Floating Tile Art: ‘Gator in the Bay’ is a 33,000 pound alligator the size of a football field that floated in Biscayne Bay during Art Basel Miami 2013. The head is a 3-story steel sculpture built on a self-propelled barge. The upper jaw is built on the boom of a crane that allows it to open and close. The body is a photo mosaic printed on material called Floating Art Tile invented by the artist. Using 104 Floating Art Tiles, with each tile 4ft x 8ft and each will have over 3000 unique images the size of a postage stamp, an illusion of the alligator will appear.
The purpose of Gator in the Bay Project is to raise awareness for the Florida Everglades.
The purpose of the art piece is to show the cooperation between industry and nature.
The head is built entirely of recycled, used, junkyard or landfill materials and the mouth can open to over 33 feet. The head will be placed in front of a museum. Each Floating Art Tile that creates the body is sold in an art package that includes: the actual Floating Art Tile, the iconic photograph, the diagram of the project highlighting your tile, a description of the project, and a cert of authenticity.
Source: gatorinthebay.com
Inside the Mouth of an Alligator
It took over 4 years to create from beginning to end and over 300 people have passed through the ‘path’ of the Gator in the Bay
Gator in the Bay and South Florida
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One of my goals was to create an iconic photograph of Miami highlighting the attractions and beauty of South Florida
Discovery Channel features Gator in the Bay
The Discovery Channel created the explanation of the scope of the project.
Gator in the Bay Layout
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104 Floating Art Tiles create the illusion of the alligator body.
Gator in the Bay night time glow
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At night I wanted to work with the natural elements. Just like your subject silhouttes when standing in front of a window, I wanted the Floating Art Tiles to silhoutte and become dark thereby creating the illusion of the scales of an alligator moving in water.
First Version of the book
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There are many levels of understanding Gator in the Bay. It is more than just a large alligator floating in water. The book helps explain the messages and the meaning within the project.
Design & Layout
Throughout the project when creating the art for Gator in the Bay, I had to work in reduced or miniature formats. These cards are 4 inch x 8 inch and represent what will the Floating Art Tiles which are 4 feet x 8 feet. The 1/144th scaled version is 13 feet long which is still a very large model.
Primary Parts
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Each body part creates the main illusion of the alligator body.
Each body part is created using over 3000 photographs of the Florida Everglades.
Alligator Claw Mosaic
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This image was a sample created to explain the illusion. Thousands of images of the Florida Everglades are used to create each primary body part.
