Eerie underwater sculpture finished in Caribbean

by Sean McLachlan on


If you go diving off Isla Mujeres near Cancun, Mexico, you’ll see more than the usual coral reefs and colorful tropical fish. You’ll see a ghostly crowd of people standing on the bottom of the sea.

Silent Evolution is the creation of Jason de Caires Taylor, who specializes in underwater sculptures cast from real people. Taylor uses inert, PH-neutral concrete that doesn’t pollute the water. The figures attract sea life and become platforms for coral and other marine creatures. With coral reefs on the decline around the world, a little extra help from artists can come in handy. Check out the gallery below to see how life begins to grow on the figures, transforming them from realistic replicas of living people into something alien and a bit spooky.

Taylor took eight months to install the sculptures in a big crowd of talking, walking, and thinking people. The exhibition encourages repeat visits to see how “sea change” transforms the art into a living ecozone.

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Denali National Park seeks artist in residence

by Kraig Becker on

Are you an aspiring artist looking for some inspiration? Do you enjoy the great outdoors and have a desire to paint spectacular landscapes? Then Denali National Park has an opportunity for you. The park is now taking applications for its artist in residence program, seeking qualified artists to visit during the summer of 2011.

Each of the residency programs is ten days in length and comes with the use of the Murie Cabin, located at Mile 43 along the Park Road. The cabin was the base of operations for Adolph Murie, who conducted a ground breaking study on the predator-prey relationship between wolves and sheep back in the early 1940’s. The cabin sits at a very scenic site in Denali, offering access to some of the best landscapes in all of North America, although the accommodations are a bit spartan. The cabin comes equipped with a propane heater, necessary even during the Alaskan summer, a stove, refrigerator, a small library, and double beds. There is no electricity or running water however, and an outhouse out back provides bathroom facilities.

The ten day residencies take place between June and September of next year and the artists selected will be responsible for their own food and travel. Additionally, the position offers no monetary compensation, and the artist is expected to create at least one piece of art and donate it to the park. They are also expected to make one public presentation of the piece they create. In exchange for their work, they’ll receive free use of the cabin and access to some of the most spectacular backcountry on the planet, which should serve as fantastic inspiration for their art.

For more information on the Denali Artist in Residence program and to fill out an application, click here.

[Photo credit: National Park Service]

Buddha and Picasso at the British Museum

by Sean McLachlan on

The Fall season has started at London’s British Museum with two excellent free exhibitions.

Images and sacred texts: Buddhism across Asia starts today. It covers Buddhist art and sacred literature from Sri Lanka to Japan and explains the core beliefs of what can be a difficult religion to understand. The artifacts are from the museum’s permanent collection–one of the biggest in the world–and include many items that have never been displayed before.

Picasso to Julie Mehretu: modern drawings from the British Museum collection started on October 7 and examines the interchange between artists over the past hundred years. It begins with Picasso, one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century, and ends with Julie Mehretu, an Ethiopian artist who is one of today’s most popular contemporary artists.

The British Museum is one of many free museums in London, including the Tate Modern, Tate Britain, National Gallery, and National Portrait Gallery. This helps cut the cost of a trip to what is otherwise a very expensive destination. The British Museum is deservedly high on every visitor’s list because of its giant collection of artifacts from every ancient culture, from Egyptian mummies to Viking swords. The ongoing series of free exhibits gives repeat visitors a chance to see something new with every trip.

Picasso to Julie Mehretu: modern drawings from the British Museum collection will run until 25 April 2011. Images and sacred texts: Buddhism across Asia runs until 3 April 2011.

Artcars given kudos by Smithsonian Magazine

by Jamie Rhein on

This month artcars have well-deserved attention by Smithsonian Magazine. The magazine sent a crew to the H Street Festival in Washington, D.C. on September 19th to cover artcar artists and their work. The result is this video that provides a wonderful overview of the artcars that are tootling about on American roadways. More importantly, it highlights the motivations of the people who create them. An insight into the mind of an artist is a worthwhile ride.

An interesting point made in the video is that artcar artists don’t only take their cars to festivals or put them in parades. Often they are the main mode of transportation for the owners.

This video contains artist interviews and up close looks at some of their creations. As I was watching the video and considered the way cars have been used to create art–whether they are placed in a tree or arranged in a field, or driven around, I thought about how they do have a way of bringing people together in an unusual way.

One can not pass by an artcar without stopping for a closer look. Chances are, if you’ve stopped and looked, so has someone else. Stick around for a few minutes and you may find yourself in a small crowd sharing an experience you may not have expected when you woke up that morning.

To an artcar artist, that’s part of the point they’re trying to make. Stop and pay attention. There’s wonder happening in the world if you slow down long enough to take a look.

Spectacular summer art season in Madrid

by Sean McLachlan on

Madrid is one of the art capitals of Europe, and each season the city’s big three art museums host major exhibitions. This summer looks like it’s going to be an especially good one.

Perhaps the biggest show of the season is the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum’s show on Matisse. Running from June 9 to September 20, it focuses on the work the famous painter and sculptor did in the middle part of his life. In the 1920s he and Picasso were at the vanguard of making modern art acceptable to the general public, and in the 1930s Matisse’s work became more inward-looking as the Depression, the buildup to World War Two, and the invasion of France took their psychological toll.

The Prado will has a show focusing on the Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla, who in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries became one of Spain’s best-loved painters with his brilliant images of sun-soaked gardens and beaches. This show runs from May 26-September 6. One of his paintings, titled “Walk on the Beach”, is shown here. If you like his style, you might also want to check out his house, which is now a museum showcasing his life and work.

If modern art is more your thing, check out the Reina Sofia, Madrid’s home for modern and contemporary art. Their big show this summer will be Los Esquizos de Madrid, an art movement that flourished in Spain’s capital in the Seventies as the country made the transition from dictatorship under Franco to a fragile multiparty democracy. This movement embraced figurative art at a time when the rest of the European art world seemed have abandoned it.

The Reina Sofia will also have an exhibition by Lebanese artist Walid Raad, who created The Atlas Group, an art movement of one. His work explores censorship and the Lebanese Civil War though various media and will be open from June 3 to August 31.