“Lagoon Lullabies”
Lagoon Lullabies, a recent series of works produced in the Tahiti studio, was constructed on the visuals of the emotional maintenance needed to modulate the human need of “soothing.” It was the human need for “soothing,” that directed our path in discovering Tahiti 25 years ago, after losing my close friend Charles Schulz, in 2000, I desperately needed to feel and see the external world in a completely new way. After the very first time in the lagoons of Tahiti, there was an instant arousal and regulation of inner behavior like that produced by a child’s “soothing” lullaby.
The “Lagoon Lullabies” series follows shortly after the extensive “Coconut Radio” series that was concerned with the importance of learning through communication. Thus, “Lagoon Lullabies”, continues that thinking of the importance of communication, as lullabies, in many communities throughout time, passed down tradition and culture knowledge through these “soothing” songs.
For the last 25 years, in the Tahiti studio, it has been visual “soothing” lullabies that dance on the ceiling and ceiling fan as the night turns to sleep. Because the studio is constructed on columns, 10 feet over the lagoon, the lights under the studio reflect on the waters surface and then reflects back upwards to the thatch roof directly above my sleep. Therefore, the “soothing” dance of color, light and its movement have been incorporated into the background atmosphere that moves and dances around the pictorial space as it attempts to establish the “soothing” feeling of each character, in a lagoon, far away from real world.
Tom Everhart 2025