Meet the artist Escondido who revived the tiki movement – The Coast News Group

ESCONDIDO – For many, the tiki art evokes an exotic image of the ancient Polynesian tribal culture. But for the famous artist of Escondido Bosko Hrnjak it is the adoption of the art form by Southern California that inspired his artistic point of view and his production

Hrnjak, 55, in a recently released documentary film. Tiki's rebirth, "which had its first screening on July 14 at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood.Although he grew up in the metropolitan area of ​​Los Angeles, he's been calling Escondido home for decades and has lived in the same ranch house since 1990.

In an interview with The Coast News, Hrnjak said that his vast and sprawling lot of land gives him space to exhibit his pieces of tiki art, as well as having plenty of space to think and make plans.His land also contains a tiki bar, which he says he sometimes uses when hosting guests, but usually serves an exclusively artistic purpose

With much of his work centered on wood-based pieces, Hrnjak says he gets most of his wood from San Diego County near Julian via cedars, which disintegrate due climate change impacts near my Vulcan country.A large part of the other wood that he uses, from the redwoods of northern California, he buys at the store J & W Lumber at Escondido

During his days as a student at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena California, Hrnjak says that he became fascinated with the tiki art, motivating him to specialize in his creation. After its near extinction as a form of art in the United States in the 1970s, Hrnjak explained that interest in it has increased sharply since the 1990s, with bars and art tiki now a national phenomenon.

Bosko Hrnjak his handmade cups inside the Kapu Kai hut where he and his wife got married 15 years ago. Photo by Shana Thompson

Who raises the question: what is true tiki art and culture anyway? And what's an authentic tiki-bar what its knock-off alternatives do not have?

For Hrnjak, he sees the historical roots of tiki in the Polynesian triangle, defined geographically as Hawaii, New Zealand, and the East Island. Today, the traditional form of tribal art is perpetuated among the indigenous peoples of all these places.

There is a difference, says Hrnjak, between traditional tiki art and its more modern iteration that took off in the 1930s and after the war. It's the South-Californian version of tiki, the most modern variety made famous by the Los Angeles bar named Don the Beachcomber and worn by others afterwards, which motivated Hrnjak to create this art. form.

A good tiki bar, according to Hrnjak, has three main features: authentic tiki décor, correct and correct tropical music, and alcoholic beverages in this category as well. To find Hrnjak's tiki art, residents must drive to downtown San Diego, where it is most visible at the bar False Idol . This bar, says Hrnjak, is 10,000 square feet and has an equivalent of 10,000 square feet of his tiki art and he believes this is the best example of tiki bar operating in San County. Diego

. the United States as a form of cultural appropriation, or blend an original indigenous culture into its own context and recreate it in a form acceptable to consumers. When asked about the question, Hrnjak said that if the historical roots of the artistic form are found in the Polynesian triangle, he is careful to say that he was inspired by the Southern California tiki of the last decades, noting that he is cautious

Critics, however, have heard this argument and dismissed it as a form of "historical amnesia".

"Such logic traces tiki bars only to Don's Beachcomber – the first" ever tiki bar, opened in Los Angeles in 1933 – and glosses over Polynesian origins of imagery, "Sarah Burke , columnist at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, in a May 2017 article entitled " Abolish the Tiki Bar . "This confusion is the key to building the tiki style, making the entire South Pacific a choice of stereotypes and aesthetic tropes to choose from. "

But cultural appropriation or not, tiki culture is here to stay the United States and San Die Go into the county." Hrnjak said he planned to have a booth for the next event Tiki Oasis in downtown San Diego, which will be held from August 8 to August 12 at Bali Hai and Crowne Plaza hotels and what it describes as the equivalent of "Comic lovers" Con for tiki ".This is the largest tiki-centric event of its kind in the world.

Rob Wilson Producer of" Bosko and the Rebirth of Tiki ", told The Coast News that no official release date has been set yet for the film. "Two extracts from the film were however published on Facebook by Wilson.

For his part, Hrnjak says that well that he is best known as a tiki artist, his interests in art projects go far beyond the tiki and in areas such as photography other wood carvings and paintings. His work may be purchased online and he takes custom orders.