HONOLULU (KHON2) – With colors, you cannot just paint a rainbow, you can really tell stories.
Here in Waikiki at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, a brand new art gallery just had their soft opening with a grand opening to come.
Its called Kaikoa Gallery and it is one of the most contemporary art galleries throughout Hawaii. So, to find out more, we are here with co-founder Robert Andia.
Speaking of contemporary art galleries, what is the significance and impacts of having one of the most contemporary art galleries in Hawaii?
“Well, what I think it allows us to do is for artists who may be from Hawaii, paint more Hawaiian style stuff, the usual, it gives them an opportunity to really express themselves and expand their horizons as far as doing art in a contemporary and modern way,” says Andia.
It is nice that you have both contemporary art with the flare Hawaiian history and culture as well.
I think a big significance of this gallery, though, as I was speaking with you earlier, is you featuring many artists who were impacted by Lahaina’s fires.
Can you share a little bit about that?
“Yes, that is one of the things that inspired us to create this gallery,” says Andia.
“We have been thinking about it for a while and then after the fires in Maui, myself as an artist as well who was in Lahaina Galleries, and many of the artists here were featured in Lahaina Galleries, I got phone calls from a few of them and they asked me, “hey man, can you help us out? We have nothing going on over here” because everything was gone for them. So, they asked me to open up a gallery. I have been working galleries for a long time so they asked me if I could open a gallery in Waikiki for them.”
And who are some of those artists that are from Maui?
“There is probably ten or twelve artists in here that had works featured in Maui,” says Andia.
“So, you have Kai Lava, Michael Summers right here. Kai, she is a descendant of Princess Kaiulani and she’s Don Ho’s niece actually. And then you have the Twins fine art, Alessio and Marcello Bugagiar, you have Gabriel Birchman. We have just many, even some of my art. Peter Powell over here, Madeline Powell over there. So, there are a lot of different artists throughout the gallery and I would say many of them, if not the majority, had art in the Maui galleries.”
I know another important piece that you are trying to include within this gallery is becoming a launch pad for new and up-and-coming artists.
What would that look like?
“Well, what is going to happen is as we move forward after our grand opening and after we get sorted out, we are going to start bringing artists in and doing special exhibitions with local artists so we are going to be looking for local artists. So, if anybody want to get in touch with us, get in touch with us. I would love to see your art,” says Andia.
Well, hopefully they can come down to the grand opening.
Do we have a date set or any information that you can share on that?
“We are kind of, right now, keeping that close to our chest but we are looking for the grand opening being in the next few weeks. And that will be available on our Instagram page, @KaikoaGallery Instagram page so people can check back, check our Instagram page and our Facebook page. We will be announcing it. It will be a pretty big announcement actually.”
Now, last but not least, the name Kaikoa.
What was the inspiration behind that?
“I have two sons, one who is 20 and one who is 9 and the older one is named Kai and the younger one is Koa, so its just a legacy for the boys,” says Andia.
You can enjoy the gallery and here is the nice thing.
If you come down to the Hilton Hawaiian Village to enjoy Kaikoa Gallery, a free validation to your parking ticket will be included.
So, to find out more of Kaikoa here at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, click here.
