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Polynesian Murals and Dioramas - Vintage & Other |
hewey
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 14, 2004
Posts: 4270
From: Sydney, Australia
|  Posted: 2007-02-24 01:41 am Permalink
Great thread! To me the best murals are the ones that have 3D elements in the foreground that lead into the painting - making it hard to distinguish where the wall starts! 
People interested in this should also do some googling on "Trompe l'oeil" - Trompe-l'oeil is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects really exist, instead of being just two-dimensional paintings. The name is derived from French for "trick the eye", from tromper - to deceive and l'oeil - the eye (from Wikipedia). Search for Trompe l'oeil and tiki brings up nothing, but search it with terms such as tropical, jungle, exotic etc etc and you find some amazing art.
Look at these:
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jpmartdog
Grand Member (5 years) 
Joined: Mar 27, 2005
Posts: 650
From: Amesbury, Mass
| Posted: 2007-02-24 08:26 am Permalink
Hey hewey - I agree completely - foreground details or elements completely create the illusion of depth. A well executed "Trompe l'oeil" is amazing, often causing the viewer to touch the mural, just to understand what they are seeing!
Here is a mural I did for a teacher's dining room in a middle school. A little Trompe l'oeil can be seen on the left wall, where I continued the view in a faux arch/window. Despite the main wall was sheetrock and the adjoining wall was cement block, the scene seems seemless and tricks you into thinking you could walk beyond the walls.
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VampiressRN
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Nov 23, 2006
Posts: 5085
From: Sin City Lincoln Hills (NorCal)
| Posted: 2007-02-24 09:07 am Permalink
Wow jp....beautiful artwork. You are quite the talent!!! 
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10561
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2007-02-24 10:36 am Permalink
Votre Tromp is tres bon, bien sur, Sir. Here is an example of fine foreground pieces (already posted this in Locating Tiki), at the Kona Kai in Philadelphia: The tattered shutters that frame the mural really sell the idea of a view out of the window:
A different view:
A close up of that:
But that is not all, the palm trees, the huts, and the horizon were all painted on separate sheets of glass, to create a 3D effect, and these different layers were lit individually, so the whole scene could be gradually dimmed from day to dusk to night.
I believe the Hawaii Kai in New York had a similar installation.....NEXT: Dioramas!
[ This Message was edited by: bigbrotiki 2007-02-24 15:11 ]
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GROG
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Jun 21, 2006
Posts: 6178
From: Tujunga
| Posted: 2007-02-24 3:38 pm Permalink
Good thread. GROG really like seeing all the murals inside the tiki bars. Hopefully someone with a camera will post some more photos of the nice murals inside Damons. GROG not have digital camera.
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10561
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2007-02-24 3:44 pm Permalink
And when they do, take a close up of that one GREEN Tiki which is the only detail NOT copied directly from the classic Eugene Savage menus. Post it on this page, and you will see WHERE it comes from...-though we will never know how and why.....it's a so-called mural mystery.
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hewey
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 14, 2004
Posts: 4270
From: Sydney, Australia
| Posted: 2007-02-24 4:32 pm Permalink
JP that is awesome! Very nice work indeed.
Bigbro I love that effect with the shutters, it frames it really well.
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GentleHangman
Grand Member (4 years) 
Joined: Jun 23, 2006
Posts: 350
From: Stuart, Florida
| Posted: 2007-02-25 09:48 am Permalink
I have very fond memories of the Kowloon . . . while attending Boston University, I celebrated my 21st Birthday there in 1967!
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[ This Message was edited by: GentleHangman 2007-02-25 09:49 ]
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tiki_kiliki
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Apr 01, 2002
Posts: 988
From: Hamtown USA
| Posted: 2007-02-25 2:24 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2007-02-24 15:44, bigbrotiki wrote:
And when they do, take a close up of that one GREEN Tiki which is the only detail NOT copied directly from the classic Eugene Savage menus. Post it on this page, and you will see WHERE it comes from...-though we will never know how and why.....it's a so-called mural mystery.
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I think you're talking about this one Sven. From Damon's in Glendale - these were taken last week on my visit to California. Some of the best murals I've ever seen:
These are along the wall in the main dining room:
This one is along the back wall as you're exiting the restaurant:
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tiki_kiliki
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Apr 01, 2002
Posts: 988
From: Hamtown USA
| Posted: 2007-02-25 2:59 pm Permalink
Here's a few more.
These are from Julians in Ormond Beach, FL - the shots are not too good but the mural just about covers the back half of the restaurant. It's truly amazing.
This one is a sighting off of US1 just blocks from the Mai Kai. A friend called me as the demolition was taking place and told me to get over there and take pictures. This was an old hotel and this mural must have been painted around the pool area. Very nicely done. I was literally asked to leave the property but not before my zoom action caught these photos:
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[ This Message was edited by: tiki_kiliki 2007-02-25 15:01 ]
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BlackFish
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Feb 12, 2007
Posts: 54
From: Emerald Coast
| Posted: 2007-02-25 3:29 pm Permalink
[ This Message was edited by: BlackFish 2009-09-08 04:12 ]
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10561
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2007-02-25 6:56 pm Permalink
Yes, great addition to this thread! That last mural work looks very contemporary, Tiki revival style. But the Julians mural: A classic! I cannot think of another mural of that size still in existence today. Amazing!
And sooooo....WHAT now IS the "mural mystery" that I am alluding to in my above post? Look and compare, what does the keen eye of the urban archeologist notice in the Damons mural, in comparison too.......?
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Slacks Ferret
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 02, 2003
Posts: 1172
From: Calgary
| Posted: 2007-02-25 8:05 pm Permalink
Cool. The green tiki is a mural version of the tiki pole at the Kona Kai in Philadelphia (seen above on the same page in this thread).
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BlackFish
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Feb 12, 2007
Posts: 54
From: Emerald Coast
| Posted: 2007-02-25 8:37 pm Permalink
[ This Message was edited by: BlackFish 2009-09-08 04:15 ]
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10561
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2007-02-25 11:05 pm Permalink
Indeed! The mystery is: How does a Tiki design that is from around 1960 pop up in the the reproduction of a 1930s mural?
We can only guess that the artist who executed the mural sometime in the early 70s had also worked with the architectural firm of Armet and Davis, who from their Los Angeles offices designed restaurants nationwide. They did some of the Stephen Crane Kon-Tikis (like Montreal and Portland) and also the Marriot Kona Kais, among them the Chicago and Philadelphia ones.
So the mural artist felt a Tiki needed to be added (always a good notion), and used the blueprint below (or a photo, or a rendering) from the Kona Kai job. Why he chose GREEN is a different mystery!
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