Antique

The Rising Tide, on the shore of Thames River in London. Each horse is a hybrid — half animal, half oil pump.



Of the four sculptures that comprise The Rising Tide, two are businessmen or politicians — including this one with arms folded and eyes shut tight.



At high tide, the four sculptures of The Rising Tide are almost entirely submerged.




The Silent Evolution, by Jason deCaires Taylor, in Cancun, Mexico.

You probably never will see most of Jason deCaires Taylor's public art projects firsthand — at least, not without goggles and fins.

Most of his sculptures stand at the bottom of the sea. His life-size statues — ghostly figures of men, women and children — seem to walk the ocean floor as they hold hands, huddle, even watch TV.

But his latest art installation is an exception: You can fully see it (if only twice a day). The Rising Tide, a set of four horseback riders standing in the river Thames in London, is completely visible only at low tide, when the water recedes.

As he tells NPR's Scott Simon, his style gives rise to a curious fact: Between the elements, the tides and the life that grows up all around them, his works are never quite the same from one moment to the next.


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