Wow Look at That

Tommy Hite’s work articulates stories and commentary around the unique surroundings of his upbringing and life in Honolulu’s graffiti and skate subcultures. Incorporating local quirks and inside jokes, Hite invents pictures that are whimsical and fantastical, yet grounded in the social realism of the urban spaces on Oʻahu. Hite’s paintings interrogate perceived notions of Hawaiʻi, along with associated idealized iconography, and juxtaposes them with a reality easily understood and intuited by locals.

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hite was creative at an early age, the young artist was know by his peers to dismantle found objects and put together something new from them. At the age of eleven, influenced by street art, he devoted his life to drawing and painting. Since then, Hite would rarely be without his sketch book. Accepted into University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, he naturally gravitated toward the BFA program, where he developed a voice to articulate stories and commentary about the unique surroundings of his upbringing. Hite’s work has been exhibited in multiple exhibitions in Hawaiʻi and is included in private collections.