This piece has a very ironic begining.  I purchased from an online store in Florida several months before this piece was created.  They were meant to be used as the tail for the water dragon that will be a part of my dragon series but they proved to be too large and heavy.  I thought I would be stuck with them forever, as shells have a 'distinctive' aesthetic.  One evening I decided to try for about the 100th time to come up with something to do with the shells and hit on the idea of attaching the copper pipe fittings to them.  Originally the piece was going to be a commentary about the pollution in the ocean as pipes were going to spew forth everything from plastic bottle material to discarded scraps of technology. 

Then the gulf disaster struck.  At the time, one of the materials that I had already decided on was the black tubing (oil pouring from and into the sea) to represent oil disasters of the past, like the Exxon Valdez.  That served as a starting point to pick black, petroleum based materials that invoked the imagary of the gulf disaster in some way.  There are black plastic leis that resmble the billowing plumes of oil seem from the webcam.  There are black plastic balls to represent the tar balls washing up on the beaches.  There are black plastic coral and shimmeryplastic sea weed to represent the environmental impact even more directly. 

This piece ended up in a show I helped to curate that helped to benefit the gulf disaster.  An art forum I belonged to got into a discussion about themes for a new show at the forum's gallery space.  Another member proposed the idea and I put forth my piece as a possible example of the theme.  I volunteered to assist in any way needed and ended up helping to curate and hang the show. 

Materials Used:  Shells, Copper Pipes, Epoxy, Misc Synthetic Rubber and Plastic Materials (petroleum based products)

Completed:  July 2010