One of the more viscous and conceptually combustible shows of 2010 opened Friday night at Swanson Reed Contemporary Gallery in NuLu Arts and Entertainment District.
Daniel Pfalzgraf’s “Oil and Water Don’t Mix” uses motor oil as (literally) the medium and the message, and may change forever the way you think about changing the oil in your car.
In more than a dozen works including two 30-foot-long linear paintings undulating across the gallery ceiling, Pfalzgraf makes full use of his technical skills while making a political statement about Black Gold.
Pfalzgraf, who lives in the Clifton neighborhood, graduated in 1999 from Murray State University’s Department of Arts and Design.
For the show, he uses a technique called “charcoal blind contour figure drawing,” sketched through feel without looking at the final product. The pieces are done on paper with charcoal and oil paint mixed with used motor oil from his pickup truck, with sizes ranging from 4×6 inches up to 52″ wide by 30′ long.
Pfalzgraf said he began thinking about oil during the price-spike year of 2008, when gasoline prices peaked at about $4.50 per gallon.
While changing the oil in his pickup truck, he realized painting with the stuff suddenly “could be like painting with gold leaf in the future.” he said.
Oil, said the 35-year-old artist, affects every aspect of our existence: “It’s the source of (Western industrialized) life like water is the source of life for the planet.”
He juxtaposed the fundamental importance of the two liquids, and at the same time discovered the fundamental truth of their chemical incompatibility as a painting medium.
“They don’t really mix,” Pfalzgraf said. “Oil isn’t made to dry. It’s made to stay fluid at high temperatures.”
Mixing in the used motor oil changed the drying times for his painting from days to weeks. But the impurities in it (the oil came right out of his truck) give the works a coppery, velvety softness.
This year, the Deepwater Horizon fire and the resulting 5-million-barrel spill into the Gulf of Mexico inspired him to use the motor oil technique to create Grosz-like portraits of top BP oil executives including Tony Hayward, CEO at the time of the disaster.
“Oil and Water Don’t Mix,” the artist said, “is a combination of social commentary and craftsmanship.”
“Oil and Water Don’t Mix” runs through December 11 at Swanson Reed gallery at 638 E. Market Street in NuLu.
For more information, see the “Oil and Water Don’t Mix” Facebook page here.
For more information about Swanson Reed gallery, see its website here.
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‘Oil and Water Don’t Mix’: Daniel Pfalzgraf’s show at Swanson Reed Gallery redefines ‘oil painting’
Swimmer.65
One of the more viscous and conceptually combustible shows of 2010 opened Friday night at Swanson Reed Contemporary Gallery in NuLu Arts and Entertainment District.
Daniel Pfalzgraf’s “Oil and Water Don’t Mix” uses motor oil as (literally) the medium and the message, and may change forever the way you think about changing the oil in your car.
In more than a dozen works including two 30-foot-long linear paintings undulating across the gallery ceiling, Pfalzgraf makes full use of his technical skills while making a political statement about Black Gold.
Pfalzgraf, who lives in the Clifton neighborhood, graduated in 1999 from Murray State University’s Department of Arts and Design.
For the show, he uses a technique called “charcoal blind contour figure drawing,” sketched through feel without looking at the final product. The pieces are done on paper with charcoal and oil paint mixed with used motor oil from his pickup truck, with sizes ranging from 4×6 inches up to 52″ wide by 30′ long.
Pfalzgraf said he began thinking about oil during the price-spike year of 2008, when gasoline prices peaked at about $4.50 per gallon.
While changing the oil in his pickup truck, he realized painting with the stuff suddenly “could be like painting with gold leaf in the future.” he said.
Oil, said the 35-year-old artist, affects every aspect of our existence: “It’s the source of (Western industrialized) life like water is the source of life for the planet.”
He juxtaposed the fundamental importance of the two liquids, and at the same time discovered the fundamental truth of their chemical incompatibility as a painting medium.
“They don’t really mix,” Pfalzgraf said. “Oil isn’t made to dry. It’s made to stay fluid at high temperatures.”
Mixing in the used motor oil changed the drying times for his painting from days to weeks. But the impurities in it (the oil came right out of his truck) give the works a coppery, velvety softness.
This year, the Deepwater Horizon fire and the resulting 5-million-barrel spill into the Gulf of Mexico inspired him to use the motor oil technique to create Grosz-like portraits of top BP oil executives including Tony Hayward, CEO at the time of the disaster.
“Oil and Water Don’t Mix,” the artist said, “is a combination of social commentary and craftsmanship.”
“Oil and Water Don’t Mix” runs through December 11 at Swanson Reed gallery at 638 E. Market Street in NuLu.
For more information, see the “Oil and Water Don’t Mix” Facebook page here.
For more information about Swanson Reed gallery, see its website here.