In a recent trip to the Guggenheim Museum to see Picasso Black and White, I found myself more enamored with Gabriel Orozco's exhibit Asterisms. One part of the installation, titled Sandstars, consists of detritus washed up in Isla Arena, Mexico organized neatly in rows. The work highlights Orozco's recurring focus on everyday materials and man's relationship with the natural world, portraying that which is given back from the water. There is, however, no shortage of modern artists creating art that is actually on or in the water.

For some of these artists, such as Max Mulhern and his recent launch of Aqua Dice, their pieces represent unpredictability or spontaneity—movement with a sense of uncertainty. For others, the relationship is both whimsical and political at once, as seen by artists like Florentijn Hofman and Ego Leonard, with their giant-sized versions of childrens' toys.

I tend to see the ocean as a reminder that there are things out there much bigger than us. But for these artists, manipulating mediums to create a separate medium of aqueous art can evoke so much more. Whether breaking harbor boundaries or showing a silent struggle under the sea, here are 25 Incredible Examples of Aquatic Art.

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