Kamea Hadar (kameahadar.com) is always in search of canvases. In the last decade, he has become well known for his large-scale murals. Hadar’s obsession with finding unique canvases for his work began with his involvement as co-lead director at POW! WOW! Worldwide (powwowworldwide.com), one of the largest mural festivals that takes place across the world. “Every building, every surface in the city has now become a possible canvas,” he says. “I really enjoy that when you paint on a really large scale, the viewer sees the piece from many different angles and viewpoints, and thus interacts with the work very differently. This led me to start looking at other applications of my work not only on buildings but other three-dimensional objects.”
Enter Maserati (maserati.com) and Coach (coach.com). Friends invited Hadar to take part in Festa Italiana, Hawai‘i’s sole Italian street festival, where Velocity Honolulu (velocityhonolulu.com) showcased some of Italy’s finest sports cars. That first year, Hadar wrapped a Lamborghini Huracan with a modern take on the traditional Hawaiian floral pattern, depicting highly contrasting white tropical flowers laced with gold accents against a matte black background. After the project’s success, Hadar returned the next year and wrapped a Maserati Levante. Through the juxtaposition of organic florals with the sleek, modern sports car, the art represents the melding of modern and traditional Hawai‘i and its bustling cities and unparalleled natural beauty.
“When I partnered with Coach this year to help promote their Vintage Originals collection in March, I decided to continue the floral themes of the Velocity cars to see how they worked on yet another canvas,” says Hadar. Since the project, Hadar has expanded his never-ending search for new and exciting canvases to include, such as different types of fabrics, spray cans and even the human body.