Deep Hawaii Art: "Mo" the Moano - Manybar Goatfish

Artist: Deep Hawaii Art

Title: "Mo" The Moano Gyotaku

Medium: Custom gyotaku reproduction on cold press paper embellished with Prismacolors and ink pen.

Size: 16" x 20" (Frame Size)

Lāna`i artist Kristin Belew painstakingly embellished this life-size reproduction of her Gyotaku print with Prismacolors.   

Gyotaku is a traditional Japanese style of fish printing where each original piece of art is taken right from the fish. Kristin applies acrylic paint to the actual fish then presses rice paper onto the specimen to receive the paint. She then adds in details! Each fish is eaten or used for bait afterwards. 

Fun Facts from Kristin:

This manybar goatfish (Parupeneus multifasciatus) is known as the Moano in Hawaiian. These goatfish cruise around the sea floor using their whisker-like barbels to search for food. This exact species of fish are also what we use to find octopus. Moanos often find octopus and nip at them and harass them. I have also seen an octopus retaliate with a quick punch to the moano that was bothering it. I speared this particular fish and had it for dinner. They make a great local steamed dish which includes garlic, ginger, bok choy and onion, topped with sizzling peanut oil!