For his first contemporary art exhibition, “Alexis Rockman: Oceanus“, the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut invited the environmental artist to work with its resident scientists and curators to create a series of 10 new watercolor paintings inspired by the complexities of ocean life. The level of detail in each piece deserves special attention, and a key describes all the actual species – both endangered and invasive – that are depicted, sometimes stacked symbiotically on top of each other.
At the center of the show is a monumental 24-foot-long canvas that explores the history of human interaction with the sea, from the first sailors to travel in hand-hewn canoes to ship-sized container ships. football field which throngs internationally. stream today.
Working with maritime historians like Michael Harrison of the Nantucket Historical Association and curator of the Seaport Collection Krystal Rose, Rockman created a visual timeline of maritime technologies and activities. Dramatically lit photos of historic ship models from the Mystic Museum’s collection, as well as a native mishoon, or canoe, on loan from the nearby Mashantucket Pequot Museum, were used as references for the painting.
“There are 18 of our boats in this painting,” Christina Connett Brophy, the museum’s senior director of galleries and senior vice president of curatorial affairs, told Artnet News. “But the models aren’t all the same scale – some of them are huge, and some of them are really tiny. And so you see this beautiful big ship in the paint and realize the models are six inches tall. long.
Installation view of “Alexis Rockman: Oceanus” at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut. Photo: Courtesy of Mystic Seaport Museum.
Each ship also carries its own important piece of history, from the famous slave ship AmistadAt Thomas W. Lawsona seven-masted cargo schooner that was wrecked off Cornwall in the early 20th century, possibly causing the first large-scale man-made oil spill.
But perhaps Rockman’s closest collaborator on the show is James Carlton, a world expert on invasive species. “It had something to do with most paintings, giving advice on different animals to include and how things move,” Brophy said. One of the watercolours, in particular, titled Transitional passagesshows various marine species hitchhiking for a transoceanic ride on a plastic bottle.
“A few months after Alexis finished it, a a big paper came out by Jim and several of his colleagues who touch on the same themes,” Brophy added. “It proved that coastal creatures swept up in weighted water and dumped in the middle of the Atlantic or the Pacific where people think they won’t survive because that’s not their habitat. They are doing very well because of the plastic waste there.
Installation view of “Alexis Rockman: Oceanus” at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut. Photo: Courtesy of Mystic Seaport Museum.
Finding such a startling note of optimism in the face of environmental catastrophe is an overall theme of the show, which also includes a side display on “blue technology”, or alternative maritime business models focused on sustainability. Some examples include bioplastics made from algae or designer shoe leather made from lionfish.
“What I like about this series is that some of the themes are really difficult – I mean, it’s extinct and invasive species, oil spills and all sorts of pretty difficult stuff – but the paintings are so beautiful. and colorful. They almost seem to celebrate the animals they represent,” Brophy said. “And there are some really smart people out there trying to come up with solutions, and they’re doing an amazing job.”
Rockman and Brophy will attend a book signing for the exhibition catalog on World Oceans Day, June 8, at the Rizzoli Bookstore, 1133 Broadway, New York.
See images from the exhibit, as well as Rockman working on the show’s centerpiece, below.
Installation view of “Alexis Rockman: Oceanus” at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut. Photo: Courtesy of Mystic Seaport Museum.
Alexis Rockman, Oceanus (2022).
Alexis Rockman, Benthos (2022).
Installation view of “Alexis Rockman: Oceanus” at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut. Photo: Courtesy of Mystic Seaport Museum.
Alexis Rockman, Tsunami (2022).
Installation view of “Alexis Rockman: Oceanus” at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut. Photo: Courtesy of Mystic Seaport Museum.
Alexis Rockman (center) with works from her “Oceanus” series in the studio.
Alexis Rockman working on the eight-foot-by-24 panoramic oil painting Oceanus (2022). Photo: Adam Reich.
Alexis Rockman working on the eight-foot-by-24 panoramic oil painting Oceanus (2022). Photo: Dorothy Spears.
Alexis Rockman working on the eight-foot-by-24 panoramic oil painting Oceanus (2022). Photo: Dorothy Spears.
Alexis Rockman working on the eight-foot-by-24 panoramic oil painting Oceanus (2022). Photo: Dorothy Spears.
Alexis Rockman working on the eight-foot-by-24 panoramic oil painting Oceanus (2022). Photo: Dorothy Spears.
Alexis Rockman working on the eight-foot-by-24 panoramic oil painting Oceanus (2022). Photo: Dorothy Spears.
“Alexis Rockman: Oceanus” can be viewed at the Mystic Seaport Museum, 75 Greenmanville Ave, Mystic, Connecticut, until next spring.
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