James Prosek gets Up Close and Personal with Ocean Fishes

By Amanda Gabriele Published December 18, 2019

I am not painting fish to represent a species in a field guide; I am painting an individual fish that I had a personal experience with—The paintings are not as much about the fish as our relationships as humans to the fish—you could even call each one a self-portrait.

When artist James Prosek talks about the human relationship to fish, it makes them come alive in a way you’ve never imagined. But his watercolor illustrations of our finned friends expose their true, up-close-and-personal beauty, something the human eye rarely sees. OCEAN FISHES: Paintings of Saltwater Fish (Rizzoli) is Prosek’s personal tribute to marine magnificence, based on travel, vigorous observation, work with scientists and stories from the commercial and recreational fishermen who know each species most intimately.

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Prosek traveled the Atlantic, from Nova Scotia to the Cape Verde Islands, to experience fish first-hand, when their colors initially catch the light before the true hue is lost. Details from his original paintings of these ocean creatures have been reproduced at full-size for the book so the reader can get a genuine sense of scale when taking in their majesty. A must-have for everyone from the art lover to the saltwater angler, OCEAN FISHES is a treasure from our vast and mysterious seas.

Available for $39.95 at Rizzoli

Amanda Gabriele

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Amanda Gabriele is a food and travel writer at The Manual and the former senior editor at Supercall. She can’t live without…

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