The Return of the Living Tiki

Its funny how some things are present your entire life and you take them for granted. Growing up on the Space Coast of Florida, I took rocket launches, sunrises over the Atlantic and blue skies for granted. Soething else I took for granted were tikis. As a kid I had a pendant, probably of Ku, with red rhinestone eyes. I was always interested in primative art, tribal masks, and tiki gods. I find it strange that something like that could just fade from my memory over the years. I wonder what memories covered my tiki memories, covered them like a layer of dust that just got thicker and thicker over the years. It got so thick that I no longer acknowledged those memories, or at least didn't give them much consideration.

That was until about 18 months ago, probably February 2007. That is when I did my first acrylic painting, and the subject matter was a tiki. From that point on, the dust and cobwebs of my memory began to stir. That sediment that hid such an important part of my life had broken loose, allowing me access again to something important to my life. I know all that dust will have to settle somewhere, but I'll worry about those other lost memories in due time, when I am ready to rediscover them.

I have discovered that I am not alone in my love of tiki. My roommate, Greg, shares the same interest. Another friend Jason has recently rediscovered his (with our help). What I find interesting is that there are even more people out there that have the same and even deeper interest, and all of those people can be found in one convinient location: Tiki Central.

www.tikicentral.com

What bothers me is that it took me so long to rediscover tiki, and I'm talking real tiki. You see, there is a difference in what people consider tiki, and that difference is geographical. If you grew up on the East Coast of the USA, you were probably influenced by the Caribbean, parrots, pineapples, and toothy-faced tiki carvings. If you grew up on the West Coast of the USA, you were probably influenced by Polynesia, primitive art, Don the Beachcomber, pineapples and real tiki. At least, as real as real tiki can get since it is a post WWII import and interpretation. I've experienced both now, and I'll take the West Coast version, thank you very much.