Minoan palaces and Cretan pottery and frescoes covered entirely with fish, shells, octopus, as if the ocean itself had been caught within them, led to my thinking of glazes and colours of the “ ocean blue with watery green and geological layers of ancient seas”. The body of work that followed is a result of this starting point.
Further reading on the octopus anatomy and the incredible nature of this cephalopod was provided by James Wood, a marine biologist and chief educator at Southern Californias Aquarium of the Pacific.
Myths and legends, as well as cultural history, is filled with tales of human beings being captured by huge octopus and described in the publication Kraken, 2010 by Wendy Williams published by Abrams Image N.Y. Finally, Aristotle (384– 322 BCE) had much to say on his observation of the octopus in his treatise On the Parts of Animals, written 350 BCE and Translated by William Ogle.
Putting things together and establishing the chains of relationships that the work references, the manual skill and artistic imagination then became a shifting and imprecise process. A process however, worthy of this solitary animal that lives by its own wits and is clearly capable of learning.
It stays very much alone throughout its lifespan, with no skeleton of any kind, with three hearts and blue blood whose favourite prey is crab. The octopus equates as one of the most intelligent animals in the sea; outliving the demise of the dinosaurs.
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