OIL FIELD PAINTINGS

Crude oil sludge on canvas, 85 x 120 cm each, 2017.

The works in the series Oil Field Paintings were created on one of the world’s oldest oil fields, at Bibi Heybat in Baku. In a kind of plein-air action, ironically engaging with traditions of landscape painting—from Impressionism to Abstract Expressionism—crude oil was collected directly from spills in the landscape and applied to white canvases. Laid down in broad, coarse gestures, the paintings record the varying material characteristics and aesthetic qualities of oil. Their tones range from deep black to light brown, while their surfaces register different textures, tactile qualities, and states between liquidity and solidity. The performance-like process of producing the Oil Field Paintings was interrupted by national security forces controlling the Bibi Heybat oil fields, bringing into sharp focus the territorial and political power relations in which this resource is embedded.