Crude oil is a naturally occurring fossil fuel also known as “black gold” for its colour and value to global economies of power. Formed from the remains of ancient marine organisms under intense heat and pressure over millions of years, it exists where ancient seas were once located - in vast underground reservoirs beneath land or the ocean floor. The mining, drilling and burning of this finite resource, upon which we so heavily rely, has caused decades of damage to our planet.
In Finite, held between sheets of glass within a precision-engineered frame structure, exists a liquid slice of that miracle material. Its solid blackness gives a sense of illuminated darkness - light reflects off tiny particles of ancient organic matter, at once still and in constant motion, shimmering colours and infinite blackness. We catch sight of ourselves, though not fully, and are taken elsewhere - reminiscent of the act of scrying or gazing into ancient black Obsidian mirrors which reflect the viewer as well as the object. Surrounded by a handcrafted gold gilt frame, the work brings our focus to the limited supply and limitless beauty of this precious organic material, and raises the complex question—what shape will our future relationship with oil take?
