Waikiki on fire?

A dragon slain at Sunset Beach?

No, it’s not the filming of the latest Godzilla movie, but Kosta Kulundzic’s first solo exhibition in the U.S. at the new SPF Projects gallery in Kakaako.

Kulundzic’s work is iconoclastic and violent yet tender and approachable — a reflection of his own background and environment.

Born and raised in Paris by a Bosnian mother and a Serbian architect father, Kulundzic, 41, grew up surrounded by stories of violence and devastation from his family. His father escaped the warfare in the former Yugoslav republic in 1965 to live in France.

"Although I didn’t personally witness combat or conflict growing up in Paris, my relatives had searing memories of it, and when I’d go back to Belgrade (Serbia) to visit family there, there were constant images of warfare on TV, and some buildings and even whole blocks of streets that were destroyed during the wars have been preserved as a sort of memorial," he said. "It’s peaceful now, but the years especially between 1991 and 2000 were particularly bloody."

Under this backdrop of violence, Kulundzic grew up with strong artistic leanings and influences. His father taught form drawing at an art school in Paris, and his godfather, Vladimir Velickovic, was a prominent Serbian painter.

As for himself, "I don’t recall ever not drawing or painting," he said.

In 2007, at a friend’s wedding in Spain, Kulundzic met his future wife, Stephanie Rania, a cancer researcher who was born and raised in Wahiawa.

Through his wife, her family (who are either in the military or linked to the military) and several months-long visits with relatives in Hawaii, Kulundzic began conceptualizing a local thread to his work.

Kulundzic had always been fascinated by the medieval legend of St. George and the dragon. The tale goes that a town was plagued by a dragon that lived in a nearby lake, so to appease it townsfolk sacrificed its livestock and children. The king’s daughter eventually was selected to be sacrificed, only to be saved by St. George, who slayed the dragon on the condition that the town convert to Christianity.

"I wanted to turn the mysticism of St. George upside down, to show that Christian myths and the military don’t work," said Kulundzic.

"Why do we have to be martyrs to believe in God? Why are young people dying? Why do we have to spill blood to have faith? Why are we destroying a beautiful beast (the environment)?"

Most "Hawaii Apocalypse" works include St. George (who often has Kulundzic’s face) slaying a beast with a machine gun, but the battles are set in iconic tourist locales, such as at Sunset or Yokohama beaches alongside real local people whom Kulundzic persuaded to be photographed and subsequently painted. The artist’s wife also figures prominently in the works.

Curator Trisha Lagaso Goldberg says the violence in Kulundzic’s art is presented with tenderness and "pop kulch" humor (in several pieces, for instance, the popular Vans clothing brand is prominently displayed) so that the art is accessible to local viewers.

"The bright colors and the sharp lines make the paintings almost comic-book style, so an audience is attracted to and drawn into that world," she said.

"I appreciate Kosta’s showing me familiar scenes, importing his personal experiences into them, then producing an alternate view.

"He’s presenting an atypical, fresh perspective of Hawaii."