Paris+ par Art Basel

For the second edition of Paris+ par Art Basel, the gallery is pleased to present a site-specific project at the Jardin des Tuileries by Oscar Tuazon titled Oil and Water. The sculptural work is a singular water fountain in the form of a 55-gallon drum created out of marble. The 55-gallon drum of crude oil is a talisman of global trade, the bedrock economic indicator against which value is created and contested. However, under the spectre of global heating, the oil drum increasingly appears as a relic – an artifact of an epoch that is coming to a close. In Oil and Water, the drum is transformed into polished stone and frozen in time: petrified petrol. As we begin to see the petroleum based economy as a fleeting temporary circumstance, it becomes possible to propose futures free of fossil fuels. We can now imagine this ossified form transformed through an ad hoc sculptural process, revived by water and alive once again. The invisible infrastructure of capital exchange now takes on a new form as we witness water flowing and nature healing. For more information about the work, please contact us at info@moranmorangallery.com.