Local Traffic Only by Martin Charlot

In 1985 the renowned muralist Martin Charlot was commissioned by the McDonald’s Corporation to paint a wall mural for the company’s restaurant in Kane‘ohe.  The result was Hawaiian Folkways, a 5 x 24-foot work depicting a day in the life of Waiahole Valley, the lush rural community a few miles up the coast in the heart of windward O‘ahu.

Local Traffic Only: Proverbs Hawaiian-Style brings the reader up close and personal with this wonderful work of art.

Arnold Schwarzenegger chose to pose for the proverb, "A wise man is mightier than a strong man."

Peopled with farmers and fisherman, keiki and kupuna, cops and robbers and many others, Charlot’s charming mural illustrates more than 100 proverbs—Hawaiian, biblical and others.  All the people featured in the mural are real-life friends, family and acquaintances of the artist.  From siblings and children to local firefighters and an unsuspecting deliveryman to McDonald’s Hawaii CEO Pat Kahler, to then-actor, now-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Charlot’s models acted out for him in person the proverbs depicting the good and bad sides of human nature.

The author/artist as he portrayed himself in the mural

Martin Charlot grew up in Hawai‘i, apprenticing with his father, the legendary artist and muralist Jean Charlot—a major influence in the Mexican muralist movement of the 1920s and ‘30s and a teacher of Diego Rivera.

Known primarily as a muralist, the younger Charlot is also a writer, actor, film maker, illustrator and educator and has been honored as a Fellow in Perpetuity by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

At book signings, Charlot personalized each copy with a proverb drawing.

Local Traffic Only has been featured by The Honolulu Advertiser, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and NightTime with Andy Bumatai.

Local Traffic Only is available for purchase at your local bookstore and at online booksellers, including direct from the publisher at www.bookshawaii.net.

Author: Martin Charlot
Hardcover, with dustjacket, 84 pp
Release Date: December 2007
ISBN: 978-0-9796769-1-8
$19.95 retail price

Tags: Art, Hawaiian Folkways, Hawaiian proverbs, Jean Charlot, Local Traffic Only, Martin Charlot

This entry was posted on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 1:44 am and is filed under Children's books, Hawaii Inspirational, Inspirational. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.