Take a trip to the islands without leaving the city.
Oddball Art Labs presents “Totally Tiki: A Tidal Wave of Tiki Art and Culture,” an exhibit celebrating midcentury faux Polynesian art.
“The work we’ve seen so far has been a fascinating mix. It’s been a combination of professional artists and student artist artwork,” Director Mike Rende of Oddball Art Labs said. “Some of it is more strictly that depiction of the Tiki idols.”
But there’s also Polynesian imagery such as hula and bamboo, he said.
More Top Picks Best Pillows For Shoulder Pain Nhs
The exhibit runs July 1-16 at The Robin and Mark Siegel Gallery at Elgin ArtSpace Lofts in downtown Elgin.
The gallery is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. An opening reception will be held from 6 to 10 p.m. July 1 and a closing reception from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 16. During the closing reception, children can create their own tiki.
“The boom of the Tiki was really post World War II and it kind of grew. In the ’50s, ’60s it was sort of a faux Polynesian culture,” Director Dave Metzger of Oddball Art Labs said. “It kind of became a more trendy thing, and then it kind of went away. And artists kind of brought it back.”
“There was really a whole resurgence in the early 2000s of the whole Tiki aesthetic,” Rende said. “While all the Tiki bars and restaurants and bowling alleys tend to have closed in the late ’60s/early ’70s, you do have a little bit of Tiki bars and restaurants that opened in the 2000s.”
The open call art show will feature approximately 60-80 works (the submission period was still open at the time of interview) in a variety of mediums. As long as the art fits the theme and is family friendly — the gallery is inside the residential Elgin ArtSpace Lofts — it is part of the show.
“It’s been a fascinating, broad spectrum of art. We tend to make our big July shows open call because we want to get the largest diversity of art work in there,” Rende said. “I know I find it so fascinating when we wind up having student art hung in the gallery along side artists who are famous worldwide and displaying in galleries all across the U.S. and overseas.
“It’s just a humbling experience for all and exhilarating to be able to see the energy that everyone put into their own interpretations of any of these strange themes we’ve come up with,” Rende said.
Originally planned for summer 2020, like everything else the exhibit was postponed due to COVID-19. This is nonprofit Oddball Art Labs’ first big show since 2019’s “Cartoon Cavalcade.”
“All of our shows tend to be more on the pop-culture theme,” Metzger said.
Past shows featured topics robots, science fiction, pinup art and “Fez Fest,” which revolved around the unique hat.
Similar to other Oddball Art Labs shows, admission to the exhibit is $5, with proceeds going to a nonprofit. Proceeds from “Totally Tiki” will benefit Friends of the Fox River, which works to preserve, protect and restore the Fox River.
“They seemed like a natural tie-in for this show,” Rende said. “And they donated two used and no longer seaworthy paddle boards to us.
“One of them is being turned into what we call a ‘jam painting,’ where multiple artists paint on it so that at the end you have a piece of art that maybe 10-15 artists have contributed to,” he said. “The other one, one of our artists has plans for. He promises it will be memorable but he won’t tell us what it is yet … Even we’ll be surprised the night of the opening when he unveils what he’s got planned for it.”
Most of the artwork in the exhibit is for sale, and artists often bring prints of their work to sell as well.
Rende and Metzger said the best times to visit the exhibit are during the opening and closing receptions, when Oddball artists will be at the gallery.
The opening reception coincides with the Elgin Farmers Market First Friday, held from 3 to 8 p.m.
“And it will be right on the same street that the gallery is on,” Rende said. “So an excellent opportunity to see what Elgin’s farmers market has to offer as long as they happen to be out for our show.”
Following the opening reception, an after party will be held Vern’s Tavern.
“We always try to do a little after party where after the gallery closes people can go over to a local watering hole. We’re teaming up with Vern’s Tavern … they’re going to have some Tiki drinks on sale,” Metzger said.
“Our whole goal with doing the art shows is about community and giving back and helping as well the other businesses in the downtown area. Because part of our thing is wanting to revitalize downtown.”
Also at the “Totally Tiki” exhibit will be one of Oddball Art Labs’ mobile art machines.
“This is a 1950s cigarette vending machine that we’ve cleaned up, redesigned and sell tiny pieces of artwork the size of packs of cigarettes out of,” Rende said.
“It’s like a block of wood cut the size of a pack of cigarettes,” Metzger said.
Local artists paint the blocks, and each piece is a unique work of art, for $5 each. For the exhibit, the machine will be stocked with tiki-themed art.
“You put a token in and you pull the lever and the block of wood drops and you see what you get. It’s sort of a mystery,” Metzger said.
More Top Picks Deep Fryers
‘Totally Tiki: A Tidal Wave of Tiki Art and Culture’
When: July 1-16
Where: The Robin and Mark Siegel Gallery at Elgin ArtSpace Lofts, 51 S. Spring St., Elgin
Tickets: $5
Information: oddballartlabs.org
Kathy Cichon is a freelance reporter for the Courier-News.