Tower of Sea Creatures

The below slideshow features photos of a sculpture I made and gave to my brother and his wife.  It’s now sitting on a counter in their dining room and chances are they aren’t even using it.  The sculpture is quite the work of art if I do say so myself.   The central tower beam, upon which most everything else projects, is comprised of sea urchin exoskeletons.  Numerous red algae branches are glued to the urchin tower, and from these branches hang dozens of crabs, all of which I handpicked myself from Northern California beaches.  Manifold shells festoon the sculpture.  These small shells (which, like all the other shells I’ve collected, reside in jars – and in the case of the smaller ones are divided into two separate jars: “tiny” and “miniature”) were obtain by crawling around on my hands and knees on obscure California beaches with a pair of forceps, hand-picking the shells that looked nice.  The little trees which adorn the sides of the sculpture are made from driftwood and jewel beetle wings.  What I find most impressive about the sculpture is not that I made it, but that its beauty is entirely natural.  I could never construct this sort of art out of synthetic or artificial material because it doesn’t exist.  What makes this sculpture beautiful is that fact that nature itself is the most brilliant artist, and every piece I’ve glued together is an impeccable rendition created and perfected by the natural world.  I take no credit for this because Mother Nature has done it all.  Additionally, what I have presented in the form of a stagnant sculpture of sea death resembles living micro-worlds I have encountered while scuba diving.  The sculpture I have created is not unlike many sections of reefs or subtidal zones I have seen underwater off the coasts of California, New Zealand, and Belize. What is tragic about this sculpture is that marine life everywhere is in steep decline.  I am a firm believer in the web of life, and very much fear that the end of humanity begins with the death of saltwater ecosystems across the globe.  I can imagine an abysmal dystopian future where the only point of reference to coral reefs and healthy marine ecosystems will be photographs, drawings, virtual reality depictions, and sculptures like the one I’ve made.  I truly pray that I am wrong.