Kawaihae by Richard Bodien

Oil & acrylic on canvas
30" h x 40" w

Richard Bodien is a painter, poet, musician, and writer based in Hāwī, on Hawaiʻi Island. His paintings begin with color, gesture, and surface rather than a predetermined image. He builds, obscures, removes, and rebuilds until a painting develops its own internal necessity. Abstraction enables him to work with what cannot be represented literally: memory, erosion, conflict, silence, the accumulated presence of time. Marks remain as evidence of decisions, revisions, and things partly concealed.

Living in Hawaiʻi has sharpened his awareness of place, not as scenery, but as an active field of history, power, and continuing transformation. His paintings do not simply depict the islands or appropriate Hawaiian imagery. Richard is the author of a multi-volume history of the Kohala district of Hawaii Island, sharing years of research of Native Hawaiian sources and genealogical testimony alongside the archaeological and archival record. The books name what happened in a place; the paintings capture what it feels like. History demands evidence; painting permits uncertainty to remain active and engaging.

If you'd like to read the history, Kohala, Volume 1: Owhyhee by Richard Bodien is available on Amazon.