Costa Concordia

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut bibendum tortor sit amet ligula rutrum, at porta tortor convallis ...

So often I portray shipwrecks in my Nauticus series, but they’re usually stories from eras gone by, that have been passed down to us through history books. It feels rare to be able to recall a shipwreck from within my lifetime, but I remember in 2012, watching the news reports, as the Costa Concordia cruise ship struck a rock in the Tyrrhenian Sea just off the eastern shore of Isola del Giglio, Italy. With today’s technology, sonar and ocean mapping, many wondered at how this tragedy that took 32 lives could have happened, and yet that rock tore open a 50 metre gash on the port side of the ship’s hull, flooding parts of the engine room, cutting power from the engines and ship services. As water flooded in and the ship listed, she drifted back towards the island and grounded near shore, then rolled onto her starboard side, lying in an unsteady position on a rocky underwater ledge. The evacuation of Costa Concordia took over six hours. Captain Francesco Schettino, was subsequently found guilty of manslaughter, causing a maritime accident, and abandoning his ship.

It seems wrong to have been witness to this tragic event within my lifetime, so it only seemed right to honour those lives that were taken with a commemorative depiction of their voyage.

Costa Concordia is an 8x10" acrylic and ink painting on a 1" thick canvas, and does not come framed.

--

Nautical art has been a long established motif which for many was used to convey the beauty of their surroundings or the dramatic hardships of a sailor’s life. In my current series, I'm attempting to evoke the romantic gesture of transition, a theme found commonly thread through so many nautical compositions, almost creating a dreamlike state. To help accentuate this abstract upheaval often felt during transit, I've taken inspiration from J. M.W. Turner to develop my gestural painting style, while grounding the seascapes, by adding detailed illustrations of ships from both historical and fictional seafaring tales.