SCULPTURES
In 2018, Vince was chosen as one of seven artist to create a sculpture for the nation's first underwater museum with his design, the SWARA Skull. Vince’s career as an Art Director and Production Designer in the film industry, along with being a NAUI Dive Master, make “the UMA project a diver’s dream.” Standing 8 feet tall, “SWARA Skull” has stainless teeth, nasal cavity and eye sockets, which are the shape of Southern Stingrays. The dome of the skull is cast of clean cement embedded with limestone to attract corals. “For a diver, one of the most exciting things to do is shine your dive-light in a dark hole and see who is staring back at you,” said Tatum. “A large skull covered in coral and marine growth, teeming with life, makes for one hell of a photo-op.”
In 2019, Vince was chosen again to take part in the Underwater Museum of Art with his creation X.Muta. He payed homage to one of mother nature’s most amazing creations found on coral reefs, The Giant Barrel Sponge (Xestospongia muta) with his sculpture, X.MUTA. Vince explains, “My goal is to imitate mother nature’s blueprint as best I can, but with clean sprayed cement over rebar. I’ll leave the cement in its organic blown state, to mimic the ebbs and flows of the surface of a sponge, and to give X.muta the properties that make the Giant Barrel Sponge such an attractive and accommodating host to marine life.”
The Gulf of Mexico and live music are two common chords that bring people together on 30A according to artist Vince Tatum. His sculpture, COMMON CHORD, combines these two local loves by joining music with nature in perfect harmony. The sculpture is a celebration of the natural beauty that surrounds us all and brings us together. Whether it’s gathering on the beach with Osprey soaring overhead, playing in the Gulf while stingrays glide below, or dancing like nobody’s watching while the band plays into the night. The natural beauty of it all, brings us together. It’s the Common Chord. The sculpture will be a beneficial addition to UMA as it is designed to be a thriving marine habitat that will add visual interest for divers. The hollow stingrays and sound hole features of the guitar will make cozy coral-nooks for creatures to take up residence. The body of the sculpture will encourage coral growth with an ample clean cement surface and quickly become its own marine ecosystem.
