‘Oceanus’ at CT’s Mystic Seaport offers warning as museum shifts focus

Artworks in a new exhibit at Mystic Seaport Museum tell vivid tales of sea life. But beneath the glorious, colorful agglomeration of ocean animals is a somber message: The beings that live above the ocean — humans — have, over many centuries, defiled the seas and endangered the creatures that live in them.

The exhibit “Alexis Rockman: Oceanus,” which opened Sunday, presents a new extension of the traditional focus of the seaport. Mystic Seaport was established almost 100 years ago as a living history museum to keep seafaring stories alive, telling new generations about seamen, their journeys, the dazzling ships they sailed and Mystic’s role in nautical history.

Now, the museum is looking ahead.

“We’re looking at maritime history from a modern lens, what it means in the 21st century,” said Christina Connett Brophy, who co-curated the exhibit with Krystal Rose and James Carlton.

“People are examining how we can sustainably exploit the oceans without as much impact of humans,” she said. “We’re not shaming or blaming anyone, but we have to discuss the condition of the oceans, start a conversation about the rules of the oceans.”

The museum commissioned the artworks, which are now part of its permanent collection.

The central artwork in the exhibit, “Oceanus,” is an 8-foot-by-24-foot oil on canvas. It is the same size as Rockman’s 2004 oil on canvas “Manifest Destiny.” That piece, now on view at the Smithsonian Institution, is a fiery-orange post-apocalyptic commentary on global warming.

“Oceanus” is not as pessimistic but it does serve as a warning. The deep blue painting shows a historical timeline of oceancraft. Ships float on an ocean teeming with both sea life and the evidence of man’s interference with the ecosystem. As the historical timeline progresses and boats become more sophisticated — from a Mashantucket Pequot canoe to a contemporary container ship — the damage they are capable of doing increases.

The other artworks in the show are 11 smaller-scale watercolors focusing more intently on the ocean creatures. Each is accompanied by a bilingual (Spanish and English) diagram describing the species of marine life depicted and the theme of the work: plastic pollution, invasive species, mineral mining, animal extinction, climate change, etc.

The artworks depict 22 vessels. Sixteen of the vessels were inspired by watercraft and models in the museum’s collections.

Brophy said climate change is an issue that has the potential to endanger the museum itself, in the form of aggressive migrating shipworms, which bore into wood.

“This shipworm is starting to move north because the waters are warmer. As a museum with historic wooden vessels and pilings and docks, it is a pressing issue, because those shipworms will probably be able to survive in the Mystic River because the water is warmer,” she said.

She said she hopes the beauty of Rockman’s work will inspire thought about environmental traumas.

“He takes the scientific data and filters it through fine art and maritime history,” she said. “They are not doom-and-gloom paintings. The themes sometimes are difficult but they are not tragic works. They’re beautiful. They inspire conversations about relationship of human activity and animals over time.”

Rockman works from a studio in Warren. In a phone interview, he discusses “Oceanus,” the oceans and their future.

How did the sea become a recurring theme in your work?

As a kid, I was interested in what lived below the surface of every body of water that was nearby. I lived in Manhattan, so that was the East River and the Hudson and the ponds in Central Park. I had this idea of the magical world hidden from us.

Have you done artworks before with explanatory panels?

I started doing that in 1992 when I finished “Evolution,” which is the same size as “Oceanus.” The Carnegie Museum asked me to show the work, and the curator asked, what is in the painting? I thought, oh well, I might as well do a document like in the tradition of a natural-history museum.

Artistically, what is your connection to boats?

I am not an expert on boats. I never planned on painting boats. But I think boats are a great metaphor for taking risks.

What brought you to do “Manifest Destiny,” on global warming?

In 1994, I asked a paleontologist, what are you afraid of? It was Peter Ward. He described global warming, why it’s going to be a problem. He talked about the Permian extinction event, a mass extinction that happened about 260 million years ago, when 90% of life on Earth went extinct. The theory is that volcanoes erupted simultaneously and created the world that is like the one we are headed toward. There have been five extinctions. We are in the middle of the sixth.

How did this affect you?

It affected my psychology. It made me very saddened. I knew humans would have a hard time comprehending the urgency of it. It is invisible and seems to be slow moving but it is a lot faster-moving than anyone thought.

When creating the “Oceanus” works, did you learn anything new?

Yes. I didn’t know ocean mining was already going to be a terrible problem in terms of destruction of habitat.

Of all the stories oceans hold, why did you choose these ones?

Because they seemed the most important and interesting. They weren’t repetitious in terms of my career. They seem to be interesting pressing issues that we are facing.

Some works have a sense of humor, like the whale triumphing over man, like global warming affecting humans but the insects and jellyfish are fine. What is the thinking behind this?

I thought it was time to have some success for the whale. The mosquitos all bring joyous things like yellow fever and malaria. The jellyfish has a bright future as well.

Are you optimistic or skeptical about the future of oceans and ocean life?

I am extremely skeptical about their future. There would be no reason to be optimistic. Do I think other life in the ocean will survive besides jellyfish? I am not so sure.

So do you think in the near future, humans will survive?

Yes. It’s our quality of life, I think, that will suffer.

“ALEXIS ROCKMAN: OCEANUS” is at Mystic Seaport Museum, 75 Greenmanville Ave. in Mystic, from May 27 to April 2024. The museum is open daily to Oct. 29 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $28, $26 seniors, $24 teenagers, $19 ages 4 to 12, free for 3 and younger. mysticseaport.org.