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Visitors to Kidspace at MASS MoCA will find themselves surrounded by artistic renderings of sea creatures, plant-life, and other natural elements when Under the Sea features six internationally-acclaimed artists who explore the ocean as habitat, myth, and a necessary element of life on earth, opens on October 1. Through various themes and innovative materials, the artists examine the mystery and power of the ocean as well as the catastrophic consequences of our abuse of this natural resource.
With just cardboard and paint, James Grashow creates a school of brightly-colored fish and a larger-than-life mermaid that swim through the gallery. As each cardboard sculpture eventually would dissolve in water, the viewer is invited to ruminate on the transience of these sculptures of supposedly sea-worthy creatures as well as the transience of all things.
Sculptor Aurora Robson uses only plastic bottles and paint to create colossal coral reefs and plankton that serve as a meditation on our overconsumption of plastic and our pollution of the ocean. Based on childhood nightmares of sea creatures, Robson's work illustrates the power of transformation as a once-feared entity becomes one of beauty, and what was once garbage becomes art.
A self-proclaimed "river-gazer" since childhood, sculptor Ginger Ertz works with chenille stems to depict the movement of waves and ripples in the water. Her work, which also includes an oil spill, invites the consideration of the effect of our pollution on the ocean. Because each sculpture evolves during her artistic process, she views it as a metaphor for how life changes over time, a metaphor also reflected by the movement of water. Just as no phase in the sculpture is better or worse than any other, so are the phases in life, as we must learn to accept.
Manhattan-based photographer Dirk Westphal shares the inherent beauty of clownfish and damselfish through colossal, wall-sized photographs of astounding clarity. Having first encountering damselfish at the ocean as a child, Westphal seeks to invoke the awe he feels for the fish, which are not afraid of anything.
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Event is on: |
Daily |
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Audience: |
All Welcome |
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Category: |
Exhibits |
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Sponsored By: |
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Submitted by: |
contributed |
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