The annual Matchbox Plus Show is eagerly anticipated, partly because of the excellent price points the pieces offer. Also, it tends to be a lot of fun.
"You laugh and have your big moments of surprise as everything comes in," said Mike Schnack, owner of Cedar Street Galleries.
Unwrapping Cooper McKenna's little raffia hut must have been one of those moments. That piece is sold already. And glass artist Terry Savage has made stone-washed green, orange, and blue bowls with organic patterns.
"They are very cool," said Schnack. "They feel like they're a skin pattern, almost either fish or snake pattern. There's been a great response to those pieces."
Harinani Orme’s Lilliputian worlds feature figures interacting inside a tiny altar.
"They're very cheerful pieces actually. Lotta little bling on them." Schnack can hold one in the palm of his hand. "They're very small, 2-3 inches at best, but with the doors, those stick out another half inch."
Madeline Mynat's pink and white sculpture is clearly a frosted yellow cake, titled "The Party's Over."
Schnack agrees, "It looks like a small cake with a slice taken out of it. Her medium was spackle. It's very realistic, it's quite surprising."
Leighton Lam’s work features distressed wood with iridescent dragonflies perched as if on a branch.
"The dragonflies are maybe three inches wingtip to wingtip," said Schnack. "Very delicate. His stuff is metal and I believe he uses a laser. They're gorgeous."
George Woodard is showing boyishly blocky cars on boats, in a Columbus theme, they're the Pinta, Nina and Santa Maria. In Jinja Kim's domestic world, every house has a chubby bird on top of it. There are over a hundred works on view in Cedar Street's upstairs gallery, and Schnack says traffic has been steady.
"Everybody's so grateful to be out and doing things again."
Cedar Street Galleries is in the King and Keʻeaumoku Street area. You can also see the Matchbox Plus Art Show online.
