Its always a challenge to get people to care about the mass genocide of shark populations worldwide since people have such fear of the animals, born mostly of ignorance and misinformation. As scuba divers, we have a different relationship to sharks than people who never breathe underwater. From our personal experience of being in the water with them, they are not mindless killing machines, but more often aloof and just trying to go about their business, so we wanted to make a playful image that represented how we have felt being in close proximity to sharks. At the time we painted this image we were nearing completion on a big series of paintings of ama (Japanese diver women), so we decided to depict one who has hypnotized (which is a real thing!) a hammerhead and tiger shark. She is just chillin' with the sharks like we have done so many times on many dives around the world.
kozyndan
About the Artist
kozyndan are husband-and-wife multidisciplinary artists who work collaboratively to create obsessively detailed works of art. They work in drawing, painting, sculpture and photography. Their works often revolve around nature and our disconnection/need for reconnection with the natural world.
Their work has been exhibited worldwide in museums from Los Angeles to Newcastle, UK, to Kiev, and galleries in Australia, Japan, Canada, Spain, the UK, Los Angeles, NYC and more. Their commercial work includes everything from album covers (Weezer, Daedelus, Usher, Flying Lotus, etc) to clothing lines (collaboration with PUMA) to interactive animation (Sony Playstation).
kozyndan are obsessed with the ocean and being underwater and hope to someday come to rest at the bottom of the sea and slowly be devoured by deep creatures over many years.
