Tabu Painting by Melissa Loop

Painting: Acrylic on Canvas.

This painting is based on a series of photos I took kayaking around the island of Mo'orea in the French Polynesia. This particular beach was reserved for tourists only and had a large sign "tabu" which is tahitian for "forbidden" for the locals.

The painting involves pouring layers of neon and metallic paint under the realistic landscape in order to create an unsettling yet beautiful and other worldly space. Also, the water has a gloss paint to further create an idea of depth over the "coral" in the piece.