The Art of Ventura P&O Cruises A celebration of a unique art collection ISBN 978-0-9553850-1-8 Forward Welcome to The Art of Ventura, a celebration of the 7,000 artworks specially commissioned to grace P&O Cruises' newest and most exciting ship. Not only is Ventura the biggest superliner ever to be built for the Brtish market, she also houses one of the largest modern British art collections in the world. Ventura was always intended to be very different from other superliners - a gateway to new experiences - and the art displayed on board reflects this initial vision. The extrordinary art collection compliments her cutting-edge design and will give immense pleasure to passengers travelling on board. Even those who don't consider themselves art lovers are sure to be inspired by the diversity of the work, as they admire the skill and craft that has gone into each piece. Creating the collection was an immense project that took two and a half years from commissioning to installation. Its completion continues the P&O Cruises tradition of commissioning exclusive works from British artists, which dates back to 1959. Throughout this book, you can enjoy a taste of the works onboard - althought there is no substitute for walking around the ship and getting to know the art for yourself. The artists, whether already well established or up and coming, are organized here alphabetically - in our opinion they are all stars and many of them are bound to be big names of the future. We hope that these pages give you a real insight into what inspired each of the artists and we are confident that, as you enjoy your time on board Ventura, you too will develop a passion for their art. The history of art and P&O Cruises It was back in 1959 that P&O's link with fine art was firmly established, when the late Sir Colin Anderson, the director of the company at the time, commissioned a series of works for the passenger liner Canberra, by artists who went on to become huge names in the art world. As a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, Sir Colin was well known for his love of art. He and his wife were among the first British collectors to show a passionate interest in Art Noveaux - they acquired more than 200 pieces, now considered one of the most exquisite collections in Britain. When it came to the artworks for Canberra, Sir Colin showed that he had a keen eye for talent. Among those he commissioned were David Hockney, Edward Bawden, Edward Ardizzone, Graham Sutherland and sculptors Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. Sir Colin wanted art and P&O travel to be synonymous and that is a vision that continues today. Artwork has always added value and enhanced passengers' experience of travel with P&O, setting its cruise ships apart. Through the passage of time, many ships have become home to all manner of fascinating pieces. In fact, Arcadia, Aurora and Oriana each individually hold more works of art than are on display at the National Gallery in London. As P&O Cruises' managing director, Nigel Esdale, puts it: "Bespoke design amd attention to detail are an integral part of P&O Cruises' ships, and as such each ship has its own distinct personality. The art collection has always been at the heart of that personality, illustrating what the ship stands for, as well as creating a unique look and feel. It also provides an additional dimention to our passengers' experience, giving them food for thought and enhacing their enjoyment of the public spaces. When creating a new ship, the art collection is treated with the same careful attention to detail as every other aspect of the ship's design, with a great deal of thought given to each and every piece. I'm delighted to say that this fine tradition has continued with Ventura, with spectacular results." Indeed, the tradition has not only been continued, but built upon. By far the most ambitious art project to date, Ventura houses an astonishng 7,000 artworks by 43 artists. Ventura could be described as the embodyment of the evolution of P&O Cruises and her amazing British art collection reflects this perfectly. The resurgence of Brit art Continuing the tradition begun by Sir Colin, all the artists being exhibited on Ventura are British or live and work in Britain. They come from as far afield as Scotland and Cornwall, Devon and North Yorkshire, and include British artists working in Barcelona and the Dordoyne in France. Their media include oil and acrylic on canvas, glasswork, bronze, stainless steel, photography, digital prints, lenticular prints and murials to name but a few. The man behind the exclusive collection is art consultant Tom Tempest-Radford, who worked closely with P&O Cruises then managing director David Dingle to see the project through from start to finish, and who also commissioned the artworks for Oriana and Aurora. "It's a long process, in this case it was 2 1/2 years ", explained Tempest-Radford of Ventura. "It begins when the ship's architects and designers create spaces where they imagine the art will be exhibited. I then consider what might work in these spaces - what size of painting or sculpture, for example, and which artists' pieces might have a particularly good impact within them. "I chose artists I knew well and trusted completely - people I knew would deliver", he continues. "I had to find the right artists to create pieces for each part of the ship and , as always, quality was foremost. You always take risks when you work with art, for the simple reason that you never really know what you will get, but I commissioned only people I believed would create superb pieces within the time we asked. I never limit artists by telling them what to do, however, that's where their vision and imagination come into play. "There were practical considerations too. I needed to be sure each artist could do all I asked, right down to the fixings. They also needed to be able to communicate clearly how they wanted the piece mounted or hung. Every detail is important. It's a bit like baking a cake; if the ingredients aren't right in the first place, then the end result simply won't work, and we naturally couldn't allow