Initial response: 

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This series of sculptures are part of Jason deCaires Taylor's work, in which he creates sculptures that he submerges under water, to lay on an ocean floor. His artwork has always interested me, and I have chosen to look at it for this specific project because I believe that he creates art work that definitely relates to my perception of the statement of inquiry; "Art distorts, abstracts and blends space and time". By creating these abstract sculptures of humans, and placing them in an unnatural environment, I felt that his work was able to highlight a distortion of both space and time. Generally, I find deCaires artwork extremely intriguing, and appealing to look at, and by incorporating a much deeper meaning, makes the artwork even more impressive.

When I view his artwork, I am immediately drawn to all the realistic aspects of the sculptures; The ruffle of clothing, the detail in the body parts, with which I am astonished by. The sculptures are so realistic, it seems like the photo was taken of people physically placed at the bottom of the ocean, rather than simply a sculpture of a person. As well, the eerie, and "infected-like" sculptures make his artwork even more intriguing to me. 

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Contextual understanding:

Jason deCaires Taylor is a British sculpture, that was born in 12 August 1974 in Dover, England. He was born to an English father and Guyanese mother, where he later on, graduated from the London Institute of Arts in 1988; Ever since then, Taylor has been developing and exploring the arts, especially with his underwater sculptures. 

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World wide, Taylor has gained great recognition as one of the first artists to combine contemporary art with the conservation of marine life. His idea behind creating these sculptures is to not only create contemporary works of art, but to place them in the ocean to create these "artificial reefs". Each of his sculptures are used using "non-toxic, pH neutral marine grade cement, free from harmful pollutants", in an attempt to integrate his artwork within the ecosystem. Although we can't assume much, we can inquire that Taylor must have had a previous interest in environmental activism, to physically contribute to it like he does. 

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Evidently, we can see associate Taylor's artwork with sculpture art, as he utilises materials to create a 3-dimensional model, in which he tends to represent depictions of realism. Although Taylor's work is classified as contemporary, when I viewed his sculptures, I was reminded of the many historical sculptures depicting human figures, often found in Museums. The way that Taylor was able to achieve extreme detail within his sculptures, as well as have them be able to advance over time, creates this link between historical periods and modern times. 

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Formal elements:

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Subject matter; Taylor's work depicts a series of sculptures of human figures, in either a "typical state" (ex. walking, laying down) or in a strange and eerie position; such as his series of sculptures titled "NEST", in the Gili Islands, Indonesia, in which he depicts a group of people circled together, with some standing and some laying down. Taylors artwork is found in many parts of the world, in an attempt to provide artificial reefs to aquatic life all around the world. His attempt at this is to not only create a rather magnificent series of artwork, but to also provide homes for marine life. On his website, they say "we have lost over 40% of our natural coral reefs", as a justification for his work. I think this idea is great, and is an inspiring way of addressing an issue experienced by our world. 

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Materials/ Techniques/ Processes; As said by Taylor, to create his sculpture he uses "non-toxic, pH neutral marine grade cement, free from harmful pollutants", to make it suitable for the ecosystem in which he places the sculptures in. There is no specific tools which Taylor utilises to create his sculptures; For sculpture work, I believe that there are a variety of tools in which you could utilize, and that there is not specific tools for him to achieve his final outcome; anything that provides him with the ability to depict a certain object or shape is a tool. 

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Color: In Taylor's artwork, he focuses on the physical look of his artwork in being able to seem realistic and detailed, hence, there is no bold colors used (other than the dull grey from the cement). Although, I think that the reason he meant to do this was to allow the sculptures to easily integrate into the environment, by acting as normal rocks to the marine life in which he wants to provide homes for. 

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Mood/Atmosphere/Environment: When I view Taylor's sculptures, words to describe the mood or atmosphere that the artwork evokes may include, haunting, enigmatic, obscure, cryptic. The way that the extremely life-like statues are placed in an empty space in the dark ocean, definitely creates this feel. Although, after time, words such as peaceful, serene or even relatable come to mind; the way that the statues are frozen in time, makes all possible movements fixed, and allows for any havoc to be settled. The way that some of the sculptures represent mundane life of either walking, sitting, creates a feel of recognition, in being able to relate to it as a human. 

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Shape/Form: In Taylor's sculptures, they represent extreme realism in depicting human figures, hence is a form of figurative sculpture, where the subject matter is derived from a real object source, such as humans. With the use of cement, Taylor modelled his sculptures to represent a life-like figure. From different angles and perspectives, the sculptures can definitely change in form. From a low angle, the sculpture may seem quite towering, and the perspective makes the figure seem tall and dominating. Whereas from a high angle, the sculptures seem small and restrained in their frozen state. 

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