Underwater Art Exhibit Debuts Off Key West
KEY WEST (CBS4) – The Florida Keys are world renowned for their scuba diving. From pristine reefs, abundant marine life and breathtaking wrecks, the Keys seemed to have it all.
Now they have some thing more. An underwater art exhibit has made its debut on a sunken former Air Force missile tracking ship seven miles south of Key West.
Austrian art photographer Andreas Franke is exhibiting a dozen digitally composited images on the Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg that was scuttled in May 2009. The 4- by 5-foot photographs stretch along some 200 linear feet on the starboard side of the Vandenberg's weather deck, 93 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.
Franke photographed the wreck last year. He digitally added other elements to the images to create the artwork.
One picture depicts a girl wielding a butterfly net to capture fish shown in an original underwater image of the wreck. In another, kick boxers compete adjacent to one of Vandenberg's iconic tracking dishes.
The 20-square-foot images are encased in acrylic and mounted in stainless steel frames sealed with silicone.
A project organizer said Sunday he hopes the exhibition will remain in place through the end of the year.
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