The Navigator — Original Mixed Media on Wood | Rita Irvin
The Navigator— a tarpon built from the world itself. Hand-cut aluminum scales catch light the way a real fish catches sun on the surface — each one placed individually, overlapping, alive. The eye is mesh and hardware. The fins are salvaged metal. The belly burns with orange. Beneath it all: vintage maps, newspaper, acrylic — the detritus of human navigation layered into something wild and ancient. The tarpon has always known where it's going. It doesn't need a map. It is the map. Mixed media on wood — hand-cut aluminum, found metal objects, hardware, vintage maps, newspaper collage, acrylic paint. 11½" × 33¾". Signed R. Irvin. 2025. One of a kind.
Rita Irvin is a self-taught mixed-media artist based in Cocoa Beach, Florida, whose work explores memory, transformation, and the layered nature of identity.