Nat Searle

Artist

Whale Shark in a Coca Cola Sea

A whale shark drifts through a plastic sea…

Screen Prints

During a residency in Mexico I witnessed the plastic Coca Cola bottle mountains that have rebranded the landscape. On the same trip I spent time with a conservation group monitoring whale sharks in the Gulf of Mexico. Combined in print these two memories highlight one of the global issues of today.

This print started life in 2016 at 20x20cm. As the problem grows so does the print. Reprints have been at 30x30cm (2018) and 40x40cm (2021).

I have now printed the largest versionyet at 56x76cm. The whale shark remains the same size but the plastic bottles multiply in number with the aim of increasing the impact.

This latest edition has been retitled – ‘#1 So Why Try Harder’ – a nod to Coca-Cola who repeatedly top the brand audits of the plastic pollution pulled out of our oceans.

Artwork Detail

#1 So Why Try Harder, 2023
Screen print – 3 colour
Acid-free, 300gsm, Canaletto paper
56cm x 76cm
Limited Edition of 25

Third edition:
Whaleshark in a Coca Cola Sea, 2021
Screen print – 3 colour
Acid-free, 300gsm, Canaletto paper
40cm x 40cm
Limited Edition of 100

Second edition:
Whaleshark in a Coca Cola Sea, 2018
Screen print – 3 colour
Acid-free, 300gsm, Canaletto paper
30cm x 30cm
Limited Edition of 20 – SOLD OUT

First edition:
Whaleshark in a Coca Cola Sea, 2016
Screen print – 3 colour
Acid-free, hot-pressed watercolour paper
20cm x 20cm
Limited edition of 10 – SOLD OUT