It's a series by Jason deCaires Taylor. He installed the pieces in the ocean in the West Indies. The sculptures are gradually becoming part of the underwater ecosystem. They act as an artificial reef, of sorts, with coral and various biota becoming part of the installation. Each piece changes over time, becoming more and more a part of the ocean, until they are a ghost of life on land.
I've always been attracted to art that explores the beauty of decomposition, especially in man-made materials - the way metal rusts, wood grays and splinters, concrete spalls. These themes speak to me because I respond to the loneliness of post-apocalyptic environments - what the world would look like if any of my favorite sci-fi disasters actually occurred, empty and broken.
At first glance, the underwater works would seem to explore a similar vein: the longer the sculptures remain underwater, the less they resemble their original forms. However, what Taylor has done is to create pieces not based on decomposition, but on composition - the forms that seem to decay are actually becoming more and more alive, despite transforming into spectres of their original selves. This lends an alien quality to the work which I find very appealing. He has created a little world down there, a parallel universe; Pompeii as Atlantis. Brilliant. Beautiful.
All images copyright Jason Taylor, 2007.
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