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.