LIFE, WELL LIVED SUMMER 2016

STAND-UPADVENTURESDISCOVER SPECTACULAR PADDLING DESTINATIONS

SUMMER 2016 | 66 | MONTAGE

Jason deCaires Taylor’s Rubicon in Museo Atlanticooff the coast of Lanzarote

Renowned British artist Jason deCaires Taylor has received much acclaim for his stunning underwater art. Installed sev-eral feet below the surface of rivers and oceans, his sculp-tures made from pH-neutral cement are designed to attract living organisms, providing habitat for marine life like color-ful coral, sea stars and schools of fish. Often cast from local people, the lifelike pieces explore themes of humanity and conservation, with undertones of social and political com-mentary. But earlier this year, Taylor’s work took on new significance: An installation of his submerged statues now serves as Europe’s first underwater art museum.

Artist Jason deCaires Taylor opens his new sculpture museum beneath

the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.BY TIFFANIE WEN | PHOTOS BY JASON DECAIRES TAYLOR

UNDER THE

SEA

SUMMER 2016 | 68 | MONTAGE

Opened in February, Museo Atlantico com-prises 60 permanent pieces nestled nearly 50 feet below the surface. Located off the coast of Lanzarote, one of Spain’s Canary Islands near Morocco, this set of sculptures—the initial phase of artwork—is best viewed by scuba diving and snorkeling. Among his latest creations are a raft filled with refugees, and figures taking selfies with no regard for what lies ahead.

Curated underwater tours are given by snorkeling and scuba diving docents. “This museum is a lot dif-ferent … [than] previous projects, in that there’s an entrance and exit to the museum,” Taylor says. “The guided tour is not a traditional scuba experience

where the guide only follows along and watches out for your safety. They will actually be explaining what the pieces mean and follow the layout of the tour.”

This is Taylor’s first large-scale project in the Atlantic Ocean, capping a long resume of similar projects in other locales. He spearheaded the first underwater sculpture park in Grenada’s Moliniere Bay in 2006 before co-founding one of the world’s largest underwater attractions, Museo Subacuático de Arte (MUSA), which consists of more than 500 life-size concrete figures, off the coast of Cancun, Mexico, in 2009.

The Atlantic Ocean’s conditions pose different artistic considerations, not to mention greater

tTHE RAFT OF LAMPEDUSA

Modeled after Théodore Géricault’s 19th-century painting “The Raft of the

Medusa,” which depicts the dramatic aftermath of a French naval wreck,

The Raft of Lampedusa depicts people floating in a raft. An obvious nod to the

current refugee crisis in Europe, the figures were cast from immigrants liv-ing in Lanzarote—including an African

man named Abdel, whose figure sits at the bow—and the raft modeled after a boat that washed ashore along the

island’s coast. “I know a lot of people think the refugee crisis is just about

Syria and what’s happening there, but it’s been happening along this part of the coastline for 20 years or more,”

Taylor says.

Jason deCaires Taylor (left) casts his sculptures—often based on real people—from pH-neutral cement (right).

SUMMER 2016 | 69 | MONTAGE

technical challenges. “It’s a completely different environment,” Taylor says. “The Atlantic Ocean is a really blue mysterious scene and different from the Caribbean, which is clear.” The pieces, therefore, are on a larger scale. The Atlantic is also less hospi-table than other environments. Installing sculptures in colder temperatures and at deeper depths with less visibility means Taylor has to be more cautious and spend less time working underwater.

There are also fewer organisms nearby, meaning the visible evolution of the work may take longer than in the warmer Caribbean environment, for instance. That being said, the evolution process has already begun. In the botanical garden—which

will be divided from the main sculpture area by a large gate—cement replicas of terrestrial plant life and hybrid sculptures are covered in algae and seaweed, making them look like living plants. Thousands of juvenile fish hang out in the branches of trees. There’s even an octopus living at the base of a cactus. “When you swim up, he puts a little tentacle out,” Taylor says. “If you wait five minutes, he’ll come out and have a look at you.”

The artist will continue the next phase of installations in fall, including a piece that will consist of a swirling vortex of figures. At its com-pletion in 2017, the museum will include more than 300 sculptures in all. M

SUBMERGED STATUESJASON DECAIRES TAYLOR’S SCULPTURES CAN BE FOUND IN BODIES OF WATER RANGING FROM THE CARIBBEAN SEA TO THE RIVER THAMES. DISCOVER SOME OF HIS BEST WORK.

THE RISING TIDE, ENGLANDLocated in the River Thames in London, this fea-tures four horsemen only visible at low tide. While the bodies appear lifelike, their heads look like oil pump machinery, a comment on the effects of fossil fuels.

THE SILENT EVOLUTION, MEXICO 450 figures cast from local popula-tions can be found in the Museo Subacuático de Arte (MUSA), on the seafloor around Cancun and Isla Mujeres, Mexico. The figures stand united against the loss of the Mesoamerican Reef, Taylor says.

OCEAN ATLAS, BAHAMAS Located at the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation’s Sir Nicholas Nuttall Coral Reef Sculpture Garden, this depicts a girl seemingly carrying the weight of the ocean on her shoulders. Stretching 15 feet from seafloor to surface, it is the world’s largest underwater sculpture.

VICISSITUDES, GRENADASpearheaded by Taylor, the Grenada Underwater Sculpture Park was the first of its kind when it opened in 2006. It features some of his most famous work, including Vicissitudes, made up of 26 children standing in a ring and holding hands.

'RUBICON

In Rubicon, a group of 35 figures walk toward a

gate, some of them gazing down at their smartphones.

The piece is about climate change. “The Rubicon means the point of no

return. Or a line, that once you cross, you can’t return from,” says the artist. “The

significance of the piece is that there’s this generation

of people all moving for-ward, all moving in one

direction, but without paying attention to where they’re going or what the effect of

their actions are. We’re reaching a tipping point with climate change and won’t be

able to return to the place we were before.”

Taylor’s sculptures (right) are lowered into the water (left), where they attract living organisms and wildlife.