Huli Warriors

I first saw this piece, by Newman Baundo, on display out in front of the Gateway Hotel. I really liked it, but the price was just too high. I later spotted Newman at the Saturday Market and found the piece was still available. I got it for less than half his original asking price, and had him stretch it onto a frame for me as well. The piece now hangs in our Trans Wonderland offices. I like the piece largely because it is very different from many of the others I have seen. I found that Newman now has a little spot at the Vision City RH Hypermarket to display his artwork. I'm guessing that soon I won't be able to afford it. :-)

Elisabeth's Birds

Elisabeth Kauage designs are highly stylized and contain birds, flowers, plants, and other elements found in nature. Although the picture in this photo doesn't reflect it, much of her work also contains elements from modern technology, like satellites. She combines the nature figures and technology symbols into a single, unusual piece of art.

3 Faces and 2 Birds

This work by Johnson Agua has three very traditional faces in the background, two women and one man, two spears in the middle layer, and two birds in the foreground. This is a more traditional display of the faces, each taking of a third of the page and separated by colourful borders. The wide faces, eyes, and noses of the faces depicted give this work an even and well distributed look to it.

Couple with Bird Heads

This is a terrific piece by artist Thomas Umba. It has very traditional themes with both figures wearing bird masks and each carrying a bilum, the woman's suspended from her forehead and the man's worn across his body. The dark background really makes the skin tones of the figures stand out from the canvas.

Black and Red Pair

These two beautiful pieces by artist Jane Wena are not only bold and beautiful, but they are also styled with a bit more realism than many of the other works available. The wrinkles on the face of the older man on the left and the shadows on the face of the woman on the right are beautifully done and give the paintings a very real, and intense look.

10 Faces

On of my favourite pieces, by artist Johnson Agua, this piece is not particularly unique. It contains the familiar tribal faces, although I do like their unusual positioning. This piece is quite vibrant and contains the traditional kundu drum at the bottom as well. This is the kind of piece I would like hanging in my own home.

Mother and Child

This is just one of those images that makes you smile when you look at it. Chris Kauage's style is highly recognised around the country. His brown-bodied characters with exaggerated elements (like the toes) have been spotted around PNG and most often depict the happy, smiling faces of family members. The baby's and doll's hair details lend interest; the colourful noses and almond-shaped eyes are consistent elements; armbands, beads, headgear, and even the abstract background work together to make this piece a wonderful work of art.

Tupla Men, Tupla Meri (2 Men, 2 Women)

In this beautiful work by John Siune the face on the far left is that of a Tari Man, from the Southern Highlands province. The second face from the right, the one with the lower half of her face painted blue, is a Tari Meri (woman from Tari). The man with a beard, second from the left, is a man from the Chimbu (or Simbu) province. The meri on the far right, with circles on her brow and nose, is from Mt. Hagen in the Western Highlands province. The elongated eyes and thick noses contribute to the distinctive style in John's depictions. The colours are deep and dark and there is so much of interest in the painting to catch the eye.

5 Fishermen

This is a gorgeous piece by Max Dama that is one of those that, for some reason, just makes me smile. The reds and oranges of the setting sun in the background provide a base colour that jumps out from amid the blues, greys, and aquas of the border. The highly stylised piece includes some of the dot painting elements popular in Australian aboriginal art. From the details of the fish under the water, to the surprisingly lively stick figures in the canoe, to the amusing crocodile head and tail of the boat, this work is a real attention-getter.

8 Provinces

This beautiful work by Willey Kauage contains eight faces from eight provinces. The top left is from the Eastern Highlands Province, next is the Western Highlands Province, next is the Chimbu province, and on the top right is the Southern Highlands Province. The bottom left represents the Central Province, next is the Enga Province, next is the Western Province, and the bottom right face is unknown to me. These faces are characterised by long, smooth noses, gray, similarly shaped mouths, and matching eyes. The colourful borders between the images add more colour and design elements to the painting.

Artist: Taiya Kurumba

Taiya's faces were broad and interesting with some detailing, like the shadowing around the eyes, that gave them a more realistic impression, and other detailing, like neck ornaments, that were more stylised. He also had a piece on display that included significant articles of everyday life in PNG. The work was beautifully done, colourful and engaging.

