Ron Pitts
Lounge in Kihei. The ex-Navy and tugboat engineer and iconoclast from Boston has some of his best artwork adorning the walls there, as well as Ambrosia, the swanky little nightclub just across the parking lot. He impressed me early on with his tugboat-themed cartoons, and soon after I asked him to illustrate Eh Brah! and, later, the cover of my book. I used to drive him nuts with my simple “Works for me” e-mail responses to his submissions, but every time I looked at his work I shook my head with wonder. His tiki-related stuff at Tiki Lounge is hilarious, but then walk over to Ambrosia and gaze into his mind-blowing rendering of John Lennon’s glasses. Or his “Rain Dancing” – it’s just a simple image of a puddle on a brick-laid sidewalk, but Pitts’ use of color and detail is elating. You can see his work each week in these pages, adding vibrant and often irreverent color to Eh Brah!, but he belongs in a gallery or Mad Magazine or both. Someday… @apignataro
Runner-Up: Cheney Larue
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