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Jason de Caires Taylor's Gorgeous Underwater Art (Photos)

Ocean-Floor Museum

Artist Jason de Caires Taylor has chosen an unconventional location for his giant sculptural creations: the ocean.

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Jason de Caires Taylor
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Located in the MUSA Collection in Punta Nizuc, Mexico, Inertia shows the human ability to live within a bubble. 

Jason de Caires Taylor
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A celebration of rejuvenation, the wings of the angelic figure in Reclamation are planted with reclaimed purple gorgonian sea fans that had been displaced from the natural reef after heavy storm surges. The plant's mesh-like structure filters nutrients from the tidal currents. It is part of the MUSA Collection in Punta Nizuc, Mexico.


Jason de Caires Taylor
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The soft purple sponge growth dominating the face of this statue, part of The Silent Evolution in the MUSA Collection in Cancun/Isa Mujeres, Mexico, survives by pumping and filtering water through its networks of capillaries and arteries. 


Jason de Caires Taylor
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Taylor's most ambitious work to date, The Silent Evolution features 400 casts of humans from all walks of life spanning multiple decades. It is located in part of the MUSA Collection in Cancun/Isla Mujeres, Mexico.

Jason de Caires Taylor
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The Dream Collector, located in the MUSA Collection in Cancus/Isla Mujeres, Mexico, archives a collection of messages in glass bottles that were collected by the artist from various communities around the world.

Jason de Caires Taylor
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Among the MUSA Collection in Punta Nizuc, Mexico, A young girl can be seen lying on garden patio steps, surrounded by various plant pots. Taylor has rescued various coral cuttings from damaged reef systems nearby, placing them inside the vessels to promote re-growth. The work becomes a fusion of art and science, symbolizing a revitalized kinship with human’s involvement with the environment. 

Jason de Caires Taylor
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The mirror-finished piano, commissioned by David Copperfield and located in the Bahamas, is based on a life-size replica of a Steinway Concert Grand.

Jason de Caires Taylor
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The Bankers symbolize denial, a resistance to acknowledge our looming environmental crisis, and the shortsighted actions of banking and government institutions. The identical positioning of the figures in a prayer-like pose also aims to highlight a shift in values. It is part of the MUSA Collection in Cancun/Isla Mujeres, Mexico.

Jason de Caires Taylor
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A close up of The Bankers. The buttocks support an internal living space for crustaceans and juvenile fish to breed and inhabit. 

Jason de Caires Taylor
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Symbolically representing the cycle of life, the children comprising Vicissitudes, located in Grenada, echo how we are all affected and transformed by circumstances, opportunities, and local surroundings, and how these changes begin to inscribe themselves within the physical body. 


Jason de Caires Taylor
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Vicissitudes uses young people for the artwork highlights the capacity of humans to adapt to their environment but also brings to attention the importance of attending to the future of that environment. 


Jason de Caires Taylor
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A close up of Vicissitudes in Grenada. 


Jason de Caires Taylor
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The Underwater Museum: The Submerged Sculptures of Jason deCaires Taylor is available now from Chronicle Books. 

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