Beneath the Dirt of Great Men

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Once known as the “petroleum graveyard,” Beneath the Dirt of Great Men exposes the carbon landscape in the Permian Basin of Southeast New Mexico and West Texas. With climate change, land use, and energy policy at the forefront of our national consciousness, the photographs and sculpture works contemplate the extraction of crude oil and natural gas in the largest reserve of these natural resources in the United States.

 

The work reveals what cannot be seen going on below the surface – the soul of the earth – with images of disgusting, yet abstractly beautiful mixtures of salt/brine water, toxic chemicals (such as arsenic, benzene, formaldehyde, lead and mercury among others) and oil/gas residue that are used in hydraulic fracking and drilling operations to discover oil and gas deposits hidden in shale formations, which is then pumped back up to the surface, discarded and dumped into waste water evaporation ponds.

 

The transformation of this Southwest desert landscape is further complicated with the grave markers of the skeletal remains of decommissioned oil pump jacks. In juxtaposition, the photographs reflect on our willingness and desire to abuse and disregard the natural landscape for resources in what is becoming an unsustainable way of life for us, the climate and the earth.

 

Beneath the Dirt of Great Men was developed for the EXTRACTION: Art on the Edge of the Abyss project.

 

 

 

University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, 2021

Archival inkjet pigment prints

31 x 25 inches framed

67 x 44 inches

 

 


 

 

Oil Pump Jacks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

Fracking Ponds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

Portfolio Print Book

 

 

 

 

 

24 – 11 x 8-1/2 inch archival inkjet pigment prints

12 x 9 x 1/2 inches

Bookcloth covered archival boards with 2 tipped-in images on covers, tri-fold binding and four-flap archival folder

Edition: 10 (3 Copies Available)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

Sculptural Works

 

Created from salvaged oil pump jack parts and components

11-5/8 inch (width) x 23-3/4 inch (length) concrete base

25 inch (width) x 35 inch (length) dirt base

 

 

 

Pump Jack Nº1

40 x 22-1/2 x 5-3/8 inches

 

 

 

Pump Jack Nº2

43-1/4 x 19-1/2 x 9-1/2 inches

 

 

 

Pump Jack Nº3

40-1/8 x 25-3/4 x 7-1/4 inches

 

 

 

Pump Jack Nº4

38-3/4 x 25-3/4 x 8 inches

 

 

 

Pump Jack Nº5

37-7/8 x 22-1/4 x 8-1/2 inches

 

 

 

Pump Jack Nº6

40 x 16-1/2 x 5-3/4 inches

 

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