JANKA VD MERWE

Contextual Understanding

The Artist   

Jason DeCaires Taylor was born in 1974, making him 43 years old today. His mother is Guyanese and his father is English. He graduated from the London Institute of Arts in 1998 with a BA Honours in sculpture. He is now known as a sculptor, an environmentalist and a professional underwater photographer. His interest is evidently seen by the fact that he was scuba diving at the age of 118, and then became a fully qualified scuba instructor at age 28.

His art work is focused on creating an artificial reef instead of what normally happens with submerged artwork (they corrode, and rust). His focus is also humanities relationship with the natural world and the need for conservation, decay and rebirth. All of his sculptures are live casts who transform from cement to an artificial reef which creates habitat for the flora and fauna underwater. Taylor says that he is "trying to portray how human intervention or interaction with nature can be positive and sustainable, an icon of how we can live in a symbiotic relationship with nature.".

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Background

PERSONAL CONTEXT:

Taylor was scuba diving officially by the age of 18, and then became a fully qualified Scuba Diver Instructor at age 28 in 2002. While he was growing up, he was also spending a lot of time to study coral reefs in southeast Asia. He then went on to professionally study art in the London Institue of Arts, and from then on his love for art and his passion for the marine life have never been separated.

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WIDER CONTEXT:

Taylor became the first person of a new generation to bring sculptures into the underwater world. from then on, he got recognition everywhere for his work, for example his underwater sculpture park was recognized by the National Geographic in their Top 25 Wonders of the World, and then also got recognition from the government when they said declared the site a National Marine Protected Area.

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Associations & Influences

Taylors genre/style of artwork is sculptures that promote the life cycle of natural life. He creates mundane scenes and generally doesn't have a style that he works towards; his passion is what motivates him to create his art.

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Ideas & Intentions

I think that Taylor is trying to show how we as humans can create a symbiotic relationship with the natural world. I believe that this is what he tries to make his artwork do, by the fact that these pieces of artwork change from cold hard cement sculptures into beautiful and complex ecosystems naturally by the living organisms around it. I think it is interesting and so interactive and beautiful that it really shows us how great and big nature really is, and I think this artwork helps us to recognize this meaning. All his effort into making sure the material is safe for the ecosystem, and that the placement is right due to the tidal currents and coral geography. His artwork then becomes one with nature and I think this is a beautiful and harmonious idea that needs to be brought to peoples attention, because in the end his artwork is to raise awareness of the state of the marine biology.

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Why I am interested

This artwork is probably the most interesting artwork I've ever seen. Placing live cast statues underwater is such a new and foreign concept to me. It sums up what I want to do with my artwork during this unit; trying new and never seen before things that impress, attract and interest my audience. I realise now, after my project is done, that with doing a project with this intention, I truly am happiest and it is most enjoyable.

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Vicissitude means change, from the picture above from google. In this artwork, Taylor uses it to show the impact of the environment and climate impacts our physical body, and thereby his aim for his artwork is to create awareness of the desperate need to migrate to a sustainable and well-managed environments for our future generations.

Climate change and sustainability is a very important topic that I personally believe in and protest for. I have converted my lifestyle choices in order to have a more symbiotic and environmentally friendly lifestyle, which is also one of the reasons why this artwork is interesting to me.

I think my art and Taylor's art are related because Taylor's work is a sort of timestamp for what the ocean environment does to materials. His artwork is in one point of time and mine is in another. I also would've liked to submerge my artwork underwater however due to limited accessibility I decided to simulate a submerged artwork by projecting a looped video of an underwater scene.