Jack Soren believes that fortune strikes where preparation meets opportunity. For the artist, that intersection is on the North Shore of O'ahu, where many paths from his childhood converged: an affinity for surfing and graffiti, a circle of ambitious friends and a dedication to Hawaiian values.
Soren grew up in Laie, where his family has been for three generations. In his youth he surfed, hiked and decorated pillboxes and retaining walls with whimsical characters: skeleton pirates, sailors, walruses. He was inspired by other Native Hawaiians who'd achieved greatness: Duke Kahanamoku, Carissa Moore, Max Holloway, Bruno Mars. "People from here, a tiny island in the middle of the ocean," Soren says, "out there doing amazing things." When Soren was 15, someone offered him $200 to paint sea creatures next to a swimming pool. That was his first commission and he hasn't looked back. After graduating from Brigham Young University, he told himself, "You're not getting a job. Make the art work. It's time to put both feet in."
His work, which combines a retro surfing aesthetic with a playful street-art sensibility, drew proposals from fellow muralists for large-scale collaborations and commissions for modern building decor. Today he works out of the same studio where his father once made Hawaiian jewelry, and his projects take him to far-flung destinations where people are eager to learn about Hawaii and its Native people. Reciprocally, "my kuleana [responsibility]," he says, "is to go out into the world, collect knowledge from other peoples and bring it back to my village."
Creating public art (like the "Welcome to Wahiawa" mural at exit 8 of H-2) is especially gratifying for Soren. In 2021 he painted a two-hundred-foot piece in a Washington, DC, neighborhood, where residents were reeling from a recent homicide. Beside a Pegasus in flight, Soren incorporated the words "ka la hiki ola" (to look forward to the sun rising again). "There are a lot of Hawaiian principles that could benefit the world," he says. "That one felt good to put there."
Which might serve as a tidy summary of his approach to art: feeling good. "If someone is driving down the street having a bad day and they see a forty-foot walrus with a pirate hat on, they might get a kick out of it," Soren says. "That's the greatest reward, being able to help that one person who needs it."
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