Few aficionados and collectors would rank Hawaii among the world’s top destinations for contemporary art, but young local and foreign artists are making the islands an increasingly relevant hub. Hawaiian artists who moved to the mainland after the 2008 economic crisis are returning, while the scene is inspiring artists from across the continental United States and Asia to produce works for a mostly undiscovered market.

“There’s energy here,” said Cristiano Cairati, a European collector based in New York and in Honolulu. “It’s the same energy of endless possibilities that New York had in the late ’80s and ’90s, when you could be and do anything.”