest lines that I've seen. Really impressive technique. It is really fun to watch someone who is so good at something. His movement is so effencient."

"A lot of times, when Will works he starts with a really abstract form and color. Slowly, it gets sharper and clearer and something just appears out of it."

"Winning the hearts and minds of the community. The biggest part of all the POW WOW guys is the attitude. They all are friendly, positive people. It is not enough to paint well. We also want good ambassadors."

"Jeff is in artist and also runs the website (and is) BOOOOOOOM.com."

"Ogi is from Tokyo. He went to school with Jasper, Aaron De La Cruz, and Derek Weisberg."

"Another local boy. He's been killing it here for years."