10 artists that create amazing art, inspired by marine life.

Ptolemy Elrington studied at Bradford in the ’80s, traveled extensively and settled in Brighton, UK. He makes fantastic animals, insects and marine life sculptures, from recycled materials including car wheel trims, shopping trolleys, car parts and other found objects. His website  features awesome looking fish and other animals that are made entirely from materials that Ptolemy found, usually on the side of the road.

Courtney Mattison is a certified scuba diver and creates enormous ceramic sculptures. The sculptures visualize the challenges faced by corals by showing a healthy center and coral bleaching towards the swirling edges.

Canadian born Ellen Jewett makes amazingly detailed wildlife sculptures using a ‘rich regime of materials. Her work includes many marine animals like octopi, lionfish, seahorses, a turtle, and even a leafy seadragon. The sculptures are all unique but can also be ordered in the form of prints.

Amadeo Bachar began painting and drawing as a child and developed a passion for scientific illustration and the marine environment. His fish illustrations are amazingly detailed and accurate. Many of his illustrations can be found on fish ID slates that you can order from his website. The other fish illustrations on his website are arranged by the ecosystem where they can be found, so you can browse for freshwater fish or pelagic fish.

Masayo Fukuda creates astonishing art from a single piece of paper. Her paper cuttings not only feature marine life, but other animals as well. Her masterpiece is an octopus, cut from one piece of paper that is strangely translucent and three dimensional.

The sculptures made by Noriko Kuresumi are fictional sea creatures that resemble shells and corals. But they are so incredibly detailed that I can totally imagine encountering them on a dive. The nice thing about his website is that you can see some of the sculptures in a 360º view.

Another true ocean lover is British artist Nicolas Pain. He is a keen scuba diver and his work is inspired directly by the marine wildlife that he encounters whilst diving. His website does not only show his impressive sculptures and castings but also pictures from his diving trips. Being a manta lover, I especially like his sculpture of three manta rays, competing to scoop up the most krill.

Emily Williams creates reef creatures made of glass. Her work includes corals and jellyfish but I am most impressed by her representation of a feather star, an animal that belongs to the seastar family. If you have ever encountered one of these creatures on a dive and gave it a closer look, you’ll probably have been impressed by how fragile and lively a feather star is. This is perfectly reflected in Williams’ glass sculpture.

The headline on Sayaka Ganz’s website is “Creating energy and harmony from discarded plastic objects, transmitting a message of hope.” I really like the underlying message on her website. We should value our resources more and produce less waste. Her sculptures are arranged by type of motion; flying, running, swimming or just ‘hanging out’. Of course, I immediately went to the swimming section where I found some awesome robot-like sculptures of fish, turtles and even whales.

If you are looking for some unique wearable art, you should definitely check out Ray Troll’s website. Ray’s work, that has been described as “scientific surrealism” is printed on t-shirts and hoodies. The prints are scientifically correct with a touch of humor, and have impressive titles like ‘Fish ladder to the stars’ and ‘The salmon skull’.