that to happen." Once Tempest-Radford and Dingle had selected the most appropriate artists, Tempest-Radford set about commissioning. Of the 43 selected artists, some were asked to make one piece, others were asked to create a number of works over two years. Art is displayed in all the public areas of the ship, but each of the 3 main passenger stairwells contain work by a single artist, and together these form the highlight of the collection. The midship's stairwell houses 44 micro-mosaics by London based artist Vanessa Ballard, and these mosaics comprise more than 100,000 tiny photographs in total. Ballard travelled the world to take the pictures and spent hundreds of hours editing and preparing them for the mosaics, because not only the finished mosaics, but every picture within them, had to be perfect. The project took her more than a year to complete. The forward stairwell is home to 43 lenticular prints presented as giant, post-modern postcards. Wiltshire artist Johny Bull has embraced technology to create landscapes and cityscapes in layers, featuring photographs of people in various places he has visited. Each print is made up of around 20 plastic lenses that work together to create a hologram-like illustion of depth and movement. The aft stairwell showcases 24 paintings by Paul Critchley, a Merseyside born artist now living in Spain. To create his works for Ventura, Critchley covered over 100 pieces of cut aluminium with canvas and paint. "Together, the artworks on the 3 stairwells make a major statement," says Tempest-Radford. "Passengers use the stairwells all the time and should be able to navigate their way around the ship by the artworks they are passing and admiring. All of which enhances the passengers' experience on board Ventura and compliment her incredible design." Once Tempest-Radford and Dingle had selected the appropriate artists,Tempest-Radfor set about commissioning. Of the 43 selected artists, some were asked to make one piece, others were asked to create a number of works over 2 years. Art is displayed in all the public areas of the ship, but each of the 3 main passenger stairwells contain work by a single artist and together these form the highlight of the collection. The mid-ship stairwell houses 44 micro-mosaics by London based artist Vanessa Ballard, and these mosaics comprise more than 100,000 tiny photographs in total. Ballard travelled the world to take the pictures and spent hundreds of hours editing them and preparing the mosaics, because not only the finished mosaics, but every picture within them, had to be perfect. The project took her more than a year to complete. The forward stairwell is home to 43 lenticular prints presented as giant, post-modernism postcards. Wiltshire artist Johnny Bull has empraced technology to create landscapes and cityscapes in layers, featuring photographs of people in various places he has visited. Each print is made up of around 20 plastic lenses that work together to create a hologram-like illustion of depth and movement. The aft stairwell showcases 24 painting by Paul Critchley, a Merseyside artist now living in Spain. To create his works for the Ventura, Critchley covered over 100 pieces of cut aluminium with canvas and paint. "Together, the artworks on the three staircases make a major statement," says Tempest-Radford. "Passengers use the stairwells all the time and should be able to navigate their way around the ship by the artworks they are passing and admiring. All of which enhances the passengers' on board experience on board Ventura and complements her incredible design." Something for everyone It was always essential that each piece of art would work with the design and theme of the area of the ship in which it was placed. Tempest-Radford and Dingle agreed early on that, in line with the concept that Ventura would be a gateway to new experiences, the artworks on board should be more challenging than those works previously commissioned by P&O Cruises, to encourage passengers to think about their environment in a new way. But it was, of course, always important that the art was accessible to everyone, from serious art lovers to those who had spent little time thinking about it before. "The variety of the art means that there is something for everyone to enjoy," says Tempest-Radford. The range of subject matters of the works displayed on Ventura is vast. Abstracts and still life flowers and fruit meld perfectly with landscapes, animals and people. The unifying factor, as with the artists themselves, is Britishness (the theme of the cabin corridors, to take one example, is the British coast) and all of this sits beautifully with the British design of the ship. It is not just the interior design of the ship and the artworks that are original - the presentation of many of the works is new too. Tempest-Radford explains : "While the subject matter and the media are sometimes traditional - a seascape in oils, for example - the new presentation of an unframed canvas is modern and works well with the ship's design." So do enjoy your holiday on board Ventura, and know that you will be travelling on one of the world's greatest and contemporay superliners, completely bespoke in her design and carrying the finest and most diverse collection of art that P&O Cruises has commissioned to date. As a passenger, you are part of what is surely one of the most exciting projects in art and travel the world has ever seen. Paul Critchley (page 14) Critchley was born in 1960 in Merseyside and now lives and works in Barcelona. Both his parents were art teachers who took him and his brothers and sister on tours of Europe as children. The artist has since lived in Berlin, The Netherlands, France and Italy, and has spent time in New York and Moscow. To create the series of paintings for Ventura, he covered more than 100 pieces of cut aluminium with canvas and paints. "By presenting familiar objects in an unfamiliar yet understandable manner, I hope to provoke the viewer to look anew, reconstruct what he or she sees in the their mind's eye and then see the familiar in a new way. The result can be both exciting and shocking." 10/4/2008