Art and ocean conservation: Andrea Collesano creates a collection for Sea Shepherd

The protection of the oceans is one of the most pressing environmental issues today, in a picture marked by biodiversity loss, pollution and intensive exploitation of marine resources. The health of ocean ecosystems directly affects climate balances and the survival of numerous species, making the issue of their protection increasingly central. It is in this context that the project involving Tuscan artist Andrea Collesano (Pontedera, 1980) for Sea Shepherd, an international nonprofit organization committed to the defense of ocean ecosystems, combating the destruction of natural habitat and the slaughter of wild species in the oceans, fits. The Tuscan artist has created a line of products(available in the organization’s official shop) and built directly from his artwork.

Sea Shepherd, an international nonprofit organization established in 1977 by Captain Paul Watson in Vancouver, works to defend marine ecosystems and protect global ocean biodiversity. Its campaigns combine direct action, evidence gathering and public communication, with the goal of countering habitat destruction and activities that threaten the survival of marine species. The outreach and visual aspect is a constant component of its strategies, in which image becomes a tool for public awareness and activation.

The presence of the collection within Sea Shepherd thus assumes a central role in the project because it represents the immediate meeting point between artistic production and fundraising activities . In fact, proceeds from the sale flow into supporting Sea Shepherd’s campaigns, particularly the maintenance of the international fleet and operations at sea, which include surveillance, documentation and intervention against illegal practices in the oceans. The initiative is thus a direct extension of the artist’s research, transported into a context of communication and operational support. The organization’s merchandising transcends the commercial dimension and is presented as an active part of the organization’s mission. Collesano’s collection includes T-shirts, notebooks, teacups, tote bags and accessories for male, female and children’s audiences, made from organic cotton and water-based inks, within a supply chain declared to have a reduced environmental impact.

It is within this framework that the project with the artist is located, whose imagery is used to construct a language consistent with the organization’s mission. The works selected for the collection focus on sea creatures, with an emphasis on whales and organisms of the deep, reinterpreted through an ink-and-graphite practice that recalls the aesthetics of nineteenth-century scientific illustrations andnaturalistic engravings . The transposition onto everyday objects thus maintains a direct relationship with the original structure of the works, based on layering of the mark and meticulous construction of detail. The collection also stands out for the continuity between the different media: textiles, paper and ceramics become surfaces on which the same iconographic universe is transferred, characterized by a balance between descriptive precision and evocative tension. The images indicate a marine dimension in which naturalistic observation merges with a symbolic reading of the oceanic world.

Within the imaginary, the figure of the lighthouse, a constant element in Collesano’s research, recurs frequently. In the context of the project, the lighthouse takes on an additional significance, becoming a metaphor for the functions of orientation and protection performed by Sea Shepherd. Its presence, often associated with isolated seascapes or scenarios of marginality, helps to strengthen the link between natural elements and symbolic constructions, in a relationship that runs through the entire system of the collection.

Andrea Collesano trained at the Painting course of the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, where he studied in depth metamorphic and mythological figures in the painting of Arnold Böcklin, with particular attention to the zoomorphic component. He lives and works in Forte dei Marmi, a context that has greatly affected his research, strengthening the link between artistic production and observation of the seascape. His practice is developed through a constant investigation of the animal world, which includes micro-representations of insects and monumental compositions dedicated to cetaceans and abyssal creatures. Drawing on manually prepared paper constitutes a structural element of the process, in which the support is an active part of the construction of the image. Interventions, abrasions, stains and accidental marks become integral components of the final composition, helping to define a complex and layered surface.

As anticipated, the artist’s language feeds on references to nineteenth-century scientific illustration and the Symbolist tradition, integrating recurring elements such as keys, two-tone checkerboards, undefined horizons and architectural fragments. Human presence is completely absent, while the represented world is configured as an autonomous ecosystem, populated exclusively by animals and natural forms suspended in a dimension outside of time. Since 2011 Collesano has extended his research to bronze sculpture, translating part of his two-dimensional imagery into three-dimensional forms. In this transposition, the dreamlike component is intertwined with an analytical approach to the representation of the natural, where scientific observation and symbolic construction coexist in balance. Works such as Nautilus, Eubalaena Australis, Rhapsody or even Mare Paradiso Terrestre testify to the centrality of the marine theme and the internal coherence of its path.

The collaboration between Sea Shepherd and Andrea Collesano thus develops as a system in which the collection represents the operational and narrative core of the project. Through the shift from works to objects, the imagery of sea creatures becomes part of a circuit that merges contemporary art, environmental activism, and the economic sustainability of ocean campaigns.

Art and ocean conservation: Andrea Collesano creates a collection for Sea Shepherd

The author of this article: Noemi Capoccia

Originaria di Lecce, classe 1995, ha conseguito la laurea presso l'Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara nel 2021. Le sue passioni sono l'arte antica e l'archeologia. Dal 2024 lavora in Finestre sull'Arte.

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