Artist: Deep Hawaii Art
Title: "Tako Bob" The Octopus Gyotaku
Medium: Custom gyotaku reproduction on rice paper embellished with Prismacolors, black wood frame
Size: Framed 26" x 37"; Paper size 24x 32"
Lāna`i artist Kristin Belew painstakingly embellished this life-size Gyotaku print of an Octopus 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 octopus then presses rice paper onto the specimen to receive the paint. She then adds in details!
Fun facts from Kristin:
"In Hawaii, Octopus are referred to by their Japanese name which is Tako. The Hawaiian word for octopus is He’e and the species most commonly harvested is the Day octopus (Octopus cyanea.) Although octopus is a very popular and sustainable food source (listed as “a good alternative” under Monterey Bay Seafood Watch Program) for many people living in Hawaii, it is one I choose not to harvest for myself. I absolutely love these creatures and cannot bring myself to kill one, but I am not opposed to others doing so for sustenance purposes. Thus, this tako was “borrowed” to create this print. This piece took some extra love and patience to complete. Some quick cool facts on octopus: They can change their color, texture and pattern in 3/10 of a second and they can open childproof pill bottles. Octopus can have as many as 240 suckers on each tentacle!"
Category: Deep Hawaii Art