Art Galleries and Exhibitions
Pangeaseed, in collaboration with Spoke Art plans to hold an exhibition in support to raise awareness of the rapid and mass depletion of one of natures most incredible creatures, sharks. Featured will be original works from 30 internationally renowned artists such as Dave Kinsey, Josh Keyes, Dan May, Jim Phillips, Jeff Soto and many more. So much talent!
Each year, a staggering 80 million sharks are killed, most of them are killed only for their fins to satisfy an unsustainable appetite for shark fin soup. In the cruel practice known as “finning,” the shark is hooked and brought aboard the boat where its fins are then cut off and the still alive but limbless animal is tossed back into the sea. With no instruments to move, the helpless shark sinks to the ocean floor and eventually drowns. Sharks, being “apex predators”, play a vital role in keep the oceans fish population in balance. Without them, you would see an unnatural overpopulation of fish that would not be sustainable in the natural balance of the ecosystem.
PangeaSeed is a Tokyo-based grassroots organization dedicated to educating and raising international awareness on the plight of sharks. Through volunteer activism and various mediums including art, music, film, and photography, PangeaSeed aims to create an open dialog with the global community to develop an understanding of the need to preserve and protect sharks and their habitat.
Sink or Swim will run in San Francisco from 23 ~ 25 September 2011. In support of proposed bill (AB376) to ban shark fin in California State, Sink or Swim offers the community new perspectives on this widely misunderstood and demonized animal. Also, in addition to raising funds to keep sharks afloat both in Japan and around the world PangeaSeed will donate a percentage of the proceeds from Sink or Swim to organizations aiding animals affected by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
One notable print to be featured at this event is Josh Keyes Scorch I piece:
"Scorch I" by Josh Keyes
What Keyes is able to convey in this piece is a very powerful commentary tackling multi-issues at once. Issues such as man-made pollution, to its toils with oil dependencies, modern urbanization, and the plight of sharks. Powerful indeed and I will do whatever I can myself to get a print of this.