Hoshi Hana at her art opening July 16, 2006 at Petals Salon.
I first met Hoshi Hana in March of 2000, when I was about to embark upon my eight month coast to coast performance tour. She and four of her former classmates from San Francisco Art Institute offered to help me mat the art prints I had made to sell. They were fast; they knew what they were doing, and they all had fascinating stories and projects. It was an unforgettable evening.
Love You, a photocollage Mari sells as an archival print.
Hoshi Hana was then doing light shows for the band Estradasphere that included slides of her amazing photo collages. She invited me to camp with her and a group of artists creating a giant flaming anus at Burning Man. She was photographing outrageous tattoos, possibly for a book. She opened an art gallery at her home overlooking the reservoir in Silverlake, and she hosted one of my story and music shows there. She visited me in Hawaii after attending surfing school. Since then, Hoshi Hana fell in love with snowboarding, sold her city home and moved to the mountains east of Los Angeles. She’s been making paper collages and framable archival prints of her work, which are available at her site.
Integration, an archival print I displayed in my home in Hawaii.
Here is her artist statement:
Inspired by psychedelic art of the 1960s, Tibetan mandalas and fantasy illustrations from faerie-tale books, my collages are intended to release more love, understanding and compassion into the world. My palette includes self-generated digital images, in combination with materials gathered from books and magazines, found scraps, wrapping paper, glitter, paint, rubber stamps and dimensional objects. As I work, I pray that my collages might instill a sense of mystical pleasure in all who encounter them.
Gray Healing, a paper collage and an example of Hoshi Hana’s tasteful and original matting and framing, in situ at her show at Petals.
And a brief bio:
Hoshi Hana is a collage artist born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She has exhibited her work at museums and galleries across the U.S., including the Honolulu Academy of Arts, the San Jose Museum of Contemporary Art, Spirit Square in Charlotte, North Carolina and Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco, California.
Butterfly Girl, an image combining the ecstatic, the retro, the mysterious and the natural elements typical of Hoshi Hana’s collages.
Today was the opening of a new show, this time at Petals, a chic nail salon in Little Tokyo, downtown LA. “The pieces are easier to see this time,” she told me, thinking back on her very recent show at the Blue Hen Vietnamese Restaurant in Eagle Rock, although I thought that, too, was a charming venue.
Her show will be up for the rest of the summer at:
Petals Nail Salon
Honda Plaza in Little Tokyo
408 E. 2nd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 620-9960
Hoshi Hana’s wood, paper and fabric hearts dot the walls of Petals Nail Salon.
Alicia Bay Laurel 