"Poor Ole Tom" Maggie Malloy

Poor Ole Tom, 2025

Oil on canvas

24 x 24”

$1,275.00

Artist Jason deCaires Taylor has been creating underwater museums and sculpture parks beneath the waves, submerging more than 1,200 living artworks throughout the world’s oceans and seas. His works are enjoyed by divers as well as artists.

In 2001, Malloy, who had been diving for 12 years, booked a reservation to spend a week living onboard a boat with 20 other divers in Big Creek, Belize. As things happened, her fourth grandchild was born, and she decided not to go on her dive trip. Little did she know, Baby Carter’s birth had saved her life.

Poor Ole Tom is a depiction of one of Jason Taylor’s submerged artworks. To Malloy, this image represents her passion for the sea. But after 12 years of diving, her desire to dive ended forever. The boat Malloy was scheduled to be vacationing on was The Wave Dancer. During the night of October 8, 2001, while moored, attempting to seek shelter from Hurricane Iris, The Wave Dancer broke free and collided with another ship before capsizing. Seventeen divers and three crew members died. The demise of The Wave Dancer is metaphorically depicted throughout this painting.