Art Beat: 'Sea Monsters' at New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center dives deep into myth

For as long as mankind has walked the earth, it has known fear and rightly so.

There have always been predators that may charge across a savannah in search of their next meal, and serpents and spiders and insects who could deliver death with but a nip of the flesh, and vicious enemies wanting to rape and plunder and pillage. There were things that growled and howled, things that wormed and squirmed, things that bumped in the night, things that would bite.

And when man ventured into the ponds, lakes, rivers and seas, to dive or fish or aboard crude craft, what must they have imagined were in those dark waters?

“Sea Monsters: Real and Imagined,” the current exhibition at the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center, showcases imagery of not only real-life deep sea creatures but also those derived from folklore, mythology and legend. The small but highly entertaining and informative exhibit was conceived by Ethan Bailey, a student volunteer.

From well-before Ahab, Ishmael and Queequeg were aboard the Pequod searching for that white whale and before Quint, Hooper and Brody were aboard the Orca hunting for that great white, there has always been the need to tell the tales of man against nature itself, embodied as tremendous creatures of the sea.

Among the images on display are those derived from the respective cultures of the Norse, Russia, China, Africa, Portugal, Cape Verde and more. The tales of the sea monsters, for the most part, do not function as parables or fairy tales. They are not morality lessons.

They instead seem to work primarily as illustration. They are depictions of what was seen or imagined to be seen by intrepid seafarers or as cautionary tales that had been passed on for millennia.

The closest contemporary equivalent might be the hand drawn renditions or blurry photographs of UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena), or what they used to be called, by almost everyone up until a few weeks ago, UFOs.

In any case, on display is a reproduction of John Gibson’s “Kraken of the Imagination,” from 1887, depicting a Godzilla-sized octopus-like creature, wrapping its tentacles around the bow and three masts of a sailing ship. The kraken was thought to live in the waters between Norway and Iceland.

A reproduction of Gustav Dore’s 1865 ”The Destruction of the Leviathan” is derived from the Old Testament tale of a fire breathing sea serpent with impenetrable scales that is slain by a vengeful God and delivered as food to the Hebrews in Psalms 74:14.

A creature who lives in lakes, rivers and streams in Slavic mythology is depicted in a reproduction of Ivan Bilibin’s 1936 drawing called “Vodyanoy.” The aquatic monster looks like a cross between Universal Pictures’ “Creature of the Black Lagoon” and  Matt Furie’s “Pepe the Frog.” Legend has it that if the Vodyanoy was feeling generous, he would chase fish into the nets of fishermen; if angry, he would destroy dams, capsize ships and drown passersby.

From Chinese legend, there is a reproduction of a painting done in the first half of the 19th century (artist unidentified) of Longwang the Dragon King, a shapeshifting deity who controls all dragons, sea creatures, oceans and the weather. He appears to be an Asian equivalent of Poseidon, one of the Olympian gods of Greek mythology.

There is an illustration done by Emily Harris in 2022 of the Koakhun-Klun, a creature from Cape Verdean mythology, last said to be seen by a fisherman in 1992, when he claimed to see it leap from the water and devour a seagull. The Koakhun-Khun is said to be up to thirty feet long, with the head of a crocodile and the fin of a shark. And a bright blue tongue!

The show is rounded out by illustrations of mermaids, mermen, sirens, selkies, and giant squid and other mysterious denizens of the deep blue.  And there are photographs depicting such hoaxes as the so-called Fiji Mermaid, a rather revolting thing that appears to be half monkey and half fish, made famous by the legendary huckster P.T. Barnum.

Three contemporary regional artists exhibit work in the show. Along two walls in a corner of the gallery, Brian Tillet (a.k.a. BB the Gun) has installed a mural of the tentacles of some great cephalopod, deftly executed enough to give it the illusion of three-dimensionality.

Tucked in the corner of Tillet’s mural is Erik Durant’s half-life-size statue of a man fending off an octopus that is trying to wrap itself around his head, once again confirming that he is the best figurative sculptor in the region.

Christina Jacobsen DeVilliers presents a goofy painting of mermaids that will delight the little girls (and the little boys) that visit the space.

It is an entirely kid-friendly exhibition and a great gateway experience for parents who want to bring their children into galleries and museums that are looking for a good jumping-off point … into the water. Nothing scary here.

“Sea Monsters: Real and Imaginary” is on display at the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center, 38 Bethel St., New Bedford, until Dec. 31.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Art Beat: Sea Monsters Real and Imagined at Fishing Heritage Center NB