The Art of Tiki Jordan Reichekã¢ââ¢s Collection of Rare Midcentury Polynesian Pop
This is part two of three in a series almost the upcoming The Fine art of Tiki show in Los Angeles at La Luz de Jesus gallery. The show is a celebration of the 21 years that take elapsed since the first Art of Tiki testify at La Luz, dorsum in 1996. The show opens on Friday, October half-dozen, 2017, and runs through Oct 29.
- Part 1: Otto von Stroheim, on curating the art show
- This article: Jordan Reichek, on the sale of rare mid-century Polynesian pop pieces from his private collection
- Part 3: Sven Kirsten, on writing the accompanying The Art of Tiki volume
When I saw that a auction of actual pieces from celebrated mid-century Polynesian restaurants was besides going to be included in The Fine art of Tiki evidence, I flipped my chapeau. I do love the modern-day art, enough that I'd already made plans to go myself to Los Angeles, but this—the history of these places, and the gorgeous art that was produced in creating them—that'southward my reason for living. That's what Critiki is all about. Naturally, I wanted to know more, so I turned to Sven Kirsten, who continued me with the human backside the sale, Jordan Reichek. What follows is a distillation of what he shared with me near how this auction came to be.
Hashemite kingdom of jordan Reichek is an animator who worked on Ren & Stimpy starting with the pilot, and has continued to brand a career in blitheness. Jordan has been a lifelong collector of "stuff" but really hit his stride of cool-stuff-acquisition in the late '80s when he moved from NYC to Los Angeles to go along school, start at USC and then at CalArts. His collecting interests included animation art, figural advertizing, coin machines, analogy art, vintage cars, and mid-century effects—with his strongest focus on Exotica records, vintage Disneyland, and Tiki. I'thou sure you lot can imagine the amazing things he was able to find at austerity stores, antique malls and manor sales in Southern California in the late 1980s. Oh, for a time machine!
Well, I guess Hashemite kingdom of jordan is that time machine, which is lucky for us. His passion for neat austerity store finds from the by was shared with Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi, and many of their most interesting scores fabricated their mode into the show in 1 way or another. When his collection grew too massive to reasonably firm, he made the difficult conclusion to office with his treasures. Looking at both his vintage Disneyland drove and his Tiki drove, he realized that it was the Tiki collection that could be integrated into an amazing livable, functional infinite (what'southward more than functional than a habitation tiki bar?), and and then he fabricated peace with the idea of departing with his Disneyana.
His vintage Disneyland collection was without equal: actual items from the park, including props, signage, concept art, allure posters and fifty-fifty animatronic figures, including many from the Enchanted Tiki Room. The practicalities of departing with this drove had to accept been daunting, and Jordan found the right partner is his friend, Mike Van Eaton of Van Eaton Galleries. Van Eaton had never handled an sale similar this before, and allowed Jordan creative control over how the collection was presented. Most important to Jordan was the auction catalog, a collectible item in its ain correct, titled The Story of Disneyland (this link lets you browse the entire catalog online). Instead of a sterile listing of the Disneyland objects for sale, he wanted a description of what these pieces had meant to him, why they are important. I beloved that. Capturing the stories of these objects' histories and travels, and documenting their relationship with their collector, is much of what drove me to create Ooga-Mooga. The sale of his Disneyland collection in 2015 turned into a celebration, and fabricated the parting much easier.
What besides made it easier is that the proceeds from the sale helped Jordan buy the home of his dreams, which of grade meant he finally got to construct the home tiki bar of his dreams.
At present, let's get to what y'all're really here for, and talk a scrap about this Tiki collection. As I mentioned, Hashemite kingdom of jordan started collecting in Los Angeles in the late '80s. All those holy grail mugs people compete for on eBay, spending hundreds of dollars, Jordan was finding in austerity stores for less than a buck. Improve yet: his being connected with the early on tiki scene in southern California meant he was in the loop when large items became bachelor. Sometimes the sales were "all or nothing" for large masses of items from one location, which meant there wasn't much contest: Jordan had storage units and wasn't afraid to use them. When the Kona Kai in Philadelphia and the Kon-Tiki in Cleveland closed, he was able to acquire many one-of-a-kind pieces of decor. He loaded up at the big Trader Vic's warehouse auction a few years back, and has many Trader Vic'southward pieces from other sources, from San Francisco, New York, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Chicago, Scottsdale, Detroit, and Osaka, Japan, and the original Oakland location.
Can you imagine existence able to build a home tiki bar with decades worth of tiki finds, any one of them a one time-in-a-lifetime score for the rest of united states, packed into storage, but waiting for your imagination to place them into the ultimate home bar? Good god. I'thousand going to need a moment.
The bar is called The Booze Cave (version 2.0, the beginning Alcohol Cavern was a temporary set-up in his rental home). The centerpiece of the bar is a 19-foot-long wave-shaped bar-superlative with over 1,200 vintage matchbooks from Polynesian restaurants embedded in sand and epoxy resin. Twelve hundred matchbooks!
Now that his habitation tiki bar has finally come to fruition, he has a beautiful problem: what to do with the leftovers. Hashemite kingdom of jordan reached out to tiki historian Sven Kirsten, and Billy Shire and Matt Kennedy of La Luz de Jesus Gallery, and learned the Universe was conspiring in his favor: preparations were already underway for The Art of Tiki, a new tiki art testify in celebration of the 21 years since Otto von Stroheim'southward original art show in 1996. Information technology's a perfect pairing: the original Polynesian Pop art pieces that inspires today's generation of Tiki artists, alongside their new creations. What's more, Sven's The Fine art of Tiki companion book serves as the documentation, a loving expression of what his Tiki collection is all about.
I'1000 especially taken past this huge bird carving. On the right you lot can encounter it in its original home, atop the A-frame entrance of the Kona Kai in Philadelphia. I fully look to spend the entire evidence with my jaw scraping along the ground.
Mahalo nui loa to Jordan Reichek for saving these historically important pieces, giving them a loving habitation for so long, and now sharing them with everyone.
There is not yet a complete tally of items and prices for the sale from Hashemite kingdom of jordan'south collection, but these are incredibly rare pieces, expect the prices to exist a reflection of that. Come up run across them for yourself! It's all happening Oct vi-29 at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles. The opening night is Friday, October half-dozen. Jordan will be in that location, and I will, besides!
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Source: https://news.critiki.com/2017/10/01/the-art-of-tiki-jordan-reicheks-collection-of-rare-mid-century-polynesian-pop/
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