Mahai'ula by Mark Ley

Acrylic on canvas- unframed

54" h x 96" w (can be hung vertically or horizontally)

Growing up on Hawaii Island, Mark Ley spent his life in the ocean. Surfing it, diving it, chasing it across coastlines and continents. From the reef passes of Central America to the lava shelves of Hawaiʻi. Everything he makes begins there. Not as metaphor. As fact.

There are days along the Kona Coast when the ocean seems to organize itself.

One swell after another. Evenly spaced. Deliberate. Marching toward shore like soldiers across a field of deep blue and green. On a big day there is a strange order to all that power. You can see the lines coming from a long way off, each carrying the weight of an ocean behind it.

This piece is my abstract interpretation of that rhythm. The turquoise and deep greens are pulled from the waters of West Hawaiʻi, while the broken whites mark the moment each swell finally stands up and reveals itself.

Marching soldiers. Order inside chaos. Power arriving in sets. - Mark K Ley