Brooklyn-based David Macaluso is an internationally recognized artist who uses recycled motor oil in his artwork, exploring the world’s insatiable addiction to oil. In 2008 the artist made international headlines with his Barack Obama: Made in Motor Oil painting series made from recycled automobile oil.
“Oil is the lifeblood of the global economy whose reverberations reach every aspect of life today and virtually every corner of the globe. I wanted to stamp art with a material residue of this time in history, of my time, and one day I conceived of painting with car oil,” Macaluso explains. “I employ used motor oil as both a metaphor for this age in world history, and as a means of recycling the substance into art.”
“My latest work with used motor oil pushes the envelope in a new direction. Instead of painting with the oil directly, my latest mixed-media work, called Vial Arches, preserves used motor oil in its liquid state by sealing it in vials, then these vials are configured into arches on panels,” explains the artist.
“Within the arches are painted portraits whose current subjects are wide-eyed children and hardened terrorists, representing fundamental polarities, yet complex psycho-social realities, alive within our interconnected planet that's currently addicted to oil,” he explains.
Visit: www.davidmacaluso.com
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