Ian Kuali`i

“One can’t erase a razor line so the process teaches me to be patient and gentle while at the same time destroying to create”.

Ian Kuali’i is a self-taught artist of Hawaiian and Apache ancestry, who made his name in the art world with his unique art compositions. Ian explores the relationship between storytelling and contemporary art through the use of detailed hand-cut paper and collaged found materials, all perfectly balanced and mixed within hip hop and graffiti movement. As the result, we get to see his artworks are full of energy, movement, and raucous fun. Sometimes his work is somewhere between the raw and delicate, demonstrating the process of destroying in order to create something new. His hand-cut method examines ideas of indigeneity, modern progress, biodiversity, and the foundation of one’s own history.

Resonantly ambiguous, Ian Kuali’i's artworks invite viewers to recruit their own imaginations in working out different ways to interpret them, while often questioning how their social reception might shift among different audiences. He draws on the power of the various art mediums to both transfix us and undo our ingrained ways of seeing and thinking about the world around us.

His art is addressing a series of important questions about our public spaces and designed environments while offering in-depth insight into the state of painting today. Even though sometimes his artworks look simple when we scratch beneath the surface, we discover more deep layers of meaning and messages his art reflects. Embracing social, environmental, and spiritual consciousness, Ian's art teaches us how to become more human.