Caballito de Mar

The Story Behind Caballito de Mar

Between the starfish and the kelp, a seahorse quietly moves through its small underwater world.

Together, they form an ecosystem.

And like every ecosystem, each part depends upon the others.

Caballito de Mar was created from materials that once belonged to an entirely different world. An engine rotor, timing chain and gears, pushrods, connecting rods, bolts, rebar, and discarded sheet steel, components once associated with machinery, roads, and industry, have been reclaimed and transformed into life beneath the sea.

There is an intentional contradiction in that transformation.

Materials from our industrial world have been used to create a reminder of the natural world we have a responsibility to protect.

The seahorse rotates gently between its metal kelp and starfish, surrounded by an ecosystem built entirely from things that might otherwise have been discarded.

But unlike the steel ecosystem I created, the real one cannot simply be rebuilt with a welding torch.

Once some things are gone, they are gone.

That responsibility belongs to all of us.

Something as simple as what we carry into nature, and whether we carry it back out, matters. A bottle left on the beach. Fishing line abandoned near the water. Plastic that finds its way into the current. Small actions accumulate.

Eventually, they reach creatures that had nothing to do with creating them.

Caballito de Mar is therefore more than a sculpture of a seahorse.

It is a reminder that we are visitors within these ecosystems, and what we leave behind becomes part of their story.

The question is whether future generations will inherit these places from us...

or merely inherit stories about what once lived there.

“Caballito de Mar”

Between the starfish and the kelp,

resides a seahorse and an ecosystem that need our help.

Pack it in, and pack it out,

before our precious environment becomes something our children can only read about.

~ Enrique Del Angel

Artwork Details

Artist: Enrique Del Angel
Title: Caballito de Mar
Year: 2026
Medium: Reclaimed automotive and industrial metal sculpture
Materials: Engine rotor, transmission components, automotive timing chain and gears, pushrods, aluminum connecting rods, steel rebar, industrial bolts, and formed sheet-metal drops
Finish: High-gloss automotive clearcoat
Movement: Rotational kinetic element allowing the seahorse to turn between the kelp and starfish
Dimensions: 50" H × 14" W × 22½" D
One-of-a-Kind Original Sculpture