Boat and Sail Sculpture

There are recurring themes in much of the art that enhances the cityscape of Jeddah, such as Religion, the Heavens, Education, History, Nature, Transportation, and Nautical. Because Jeddah is the major seaport of Saudi Arabia – and is actually referred to as the Bride of the Red Sea – many of the commissioned sculptures salute its maritime heritage by focusing on ships and the sea as frequent subjects. In quite a few instances, genuine rigs ranging from little wooden fishing boats to small ships have actually been untilized in the displays. When there is a need to represent sails in the art, however, imagination was required as real sails would not last for long constantly exposed to the elements of the harsh climate here. Consequently artists resorted to a large variety of assorted materials such as metals like steel, copper, or bronze, or even reinforced concrete. My reference book has a photo of this particular sculpture as it first appeared, in unpainted reinforced concrete. Located in a fast growing section of the city amidst resorts and fancy villas in northern Jeddah called Obhur Creek, it has a much more whimsical look to it painted in the red, white and blue colors shown in my photo. Sorry, but the artist of this piece is unknown.

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