GUSHER = an abundantly flowing oil well.
GUSHER = an effusive display of plastic.
GUSHER is an exploration of my personal extraction story that begins with my Uncle Carl Roget’s EUREKA blowout moment with his oil well in Montana and my own EUREKA moment when I discovered that plastic could be THE art material to express the catastrophe of our petroleum-based consumer culture.
GUSHER is a sculptural interpretation of an oil derrick composed of black plastic collected from Kehoe Beach. The monochromatic monolith reveals identifiable, everyday plastic objects — the substrate of our use-it and toss-it habits.
Many people are unaware of the equation of oil=plastic but every year thousands of barrels of oil and natural gas are extracted and used to make plastic. Offshore oil-drilling, tanker oil spills, tar balls washed ashore and plastic, lots of it, are all part of the problem of fossil fuels, petroleum, and plastic pollution.
It is my hope that GUSHER will encourage a conversation about how plastic has pervaded every aspect of our lives and a discussion about how we can cap the well and put a control valve on our indiscriminate use.
Through June The Parkade in Fairfax, CA is the site for GUSHER. It can be viewed by driving by the corner of Bolinas and Broadway, or on foot as you wander through town. Just across the street is the Coffee Roastery and Scoop ice cream is just down the way so GUSHER is just one of the good reasons to visit this charming place.
GUSHER is participating in Extraction: Art on the Edge of the Abyss a multimedia, multi-venue, cross-border art intervention that is investigating the extractive industry in all of its forms from mining and drilling to the reckless exploitation of water, soil, trees, marine life, and other natural resources. https://www.extractionart.org
About GUSHER from concept to completion @ The Plasticene Discontinuity
