Chinatown’s Pygoya Gallery – A Breath of Fresh Air   

By: Rochelle Chang

Sept. 19, 2008

  Every first Friday night of the month, from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., Chinatown’s streets are packed with people, bringing increased business to the art galleries, restaurants and merchants in the area. New to this festive event is artist Dr. Rodney Chang, who is featuring his computer art in “Pygoya Gallery,” located on 1170 Nu’uanu Avenue, across from Mark’s Garage.

 Chang’s hope for his newly opened gallery, which is Hawaii’s first digital art gallery, is to bring a breath of fresh air from the traditional Hawaiian style art that we all know.

  “My art is not just modern, but abstract and based on computer exploration,” explains Chang. “I want to be able to expose the local population to contemporary digital art, which is becoming the main art form on the World Wide Web and its’ global cyber culture.”

  After establishing one of the first virtual museums online in 1997, Chang also became the founder of Webism, which is a global art movement where art can be exhibited online instead of in the traditional galleries.

  Being the first in Hawaii to explore digital art in 1984, Chang was eager to get his fine art known not only over the web, but also in Hawaii. With the increased traffic and business First Fridays brings to the downtown area, more locals will be exposed to digital art.

  One of the Webism art movement’s 17 goals is to “organize off line exhibits to expand the awareness of more people (both lay public and art institutions) of different regions and cultures of the world of the existence of the Webist movement.” The movement’s goals are explained on the website: http://lastplace.com/webism.htm.

  Another motivation for this art movement is to “promote a sense of the peace through friendship without barriers and expand global consciousness,” which so far has been very successful. Currently, over 100 members around the world, including artists from Israel, South Africa, and Germany are all a part of this movement each hoping to achieve the same goals.

  For First Fridays, Chang hopes to encourage newer and more original art shows. As the infamous “Disco Doc” since the 70’s, Chang is keeping with the disco theme for his art gallery, with lit up floors to disco balls and flashing lights to compliment his contemporary art. And, with Halloween just around the corner, he will have an alien and UFO exhibit complete with X-file music soundtracks.

  To view Dr. Rodney Chang’s virtual museum online, visit www.lastplace.com. To find out more about Webism, visit http://www.artingrid.de.