Feature image

Oil Stick Work London

When
28 March 2010 -
28 March 2011

Ongoing

Where
Canary Wharf Tube Station

Nearest Tube
Canary Wharf

Cost
Free

Age Restrictions
n/a

The Oil Stick Work London installation at Canary Wharf Underground Station invites commuters and art fans to watch the work of one man unfold over the course of a year. Part of a much longer term project, the large scale art installation features a digital man gradually painting the exterior of a farm silo.

Oil Stick Work
Depicting an aluminium corn silo on a North American prairie, the Oil Stick Work is a digital installation that has been projected into a bespoke wall at Canary Wharf tube station. Created by John Gerrard, the large scale installation was initially created back in 2008, and has been running since then.

Gaming technology
The Oil Stick Man art installation uses high tech customised gaming technology to create a realistic scene which features complex moving images. As the project develops in real time, the nature of the artwork invites viewers to actually experience the gradual painting of the silo, and see the work unfolding over the days, weeks and months.

Hyper reality
Commissioned by Art on the Underground as part of a series of contemporary art projects for the Jubilee Line, Oil Stick Work invites viewers to join in on the painstakingly slow action three years into the story. Every morning at dawn the isolated figure of Angelo Martinez, a Mexican American builder, arrives at the corn silo and paints one black metre onto the outside of the metal structure with an oil stick crayon. Even working six days a week, this rate of progress will not see the silo completely covered until 2028, when he will finally hang up his oil stick.

Virtual sculpture
On show for just one year, visitors and commuters at the station will be able to witness the transformation as the silo is painted over section by section during the course of the Oil Stick Work installation. Sure to become part of the landscape during the year, viewers will be strucky by the dual nature of the artwork, which firstly depicts the same old daily grind, but secondly, and more hopefully, reminds us that things can change, no matter how imperceptibly, over the course of time.

Oil Stick Work, the installation by John Gerrard at Canary Wharf Underground Station takes place from 28th March 2010 - 28th March 2011. Entrance is free.

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