The legend goes, that the Beach Monks live most of their lives at sea, like mermaids, their activities are shrouded in mystery. We know little about the Monks but what we do know, is that they are passionate about the sea and rooted in nature. To their astonishment the Monks discovered that Oyster shells (primarily made up calcite), when subjected to around 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit, will decompose into two smaller constituents: carbon dioxide and calcium oxide. When this is mixed with water, and allowed to dry, the solid will cure around the oyster shell aggregate, thus producing concrete. And so, their plan was set into motion. The millions of excess oyster shells would be collected over a very long period of time, eventually to be milled down, and casted like concrete layer by layer. The time frame between casts is congruent with the life and death of the oyster. Once the cast is set it may be years or even decades before enough oyster shells are collected, milled, and fossilized into the next layer of form-work. This is a slow growth. Luckily, the Monks are patient. Similar to how the oyster’s shell grows layer by layer, the pinnacles do too. One by one another layer is added becoming reflection of time and a visual representation of ocean toxicity. This project is a fantastical narrative that imagines a world where architecture and nature exist together as one. The narrative focuses on the amazing filter-feeding abilities of the oyster, the oyster's shell - which has concrete-like properties and a fictional character called the beach monk. The story spans over a series of hyper-detailed digital 1/1 drawings, and has been displayed at multiple galleries around the Los Angeles area including, the WOHO gallery on Hollywood Blvd.
