Recent Work | katherinejackson

Glass, steel, wood, LEDs, plexi

43" x41" x 9.5"
2019

1/18

Little Oil

Cast Glass

sizes vary from 4" x 1 ½" (dia.), 8 x 4½" (dia.)

2013-2020

The series, Little Oil, consists of glass castings of vintage oil cans, displayed singly, in small groupings, or in vitrines and set on lightboxes. So far I have created about 90, no two alike. The phrase Little Oil obviously alludes to Big Oil, and an alternate title, Small Oils, invokes oil painting. But “oil” can mean many things and set atop lightboxes, where each work glows from within, these pieces can seem more like vessels of light itself. Oil has been a source of light (sometimes from deplorable sources) since ancient times as well as a source of eternal light in many faith traditions. Plant-based “essential oils” have been used for myriad purposes -- all in distinct contrast to the massive depredations of Big Oil. In addition to these associations, as I have been making these pieces, they have sometimes seemed to transcend their relation to oil altogether, appearing anthropomorphic or creaturely, or even biological. Lately, I have been thinking of them as archeological artifacts, relics of a past civilization.

8 Shots, Little Oil & Phonotaxis 3

1/10

GUNS, GOLD, & OIL

“Under the Same Sun; Democratic Spaces,” Main Gallery, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ, 2017

Featuring cast glass oil can sculptures, drawings, and bullet resistant glass pieces

The work is loosely related to the theme, “Guns, Gold, and Oil,” materials often associated with the colonial domination of peoples and nature, here used in the service of art. In other pieces, imaginary landscapes, AI, and poetic texts evoke attempts at a more collaborative relationship with nature. The poetic texts, like the bullet pieces, allude as well to the darkness haunting our own “democratic spaces.” Glass, light, and the play of shadow unite all these elements to create a space of reflection, literal and figurative, in which such contradictions can be contemplated. More details can be found in my artist statement.