New Exhibition Displays Paintings Made Underwater (VIDEO)

Canvas? Check. Paints? Check. Brushes? Check. Goggles? Check. Oxygen Tank? Check.

The next exhibition at the Swallow's Nest castle in Crimea is a collection of paintings made in the depths of the Black Sea. A group of scuba-trained Ukrainian artists decked out in scuba gear paint underwater seascapes on location. Their canvases are primed with adhesive waterproof coating; after that, painting below sea level is pretty much the same as painting above it. As BBC News puts it, "then it is up to the artist's skill... and oxygen supply." Time is of the essence when painting on an oxygen tank's schedule; some artists have perfected the craft enough to paint a full seascape in just 40 minutes.

Painting underwater gives artists a chance to capture the details and colors of the ocean's hidden treasures since artists can now translate directly from nature to canvas. One main goal of the painting is to depict colors as they are witnessed underwater, resulting in some pieces being shown in tanks inside the gallery. The Black Sea exhibition brings a whole other meaning to the art of watercolor.

Check out the scuba-artists in action below:

Underwater Paintings from the Black Sea

Comments

[Diana Topchi]

05:19 AM on 10/25/2011

People who prefer to read about this action on Russian can do it here:
http://crimea24.info/2011/08/10/v-forose-projjdet-seans-podvodnojj-zhivopisi/

[metropolan]

02:08 AM on 10/25/2011

Gimmicky and unnecessary. What's next, painting in caves? How about painting in outer space? Cool! Yeah, right.

[Yaxchibonam]

01:33 AM on 10/25/2011

Couldn't see the video. Must be HULU. I live outside the country, and HULU believes in borders.

[czs5056]

12:17 AM on 10/25/2011

when i tried it all i got was a white canvas. maybe i should try with something other than my watercolor paints next time.

[Benja0901]

10:28 PM on 10/24/2011

As a certified diver it pains me to see media outlets refer to tanks as "oxygen" tanks and that we breathe Oxygen. We breathe air (~79% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen). We rarely breathe Oxygen (100%) as it is toxic to the CNS at very shallow depths (at a PPO2 of 1.6, 100% O2 is 'safe' at only 19 feet of Sea Water; most 'Nitrox' divers observe a PPO2 of 1.4 for safety). MOST Enriched Air Nitrox blends are 32% or 36% Oxygen, with the balance being composed mostly of Nitrogen, a far cry from 100% O2.

Given the tanks don't have the traditional Nitrox band (see http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/EANxDecal.png) I'd surmise these artists are diving on air.

That aside, it's a pretty cool use of the compounds at hand to create art.