Tropical Modern: 2026

Original works from this series will be available in January 2027 as part of my solo show at the Shen Gallery in Honolulu. Prints can be purchased here.

This is a series of monochromatic watercolor paintings of Vladimir Ossipoff’s Liljestrand House and its surrounding flora. Ossipoff was a midcentury Honolulu-based architect whose work has become synonymous with the Tropical Modernist architectural style most commonly associated with Hawai'i since statehood. Ossipoff’s buildings are particularly notable for their use of locally sourced materials and plans that bring the outdoors in using inventive lanai spaces. His architecture acts as a harmonious frame for the natural world. The architectural paintings in this series highlight a reflection of nature within the piece, be it in the shadows on the ground, the surface of the pool’s water or the glass of a window. 

In Ossipoff’s lifetime, and beyond it, the landscape of Hawai’i has changed rapidly with building development and addition of nonnative plants. This series includes paintings of plants that have become symbolic flora of Hawai’i despite their origins elsewhere, like plumerias. The contrast of introduced plants and architecture designed to blend into its unnatural surroundings speaks to Wendell Berry’s suggestion, “In human culture is the preservation of wildness,” and raises questions about adaptation, belonging and legacy. 

This project was made possible by a faculty grant from the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Vladamir Ossipoff archive at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa’s library. Special thanks to the Liljestrand Foundation for preserving this remarkable house. Plan a visit at liljestrandhouse.org.