Oil Stick Work (Angelo Martinez / Richfield, Kansas) 2008

In Oil Stick Work, the simulated character Angelo Martinez paints one portion of this barn, a portrayal of a structure found in the panhandle region of Oklahoma, with an oil stick crayon six days a week. It takes the whole day, from dawn till dusk, to complete this action.
Working on this schedule, Martinez will complete the task of painting the entire structure in within thirty years – in 2038, after which he will no longer come to work, and the artwork will go on existing as a 'finished piece'.  In the words of the artist, 'as a silhouette in the landscape'.

Part of the 'Animated Scene' body of work, Oil Stick Work has been exhibited at institutions globally, including at the Venice Biennale in 2009, and in Canary Wharf, London as part of Art on the Underground program, for which it was exhibited for an entire calendar year.

Producer: Werner Poetzelberger
Programmers: Helmut Bressler, Matthias Strohmaier
Modeller: Daniel Fellsner
Model: Angelo Martinez
Presentation design / Corian fabrication: Jakob Illera / Inseq, Vienna

Video by Davor Opacak
Photos by Alex Davies

Installed at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney Australia
29 March - 3 June, 2012
site specific free standing projection wall
608 cm x 380 x 30 cm

Exhibitions

Oil Stick Work at North Carolina Museum of Art, 2013

24 March – 11 August 2013
'0 to 60: The Experience of Time Through Contemporary Art'

www.ncartmuseum.org

Oil Stick Work at Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia, 2012

29 March - 3 June 2012
'Marking Time'
608 cm x 380 x 30 cm site specific free standing projection wall
Group show curated by Rachel Kent

Marking Time explored the ways in which artists visualise time and its passing, across diverse media – drawing and watercolour, sculpture and installation, sound and light. An international exhibition selected by MCA Senior Curator Rachel Kent, Marking Time presented major works by eleven artists from Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and the United States in the Museum’s spacious new top floor galleries.

Oil Stick Work at Canary Wharf Station, London, UK, 2010

14 May 2010 – 14 May 2011
'Art on the Underground'
Canary Wharf Station, London, UK
Solo exhibition
1200 cm x 800 cm x 50 cm site specific monolithic block wall

www.art.tfl.gov.uk

Oil Stick Work at Simon Preston Gallery, 2009

10 January – 8 March 2009
John Gerrard 'Oil Stick Work'
Solo exhibition
site specific free standing projection wall
426 cm x 335 cm x 25 cm

www.simonprestongallery.com

Oil Stick Work at La Biennale di Venezia, Italy, 2009

7 June – 30 September 2009
John Gerrard 'Animated Scene'
53rd International Art Exhibition, La Biennale die Venezia
Site specific free standing projection wall
450 cm x 600 cm x 30 cm
Solo show curated by Jasper Sharp and Patrick T. Murphy

'Animated Scene' presented three new works as large-scale projections. Each work introduced a virtual scene - astonishingly real but entirely and meticulously fabricated by the artist and his studio between 2007-09 – based on documentation of the agri-industrial landscapes of the American Great Plains, scattered with grain silos, pig production units and small towns.

http://venice.johngerrard.net/

Research

Response

Selected Press

Sheerin, Mark: “Slow Burner: John Gerrard talks about his monumental Oil Stick Work at Canary Wharf” www.culture24.org.uk

“John Gerrard at Canary Wharf Underground Station” www.apengine.org, 25 May 2010

Foolen, Peter: "John Gerrard - Art on the Underground", 20 May 2010

Street, Ben: “Letters From London: Barnstormer”, blog.art21.org, 17 May 2010

Parsons, Ellie: “John Gerrard’s Tunnel Vision”, LondonJotter.blogspot.com, 13 May 2010

Appleyard, Brian: “A Portrait of Human Folly”, Culture Magazine, March 2010

Donoghue, Katy: "John Gerrard: Animated Scene", Whitewall, July 2, 2009

Laster, Paul & Von Hase, Bettina: “Blogs and Stories: The Biennale’s Best”, www.thedailybeast.com, 18 June 2009

Gopnik, Blake "A Most 'Animated' Eco-Critique",  The Washington Post, June 9, 2009

Tonchi, Stefano "Venice | Slowly But Surely", The New York Times' T Magazine, June 9, 2009

Tyler Coburn, "John Gerrard", Art Review, April 2009

Wolin, Joseph R.: "John Gerrard, Oil Stick Work + Knoedler Project"

Landi, Ann: "John Gerrard: Simon Preston - Knoedler Project Space", ARTnews, April 2009

Smith, Roberta: "Art in Review: John Gerrard", The New York Times, February 20, 2009

Velasco, David: "John Gerrard. Simon Preston Gallery / Knoedler Project Space", Artforum, March 2009

Antonini, Marco: “John Gerrard, Simon Preston Gallery”, Flash Art, March – April, 2009

Coburn, Tyler:  "John Gerrard", Art Review, April 2009

Baker, Elizabeth C.: "John Gerrard: Knoedler Project Space and Simon Preston", Art In America, May 4, 2009

Gopnik, Blake: "A Most 'Animated' Eco-Critique", The Washington Post, June 9, 2009

2012 · OIL STICK WORK / MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, AUSTRALIA
2012 · OIL STICK WORK / MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, AUSTRALIA
2012 · OIL STICK WORK / MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, AUSTRALIA
2012 · OIL STICK WORK / MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, AUSTRALIA
2010 · OIL STICK WORK / CANARY WHARF STATION, LONDON, UK
2009 · OIL STICK WORK / SIMON PRESTON GALLERY
2009 · OIL STICK WORK / LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA, ITALY
2009 · OIL STICK WORK / LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA, ITALY
2009 · OIL STICK WORK / LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA, ITALY
Working Drawing for Oil Stick Work (Angelo Martinez / Richfield, Kansas) 2008 2008 giglee print on hahnemuehle photorag 80 x 51 cm Edition of 15 + 5AP
A silo complex in the United States, photographed by the artist
photograph by the artist
model for the character Angelo Martinez photograph by the artist
still from the in-studio production of Oil Stick Work (Angelo Martinez / Richfield, Kansas) 2008 image by the artist

Share