Celebrity Silhouette
Welcome to Celebrity Art Collection on Silhouette
Miami-based Celebrity Cruises, part of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., presents the fourth ship of the Solstice-class series, which was introduced by Celebrity Solstice in 2008. The significant and exquisite art collections that Celebrity presents onboard their ships are unlike any others in the industry and represent years of investing in numerous emerging and established artists. International Corporate Art (ICArt), with offices in Oslo, London and Miami, has had the privilege to curate the collections throughout the fleet, showcasing a strong, individual aesthetic theme onboard each ship.
Celebrity’s primary interest in art is to enhance the guest’s experience by providing a stimulating and memorable stay onboard. Comprised of approximately 115 selected artworks from Celebrity Art Collection on former ships Mercury and Galaxy, as well as 136 new acquisitions from a combination of internationally established, mid-career and emerging artists, Celebrity Silhouette offers a scope of art that represents some of the most prolific artists in the world, showcasing important works within each artist’s career.
Christian Marclay
The ship’s sophisticated character and elegant modern design forms the framework for the art collection, which has been conceived, curated and organized by ICArt. The curatorial vision of the collection, “The Sensuality of a Silhouette”, traces the organic development of a silhouette through the visual play of line, curve, shadow and form. The collection onboard also includes important works of art from Mercury by world renowned sculptors, Anish Kapoor and Tony Cragg, both part of the “New British Sculpture” movement which originated around 1990. Anish Kapoor’s steel sculpture, ‘Mirror’, is placed in the Specialty Restaurant Corridor. Kapoor has been chosen to erect a colossal sculpture for the London 2012 Olympic games. The monumental tower is beginning to take shape at East London’s Olympic Park, when finished the ‘ArcelorMIttal Orbit’, as it is called, will be Britain’s largest public artwork. Tony Cragg’s piece, ‘Envelope’, of perforated bronze has been placed in the Sky Lounge. Another easily recognizable artist, Christian Marclay, is represented by several of his iconic collage works from the ‘Body Mix Series’. The California-born artist transforms musical icons into hybrid works of art, resulting in cleverly ironic visual puns.
Furthermore, works by John Baldessari, Damien Hirst, Robert Polidori, Peter Doig, Michael- Craig-Martin, Kiki Smith, Jean Cocteau, Berenice Abbott, Gilbert & George, Roy Lichtenstein, Allan McCollum and Lynn Davis, all from the Celebrity Art Collection on Mercury, have been distributed throughout Celebrity Silhouette. Adding to this exclusive roster of artists, the collection includes new works by international emerging artists.
Federico Herrero
In the Oceanview Café, young Costa Rican artist Federico Herrero has created ‘Armar’, a site-specific piece that unites inside and outside. Herrero is one of the most important emerging profiles in contemporary Latin American art. His artwork is inspired by the exuberance of nature in his homeland, which is interpreted into a play between geometric and organic forms. Herrero carefully observes the synergetic relationship between the urban environment and subtropical climate of Costa Rica and draws inspiration from the intermingling of the two. He is fascinated by the colored curbs of bustling cityscapes dotted with traditionally painted advertisements, old billboards and other pictorial representations rooted in a long history of mural making of the region. His observations come together as vigorous works that fuse traditional, at times seemingly folkloric, elements and sophisticated abstract forms that often carry an improvised appearance.
Amongst the most impressive commissioned artworks onboard Celebrity Silhouette are Julie Heffernan’s all-encompassing project spaces. The New York-based artist took over the Ensemble Vestibule and the Specialty Restaurant Corridor Vestibule, transforming the two areas into awe-inspiring installations that enhance the guest’s experience. Two integral elements of the experience created by the artist are the large benches in the spaces, which are actual boulders that Heffernan tirelessly scouted for until finding the perfect ones. Her Surrealist environments are evocative of Renaissance frescoes, accentuated by a luminous palette that breathes life into these microcosmic melting pots of past and present. The artist received her MFA in painting and printmaking at Yale School of Art and Architecture in 1985, and her BFA from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1981. She has received a number of grants and fellowships over the years including a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship (NYFA), a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and a Fulbright-Hayes Grant to West Berlin. The projects onboard Silhouette are the first multi-sensory installations ever created by Heffernan.
Julie Heffernan
James Aldridge has created a five-panel mural for the Specialty Restaurant Corridor, inspired by the nature surrounding his home in rural Southern Sweden, which is teeming with birds and wildlife. Aldridge’s influences include Renaissance landscape painting and nineteenth-century French scenic wallpaper, as well as the ideas and imagery surrounding extreme heavy metal music. As a young boy, he was also surrounded by wildlife field guides, which his father, an entomologist, brought home with him. Aldridge combines incongruous modes of representing animals and birds, taking imagery from heavy metal album covers and juxtaposing it with images from field guides. In 2007 the artist was also commissioned to create a large frieze for the Tate Modern in London.
James Aldridge
With the introduction of Celebrity Silhouette, Celebrity Cruises and the curatorial team at International Corporate Art welcome you on an inspirational voyage to discover another installment of the beautiful, museum-quality experience that is The Celebrity Art Collection.
Silhouette Art Facts:
• Total number of artworks in onboard: 4632
• 8 Site-specific Artworks
• 2933 pieces for Staterooms
• 491 pieces for Corridors - specially commissioned and produced for Silhouette
• Total number of artists and nationalities represented: 97 artists from 25 countries
The inaugural date for Celebrity Silhouette is July 20, 2011.
For more information, please visit: www.celebritycruises.com/silhouette