Artist: Kena Werake

Kena's work displayed the typical tribal faces that I have come to recognise and admire. The faces were a little stylised, rather than realistic, and he included other cultural items in his work. By the time I got to his paintings, people were beginning to pack up and prepare to go home. I'm curious to see whether Kena's other works are in this same line or whether he goes outside of this norm for some variety.

Artist: Jane Wena

Jane's artwork was really amazing. The colours she used were so deep and quite vibrant and the details on the faces showed character and emotion. Jane also had a variety of smaller works, both individuals and tryptychs, some in black-and-white and some with splashes of colour.

Artist: Thomas Umba

Thomas' work was really different. In the art he had on display, each figure was a mixture of both human and animal elements. He also had a piece on display that utilised the dot painting style that is common in Australian aboriginal art.

Artist: Andrew Kayanu

Andrew's work ran the gamut from large, traditional pieces, to iconic representations, to small detailed selections. But much of his work, at least on this trip, was easy to spot because it carried an unusual colour range. The colours spanned the range from a deep brown, to bright purple, to dark maroon, and served to tie the subjects together in his work.

Artist: Willey Kauage

The work that Willey had on display this trip was more traditional in its subject matter than some of the other family pieces. The colours were deep and brilliant, and the composition was balanced and even. I hope to see more of his work on the next trip. I'd love to see what range of work he can create.

Artist: Elisabeth Kauage

This woman with the lovely smile is the mother of this talented family of artists (Chris, Andrew, Micheal, and Willey). Elisabeth's paintings were quite beautiful, often with a "twist". Many of Elisabeth's works had traditional characters in modern settings. Several of the works were of television satellites, but were made up of some very traditional subjects from PNG, like birds of paradise, flowers, etc.

Artist: Chris Kauage

Chris is, I believe, the most famous of the family of artists. The image in the background here is a beautiful piece of work, but not the typical style he is famous for. The pieces I've seen about town are more cartoonish in their style than these, but so beautiful in colour and topic that they make you feel absolutely delightful when you look at them.

Artist: Andrew Kauage

Andrew is one member of the artistic Kauage family. When I arrived at the market, he only had a single item left. This painting was quite unusual in that the colours were very dark and the black outlines of the faces highlighted in a bright blue. It also has the dot elements that are becoming more popular. Andrew admitted that this dark style is new to him, but told me that he has already sold several such paintings and will continue to experiment with it.

Artist: John Dianger

John had a lot of work on display this day. He seems to have an interest in birds, fish, animals, flowers, etc. John uses a lot of an aqua blue colour in his work, and uses strong black outlining in much of it as well. The scenes depicted in this painting show warriors in full native dress with their kundus (drums). The asking price for this piece was 550 kina, or about $200 USD.

Artist: Max Dama

When I caught up with Max at the monthly Ela Beach Arts and Crafts Market, the market was just closing. I snapped a quick picture of him, and another of one of his pieces, then we had to pack up and leave. Max, like some of the other PNG artists, has started experimenting with a style of artwork that resembles the "dot paintings" that are famous in the aboriginal art world a bit to the south of us (in Australia). Max uses some colours that are lighter in hue in his work than many of the other artists, and utilises the dots in outlining traditional scenes in non-traditional ways.

Artist: Newman Baundo

I actually purchased this piece from Newman and it is on display in our offices at work. The subject of this painting is the Huli wigmen of the Southern Highlands Province. The managing director (CEO) of the company I work for is Huli, so it seemed an appropriate selection. I love the different style of the painting with the cross-hatching on top. The adult males of this tribe dress this way only for sing-sings and other celebrations now, but the dress is quite elaborate and detailed, and each part of it has significance. I was recently invited to watch a group of these men as they prepared for a celebration and was amazed at the amount of detail that went into their preparations. Seeing this rich heritage reflected on an artist's canvas is quite rewarding.

Artist: Johnson Agua

This artist's work is quite colourful and beautiful. You'll find that all of these artists are not just painting colourful faces, but rather pieces of their own, and other PNG natives', heritage. The piece he is holding up here has some wonderful elements from PNG culture recognisable by anyone familiar with this place. The part of the image that looks like a mouth, for example, is a kundu, a type of drum that is used by many of the cultural groups here. The round object in the nose area is an ornamental container for the lime powder widely used in the chewing of betel nut. I can see the shell used for a bride price and a small hatchet in the image as well. The price he is asking for this work is 200 kina, which is about $75 USD.