Artist: Deep Hawaii Art
Title: "Skittles" The Uhu (Parrotfish) Gyotaku
Medium: Custom Reproduction piece embellished with Prismacolors on rice paper. Black frame.
Size: Framed size 22" x 26"
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:
Skittles is a male Spectacled parrotfish (Chlorurus perspicillatus) or Uhu-uliuli in Hawaiian. The common name for these fish is derived from the greenish blue bar across head/ nose area that resembles a pair of glasses or spectacles. “Green Uhus” are often sought after by spearfisherman due to their size and beautiful coloration. These fish are not only beautiful, but very tasty as well. Traditional parrotfish dishes are made by baking the fish surrounded by veggies, and sausage and flavored with mayo and hot sauce. The green or blue variants of parrotfish are the males. These fishes have a unique life history cycle! Most parrotfish are sequential hermaphrodites, ie: they all start out as females (reddish gray coloration) and transform into males if needed. A single male will preside over a harem of females and only if that male dies, the largest and strongest female will then transform into the lead male! I loved adding all the color to this print and Skittles seemed to be the perfect gender neutral name!
Category: Deep Hawaii Art