ART

CURATORS OPEN THE ART OF THE SEA EXHIBIT AT THE QUIN HOTEL

WORDS

by KRISTOPHER FRASER

PHOTOS

COURTESY of MODE PR

Something has washed ashore at the Quin Hotel’s lobby. An exhibit of photography, video, collage works, and silk prints by seven local and international artists are currently on display for the fall exhibit at Quin Arts.

The Art of The Sea, co-curated by Nicole Ianniello and Quin Arts curator D.K. Johnston, dives into the theme of water and its movement. The exhibit opened September 20 and will be running through November 8.

Artists featured include Dan Balilty, Michael Dweck, Michael DiDonna, Delphine Diallo, Adam Guy, Anne Menke, and Ruvan Wijesooriya who have all explored water as their central element and evoke the ebbs, flows, and often raw power of water through their works.

“The idea came about because I’ve always been obsessed with water and its movement,” Ianniello said. “Some of these photographers and artists I had relationships with already, a few I was able to find through social media.” Never underestimate the power of social media in 2018 after all.

“Water and the ocean are so healing for me,” said Ianniello, an Art Business Master’s student at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, for whom this was her first exhibit. “I chose to curate an exhibit exploring this theme to bring those revitalizing qualities to life through visual art.”

The curators have also partnered with the Surfrider Foundaiton to raise awareness through the exhibit about the impacts of global warming on the world’s oceans, including rising sea levels and an urgent need for coastal communities to adapt to a changing climate.

“I thought Surfrider was a great fit to help raise awareness about global warming and to help fight the battle for cleaning our oceans,” Ianniello said. “That mission just aligned with my beliefs, and I really want to give something back to what I feel so passionate about.”

She added that, “Art is a great medium for this because it speaks to everyone. Anyone can take something from a piece of art.”

Guy contributed two pieces he photographed on the North Shore of Oahu shot in 2016. Both of his pieces featured were from the Quiksilver Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational, with that particular year being the most highly attended tournament. Guy was born and raised on the North Shore of Kauai, making water a big medium for him in many of his works. “Water was a big jumping off place,” Guy said. “I grew up in the water, and I’ve been surfing since I was born. I also love photographing people, so that goes well with the surf industry.” He hopes by teaming up with Surfrider people will look at this exhibit and learn to be kind to the ocean.

Cozumel Underwater Swim by Anne Menke

Balilty had his work more than cut out for him with this exhibit. The ambitious artist created a video project that involved him building a special tank, connecting it to a camera, photographing the water moving in slow motion, and trying to capture the “moment and destiny of every drop.”

“It’s a bit of a dreamy way to look at the water,” Balilty said. “In general I think that water is a great energy, and when you observe it for long you learn a lot about many things.” Balilty, who is well known as a freelance photojournalist for The New York Times, found this one of his greatest artist undertakings to date. It was a very complicated process to get all the screens he used to work together.

“Basically I had to build a tank, connect it to the camera with a rail. Then when you move the water the camera moved with the water, so you don’t have the movement of the camera, just the water. That’s what created these gravities changes that caused the water to go to the side of the screen. The way we presented it at Quin was very complicated, because every different screen was connected to a different computer. So basically we had to have eight computers, one for every screen, and in the back there was a system to connect all the computers. Each video had to be exported separately and synched through a software. It was very complicated,” Balilty explained.

The video editing process to get to his final product took him almost two weeks, and then the export from the computer took about 72 hours because the files were so large. This was Balilty’s first time working with water in such a heavy capacity for his medium. His purpose for this project was to create an illusion of space and present to people the idea of how water would look without gravity or changes in gravity. “With this exhibit I want people to be able to see the beauty of every second in life,” Balilty said. “You can watch the destiny of every drop, and I believe every drop is like a person, and I want people to appreciate every second in life.”

Pipeline by Adam Guy

“Art is a great medium for this because it speaks to everyone. Anyone can take something from a piece of art.”

— Nicole Ianniello —

Clockwise from top left: Tiger by Delphine Diallo; Refraction by Michael Didonna; Wave After the Storm by Michael Dweck; Sun and Water Ripped Print by Ruvan Woojiseriya; and Out in the Open by Dan Balilty.

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