In a gallery in Manhattan's Chelsea district — the epicenter of contemporary art in America — stands a row of polished spires made of Hawai'i-grown wood by Hilo artist Jeff Roth. The work, resembling surfboards standing in racks, is part of the show "Tribute to Noguchi," now on view at Ralph Pucci International's Gallery 9.

The exhibition showcases the achingly subtle sculptural work of John Koga, Jeff Roth, Randall Shiroma and Lonny Tomono, along with the striking black-and-white photography of Franco Salmoiraghi.

While there are Hawai'i-born artists such as Charles Yuen, Lawrence Seward and Susan Maddux living, working and showing art in New York City, this may be the first time in at least 35 years that Hawai'i-based artists have had a group show in Manhattan, as far as Greg Northrop, head of Fine Arts Associates in Honolulu, can remember.

Mounting the show meant packing, shipping and trucking pieces — two of them weighing a ton — across ocean and continent. Ralph Pucci paid for the transportation costs and is confident he will recover his investment from the profits of sales. "He thinks he'll sell all of it," Northrop says.

According to Northrop, it all began when Pucci — a manufacturer of mannequins and furniture known for his impeccable taste in contemporary design and sculpture — went to Neiman Marcus while visiting Hawai'i in 1998. He admired the earthy, hand-hewn objects crafted from wood and stone displayed in the department store.

The pieces, by local artists, had been hand-picked by Northrop, an art consultant with more than 20 years' experience in Hawai'i, for Dallas-based Neiman Marcus.

"I got a good feeling for what he liked," Northrop says of Pucci while sitting at his desk in his warehouse office behind the Farmer's Market in Kaka'ako. "He had a very good eye."

Two years ago, Pucci returned to the Islands to look for art for a New York show. He was espec-ially atuned to work that echoed the elegant simplicity of forms found in nature. Northrop and his Fine Art Associates colleague Lauren Chesne Faulkner introduc-ed Pucci to local artists.

"We took field trips to artists' studios," Northrop says, and from those, visits Pucci chose the show's five artists.

The idea to connect the show to Isamu Noguchi came to Pucci after he'd selected the objects for the show, Northrop says. Like Noguchi, he points out, all five of the artists work with forms and subjects that prompt viewers to think about the way art and nature intersect.

John Koga's rock constructions speak to this interplay between the natural and the created. Fashioning orbs of stone, sliced and reconnected like geological puzzles, Koga asks viewers to imagine the earth-made and the handmade as simultaneously competing and compatible. Koga says his work contains "a touch of the human. It's nature put back together. It's a rebalancing."

Randall Shiroma also works with materials that resemble stone and concrete. His mounds of crafted, elemental rock display navels or portals that suggest softer interiors protected by their impenetrable exteriors.

Jeff Roth brings his experience in furniture design to integrate beauty with function. His wood sculptures — gouged, polished, textured — reflect the hand of the artist. The fine craftmanship reveals, rather than masks, the wood's natural beauty.

"I was so excited to get a show in New York at 50," says Roth, who had to scramble for wood for the show. "I had to go out and get (an ironwood tree) that was blocking people's driveways ... I don't have any budget."

Lonny Tomono, also working in wood, creates bench-like structures inspired by the Shinto temple builders with whom he has studied.

The show's art has a meditative quality, another Noguchi link: the artists' profound understanding of the way nature works.

While sculpture stands on the gallery floor, the walls display the photography of Franco Salmoiraghi. Working in black and white, Salmoiraghi captures the beauty of both the land and the people of Hawai'i, as he's done since 1968.

When asked if the Noguchi tribute provides any specific references to Hawai'i, Northrop nods and says, "Franco's photo-graphs definitely do."

A day before the Jan. 25 opening, the artists met with reporters and photographers from Elle Decor, Town & Country and The New York Times, among others.

"They were impressive," Faulkner says of the Hawai'i five's handling of the media session.

Koga laughs humbly when he describes his time in front of the New York press. "I felt like I was being a big-time kind of guy." He chuckles and talks with gratitude about how much he enjoyed his time in New York.

"In Hawai'i, everyone knows each other. I felt the same there. Ralph Pucci treated us like we were his family."

When Koga exited the third-floor elevator and stepped into the cavernous loft, natural light spilling through the big windows overlooking busy West 17th Street, "It was surreal," says the artist, who just had his first solo show at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i. "I was blown out of the water. All of the art fed off each other."

"A lot of people in New York have this perception of Hawai'i kitsch. They had no idea there was work of this caliber coming from Hawai'i," says Northrop, when asked why this show is something of a milestone. "People were impressed, and I see this as the door opening there. We're planning to do more with Ralph Pucci. He saw other artists he'd like to show."

Northrop credits Hawai'i's improving art scene to an increasingly sophisticated audi-ence.

"People are seeing art of a high quality at The Contemporary Museum, the Academy of Arts, Neiman Marcus. Also, there's a new group of people coming to Hawai'i, and they bring with them their art collections and their tastes."

Now that New York has had a glimpse of the talent coming from Island art studios, more opportunities may arise in the future. Northrop says, "We're an untapped market."