Artist: Deep Hawaii Art
Title: "Kissing Kalas" (Unicorn Fish) Gyotaku
Medium: Custom Reproduction piece embellished with Prismacolors on rice paper (or on fine art paper) - created to order
Size: 21" x 44" (paper size); combined length of both fish 31.5"
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 piece was created with a print of a male and a female Kala (bluespine unicornfish) facing one another. Bluespine unicornfish (Naso unicornis) have prominent “unicorn horns” that they develop after achieving 6 inches of length. They also have bright blue, razor sharp spines at the base of their tail. We actually have to break off these spines prior to printing this fish in order to avoid piercing the paper. My partner, Kacy and I created this piece together in a really fun way. We each had speared one of the fish in the print. Kacy got the male (which is on the right in the print) and I got the female. We ate this fish for dinner right off the grill!"
Category: Deep Hawaii Art