On the left, a kissing couple forever captured in bronze, lingering in an out-of-the-way alley as if to hide from prying eyes. On the right, a group of overall-clad workers on break frozen in time, grinning mischievously and sharing a secret known only to them. Near the stairwell, a primordial diorama of psychedelic alligators, lizards, butterflies and cranes illogically surrounded by pills and painkillers pushes the limits of the senses.
Is it the Hermitage? Nyet. The Alte Pinakothek? Nein. The Musem of Modern Art? Nope.
Like a floating Louvre in a jewel-toned sea, Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis of the Seas is a one-of-a-kind museum. From forward to aft, this massive cruise ship boasts an art gallery consisting of 9,600 objets d’art (1,500 pieces in the public areas alone) provided by artisans from more than 20 countries, including the United States, France, Cuba, Switzerland, Iran, Canada, the United Kingdom and Italy.
Sailing regularly in the exotic tropical Caribbean playground of fabled swashbucklers such as Blackbeard and Henry Morgan, this swimming collection of contemporary art, titled “The Wonder of Our World — The Natural World,” is a treasure chest valued at nearly $11 million — virtually a pirate’s ransom.
Because Oasis is a man-made wonder (one of the two largest cruise ships in the world and twice as big as Titanic), it’s no accident that the art collection complements the ship and its prominent presence on the high seas. International Corporate Art, or ICArt, is responsible for the collection, and 19 of the 22 ships in Royal Caribbean’s fleet are festooned with the art collected by this Miami- based international consultant.
Thousands of original works of art by hundreds of established and emerging artists are part of the cruise line’s Royal Collection, which is valued at $120 million. Much of the art is installed at eye level or within easy reach of the passengers, encouraging them to move beyond the usual “look but don’t touch” museum mentality.
ICArt has been assembling art collections for Royal Caribbean ships since 1992, according to Joan Blackman, one of the company’s founders. For each new ship, the firm creates a unique artistic direction or “red thread” for that particular vessel. “That term comes from a Norwegian phrase, roed traad, that literally means red thread,” Blackman says. “It signifies the underlying theme or common thread moving throughout a project or situation.”
On Oasis of the Seas, Blackman says that the red thread is the natural world. Most of the pieces either incorporate materials found in nature or refer to the natural world in their subject matter.
Assisting in organizing the art is a concept new to the Oasis: the creation of seven distinct “neighborhoods” throughout the colossal ship. Similar to theme-park planning, the neighborhood scheme helps parcel out the ship’s huge passenger load (6,296 at full capacity).
This allows many of the ship’s venues, such as restaurants, theaters and lounge and bar spaces, to feel intimate, and its sports and recreation areas to feel more spacious. Each neighborhood — from the pool and sports zones to the arcade-like Boardwalk and the Royal Promenade — uses unifying art themes to help determine the area’s ambiance.
The result on the Oasis is the culmination of more than three years of planning and collaboration by ICArt with input from Royal Caribbean’s top management, designers, architects and artists.
“If you think in terms of all of the Royal Caribbean art combined, collectively you would have a very serious art collection,” says Richard Nentwich, hotel director on the Oasis, whose job is to oversee the day-to-day operation of the ship. “One unique appeal of the Oasis art is we ask the Royal artists to create pieces for us using something other than their established art media. For instance, if one normally creates art on wood, we may challenge that artist to do a piece on metal or canvas, or even a mosaic. The end result is a unique work that does not exist anywhere else.”
In addition, ICArt operates Art Actually, an innovative onboard art boutique that provides a number of art-related services for passengers and appeals to the more upscale traveler.
On days when the ship is “at sea” between ports, Art Actually conducts art tours to educate passengers about the numerous artistic offerings. Regular art auctions allow passengers to bid on and purchase pieces by artists whose work they have observed onboard as well as other popular artists.
Ian Wilson, art director for Art Actually, says he is excited about the premise behind the new store. “There are two art worlds,” he says. “The world of popular acclaim and world of critical acclaim. And most of the time the two never meet. Instead of seeing the more traditional type of shipboard art, passengers on the Oasis see more abstract, one- of-a-kind pieces, and this has a growing appeal to the sophisticated traveler. Instead of having the same artists or art style from one shipping line to the other, here they are getting a wider variety of critically acclaimed art; always finding something new and different.”
Wilson notes that Oasis passengers are being exposed to a wide selection of multimedia types of art, including ceramics, glasswork, sculpture, C-print photos and paintings. “People want to get involved with some of these amazing onboard collections, so we offer a wide range of prices so they can invest in the art without spending huge amounts of money. We offer photo prints to miniatures of the sculpture to actual signed pieces.”
With the December launch of the Allure of the Seas, the new sister ship to Oasis, ICArt was once again challenged to come up with a moving art museum. Some of the same artists from the Oasis — Carlos Betancourt, Alberto Latorre, and Larry Kirkland — have joined ranks with others new to the ICArt family, including Keysook Geum, Jacob Hashimoto and Grimanesa Amoros, and the art theme for the new ship is “The Wonder of Our World Cultures.”
Because it houses more art than most people could see in a week in a comparable land-based museum, Oasis makes it impossible to describe all of its art in one outing. With that in mind, here are a few highlights of the more unique works.
An onboard scavenger hunt
One of the more popular art installations whose components are located throughout the ship is “Small Wonders,” a joint effort by Larry Kirkland of Washington, D.C., and Peter Bahouth of Atlanta.
Forty-two nearly microscopic pieces are displayed from stem to stern in individual, ornate, cast-bronze telescopes or enormous, circular bronze discs that magnify each small specimen to reveal its special beauty. The challenge to locate all 42 of the natural wonders feels like being on a scavenger hunt, making all who look for them virtual “art collectors.”
