The anglerfish

by Maik Weidemann

The second image in the 12-part series ‘Heavenly Deep Sea’ takes us deeper into the fascinating yet vulnerable world of the undiscovered oceans. This work depicts the majestic yet bizarre deep-sea anglerfish, which hovers like a ghostly creature through the utter darkness of a starry night sky. Surrounded by sombre banks of clouds, the creature gazes into infinity with an intensely glowing blue eye. Its characteristic luminous lure illuminates the cosmic darkness and, here, appears almost like a distant, small moon or a dying star showing the way.
The message behind the work: This motif, too, carries an unmistakable reminder of our dependence on an intact natural world. The anglerfish, which pierces the darkness with its light in the real depths of the oceans, becomes here a celestial being of light in its own right. It symbolises the impending loss: if humanity destroys the deep sea through overfishing, littering and the exploitation of raw materials, this natural light will be extinguished forever. All that will remain for us then is the memory of a unique creature that, purely theoretically, lingers as a ghostly constellation in the firmament. On the technique: Entirely in keeping with the style of the entire collection, this painting is based on an effective mixed-media technique. The infinitely deep, dark space and the passing clouds were applied using acrylic paint. The fish’s striking body, its razor-sharp teeth and the fine textures of its skin were precisely rendered in pencil, whilst the eye and the fishing rod are given their magical, blue glow through deliberate accents in coloured pencil.
• Style: Surrealism / Fantastic Art / Ecological Art
• Technique: Mixed media (acrylic background with detailed pencil and coloured pencil drawing)
• Mood: Mystical, powerful, melancholic, cautionary