Artist: Deep Hawaii Art
Title: Unframed "Ru Paul" The Omilu (BlueFin Trevally) Gyotaku
Medium: Custom Reproduction piece embellished with Prismacolors on mounted rice paper
Size: Paper size 16" 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:
RuPaul is a Bluefin Trevally (Caranx melampygus) or Omilu in Hawaiian. There are often multiple Hawaiian words for one species of fish, depending on size. Small Bluefin Trevallies are known as papio in Hawaiian, while larger blue fins are called Omilus. My very first gyotaku print was of an Omilu, so this piece is very special to me. I love all of the bright colors on these fish and the blues on the fins are absolutely electric when the fish is alive or first caught. I generally name my fish as I work up the prints. This one gave me a bit of sass, seemed to be feisty, and its colors reminded me of the bold make up and eyeshadow colors of a drag queen ….hence RuPaul!!
Category: Deep Hawaii Art