The Kirkland pieces include objects found throughout the world: fossils, gems, insects, shells and tiny animal skeletons, to name a few. Bahouth’s offerings feature 3-D photography of fauna and flora that evoke the feeling of being transported to another time and place (reminiscent of an old-time View-Master).
Art from a petri dish
Awe and surprise, hope and mystery — and maybe a little bit of “Ewwww?”
These are the emotions often evoked when viewing the unusual art of Klari Reis of San Francisco. After being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, an intestinal illness, her doctor allowed her to view the cellular reactions of her blood to various pharmaceuticals in petri dishes under a microscope. The visual beauty of the reactions became an inspiration for her art. Using her studio as a laboratory, she has invented a process that increasingly blurs the creative line between the technological and the natural.
While conventional artists use a color palette and canvas to create art, Reis must clothe herself in a biohazard suit and oxygen mask. This is mandatory to protect her from the toxic fumes that result while combining various resins, epoxies and industrial dyes to create each one-of-a-kind piece. The random combinations of chemicals result in unusual and breathtakingly bright smears, stains and shapes.
As a final step, each petri dish-size creation is layered with multiple applications of ultra-glossy plastic, making it appear to be ceramic or made of glass. Finished pieces are displayed individually or in groupings of 30 or more. On the Oasis, the walls of an entire hallway leading into the ship’s casino showcase her decidedly original artwork.
Soaring sea gulls and magic trees
Two of the more innovative and spectacular art installations on Oasis were born of a creative collaboration between Puerto Ricans Carlos Betancourt and Alberto Latorre.
Dominating the forward elevator lobby, an opening 10 stories high, is the pair’s “A Flock of Seagulls.” This dazzling artwork features 88 aluminum birds boasting three sizes, four design shapes and 12 signature tail configurations. Each gull has its own distinctive hand-painted floral pattern. The entire flock is suspended, free-floating, on long cables so that the slightest movement of the ship captures the beauty, movement and elegance of flight.
On the Royal Promenade, passengers can find the second Betancourt/Latorre masterpiece, “The Magic Trees.” Two 1.5-ton cast bronze trees, soaring to nearly 23 feet tall, appear to be reaching for the light emanating from the upper decks. The trees are so heavy they had to be attached to the ship’s superstructure for passenger safety, but are gracefully designed to give the impression that the branches are moving. Scattered among the branches are clusters of bronze Monarch butterflies with azure enamel highlights, easily within reach of passengers with a penchant for touching.
The duo chose Monarchs because they are one of the few species known to make transatlantic crossings. “The message behind this piece,” says Piper Yacheson, art guide on the Oasis, “is to remind the viewer of one’s unique journey in life while inspiring a feeling of wonder and beauty that resides in the natural world of secrets.”
A walk in the park
One of the most intriguing “neighborhoods” on Oasis fills most of Deck 8 and its sculpture garden. Central Park is a 21,000-square-foot tropical garden filled with 12,000 individual trees, plants, vines and flowers that will only become more beautiful as they mature. Throughout this oasis of peace and calm and within the various restaurants surrounding it, elegant sculptures, mosaics and delicate glass installations create a visual feast.
Graceful wire cranes created by Peter Busby share the lush green flowerbeds with carved marble feminine torsos by Helaine Blumenfeld. An unexpected nighttime treat for visitors are Stephen Knapp’s fused dichroic glass and stainless steel installations that burst forth with vibrant colors. Each grouping of layered glass has a single light bulb.
Within the restaurants lining the park, art lovers can find crystalline resin floral sculptures by Haitian- American Edouard Duval Carrie; warm, rich mosaics by acclaimed artist Anne Marie Karlsen; and spectacular oil-on-muslin cityscapes by Marian Westall.
The visually stunning park is open to the heavens, letting in natural light for the flora while two crystal canopy skylights let natural light pass through to the Royal Promenade directly below.
A touch of whimsy
On a megaship as long as New York City’s Chrysler Building is tall, there is plenty of room for serious art as well as art that’s just plain fun. While glitz and glamour are standard fare throughout the ship, there are several pieces that pay homage to a more nostalgic time, tugging at childhood heartstrings.
With a nod to early 20th-century Coney Island, the full-sized carousel in the Boardwalk neighborhood has the distinction of being the first carousel at sea. The merry-go-round’s 21 hand-carved figures, suspended from stainless steel poles, include the familiar menagerie of zebras, giraffes and lions alongside hand-painted horses, a crowned frog prince, an elephant and the traditional peacock “chariot,” which is handicapped- accessible.
Since the introduction of Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas in 1999, a vintage auto has held a prominent spot in the Royal Promenade, and the tradition continues with Oasis. The replica of a 1935 Auburn Boat Tail Speedster has a constant crowd around it; this particular model introduced the concept of the sports car to the U.S. Installing an original Auburn Boat Tail would have come with a price tag of around $3 million — a little too extravagant even by Royal Caribbean standards. Instead they opted for this replica, which cost a mere $70,000 and is an exact reproduction in design and scale. The only thing missing? The engine.
Adding a touch of whimsy around several Oasis pools and on the open-air miniature golf course are cast bronze statues by Scottish native Shona Kinloch and Britain’s Ben Twiston-Davies. The larger-than-life Kinloch statues stand poised at poolside as if hesitating one final moment before taking the plunge. Perhaps as a tribute to the popularity of miniature golf at the turn of the 20th century, the Twiston-Davies statues on the golf course are clothed in sports fashions of that era. Passengers work their way past the figures as they complete the course, often staring in amusement at the cast bronze players before playing through.
