Ocean Atlas Underwater Sculpture Submerged in the Bahamas

Some of you may already be familiar with the underwater art installations of sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor, even if you don't know his name. I read an article on designboom about his latest work and I thought I'd share a few pictures of this and previous sculptures with ATS. As awesome as sculptures on land are, seeing them underwater adds a definite air of mystery and wonder — like seeing the ruins of a long sunken city.

submerged adjacent to the western coastline of new providence in the bahamas, jason decaires taylor has set ‘ocean atlas’ within the aquamarine depths of nassau’s seas. thematically, the colossal sculpture draws reference from the ancient greek statue of titan atlas as he holds up the heavens, but instead depicts a local youth sustaining the ocean ceiling. marking the largest single sculpture ever to be inserted into an underwater landscape, the sixty ton ‘ocean atlas’ spans from the sea floor upwards five meters to the surface of the sea.

This piece in particular, drawing on ancient Greek mythology has a certain Atlantis aesthetic! Here are a few select images from the artist's website:

The Silent Evolution, Depth 8m, MUSA Collection, Cancun/Isla Mujeres, Mexico.

Vicissitudes, Depth 5m, Grenada, West Indies.

Vein Man, Depth 4m, MUSA Collection, Punta Nizuc, Mexico.

Solar Man, Lanzarote, Spain.

WOW!!!!!!!! I have never heard of these modern sculptures under water. If I ran into those as a diver, I would be like what the...????? ALIENS did it! LOL

Awesome.

I can't fathom what future archeologists are going to make of this.

When Bob's Big Boy went under all the statues in front of the chain stores became available for auction. Would have been too crazy to line them up on a hillside all facing one direction.

Image

Then theres this monument that will be priceless one day.

Pics
Heres to confounding the future,

a reply to: theantediluvian

Very cool!

makes me wanna take up scuba diving...

I wonder how long it took to make these creations... At first I was thinking this was some new underwater discovery from an ancient time but this is still definitely awesome

Something for some civilization to wonder about 1000 years from now

S&F

a reply to: theantediluvian

Way sick though... I'd like to go diving through all of these... Awe inspiring.

Apparently I have some strong feelings about what it would be like to do so...

S&F

originally posted by: Night Star
WOW!!!!!!!! I have never heard of these modern sculptures under water. If I ran into those as a diver, I would be like what the...????? ALIENS did it! LOL

Once they become covered in ocean life, they take on a very ancient appearance too:


even when they depict something modern:

a reply to: theantediluvian

Kinda makes you wonder if many of the underwater finds were faked...

Seems pretty easy to do...

Imagine finding a sculpture of a guy watching TV from ancient times...LOL

It's not enough that we pollute the land with garbage "art". Now we're polluting the water as well.

We don't need to put more stuff in the water that will change the chemistry for the fish and everything else that lives there.

Nature is best.

a reply to: Spruce

I'm pretty sure the sculptures are chemically inert. If you look at the pictures taken after they'd be in the water for a while, they sculptures are covered in corals and the like. Of all the crap that ends up in the ocean, this seems to be among the most absolutely innocuous.

I guess some people can find a reason to complain about absolutely anything.

a reply to: theantediluvian

If it was art of any quality I wouldn't be complaining. Any five year-old can make that stuff.

I can see them trying to figure this out in a couple hundred years. All evidence will be on the net and the whole net will crash. A few generations from now, they will wonder who put them there and when. Obviously, someone will say they are natural formations.

There are several videos of these as well.

Type Jason de Caires Taylor in YouTube search...

The 2ND video half way through shows how he creates them using live models.

It appears that the artist may have created one sculptor just for some of us here at ATS:

For me, the two pieces in the MUSA collection that are the most profound, are “The Promise” and “Anthropocene.” “The Promise” is a man with his head buried in the sand and represents the present environmental crisis, unsustainable practices, poor accountability and the “cluelessness” or denial of some people of the real issues at hand.

The MUSA collection in Mexico houses 450 sculptures, and is among the largest underwater artificial art attractions in the world. The Cancun Marine Park is the most visited in the world and the strategic location of the sculptures by de Caires Taylor has enabled the recovery of natural reefs by redirecting visitors to his installations.

www.stabroeknews.com... /

“The Promise” can also be seen in the below video:

Here is one example of how many of his sculptures are designed to give different types of sea life a place to live. Pretty cool!

www.streething.com...

I tried to embed a pic but when i saved the pic to my phone, all it saved was a generic "image" icon. Sorry.

a reply to: 3n19m470

That may be the world's only VW Beetle with "lobster entrances"

a reply to: theantediluvian

My good side: Damn... i wish i had enough money to waste on stuff like this. Pretty cool.

My bad side: Geez, thanks for those mind***** for the poor archeologists splitting their heads 3+ World Wars away into the future.