Bright and Frantic Tiki Art by Ken Ruzic
Last Call at the Kahuna Room, acrylic on wood
Ken Ruzic creates fantastically bright and frantic tiki art, merging pop-art and cartoon aesthetics Polynesian mythology. The artist’s portfolio is packed with densely detailed figurative imagery made in a range of traditional media.
Cannibal King open line edition, ceramic
I love the amount of color that Ken packs into his works – even in drawings and paintings that are relatively de-saturated, the artist sticks to an enthralling palette of bright greens and blues, with pops of warmer color like red and orange to give each work a great sense of energy. The artist also creates tiki-themed trinkets in the form of glassware and ceramics, which are sculpted with an impressive attention to detail.
As we discussed in our previous feature of Ken’s complex, grotesque mythological art, the artist’s works often feature Hawaiian and Polynesian legends. These mythologies factor prominently, but many other figures also appear in Ken’s portfolio. The artist packs enough detail into his scenes to rival the grandest ancient tapestries.
