Nadim ABBAS: Marine Lover A Hermatypic Romance

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Nadim ABBAS
Marine Lover A Hermatypic Romance

Hong Kong International Art Fair 2011, Hong Kong

The use of coral as material for Marine Lover could be thought to resemble the miniature utopias created by aquarium enthusiasts – a popular past time in Hong Kong. One of the things that Nadim Abbas find most interesting here is the fetishistic relationship that emerges between the hobbyist and his aquarium. It is, the artist believes, no coincidence that coral remains an essential component of any half decent aquarium design. Looking beyond its decorative function, or even the desire to provide an aquarium’s marine inhabitants with some semblance of their natural habitat, coral retains a certain alien fascination usual reserved for science fiction stories about extra terrestrial contact.

On the vertical walls of each side of the corridor sprawls parallel colonies of white artificial resin corals, which are custom-made, but of similar variety to the kind that can be bought at the aquarium store. The overall effect is somewhat like the bleached exoskeleton remains of a reef that seems to have resided untouched in the narrow space for an untold geological period of time. Since the work can only be viewed externally and from one side, the viewer is prone to the kind of tunnel vision one gets whilst wearing a diving mask.