Something in the water – the rise of aquatic art Artists inspired by the world’s liquid borders

By Francesca Gavin

In an age of liquid borders, climate change, plastic pollution and mass immigration, the world is watching its water. It’s a theme that has possessed our cultural life also, where aquatic paintings, photography and digital installations are flooding our galleries. 

The theme has been an ongoing subject in Alex Katz’s paintings for decades. For the 94-year-old American painter, the motif appeals because of its mutability. “Water keeps changing and it’s impossible to paint fully, so, you do one part today and try another part tomorrow,” Katz explains. “You can never get it right. Your attempts get exhausted, so you try something else.” Katz’s seascapes, painted over 40 years in Maine, were brought together for a solo exhibition titled Mondes Flottants/Floating Worlds at Thaddaeus Ropac’s space in Paris last autumn. (...) 

There is a strong sense of abstraction in Katz’s reflective works, which have shifted from the flatness of his earlier paintings to something more transparent in his later canvases. More than anything Katz offers an incredible approach to colour. “The colour is empirical,” the artist notes. “It’s just a way of making light.” For the show’s curator Eric de Chassey, the paintings “show that the deepest thoughts are coming from concentrated moments. It could be called contemplation, but not in a religious sense. It is something very active, and it elicits some kind of activity in the viewer.” (...)