JOHN GERRARD : WESTERN FLAG
Western Flag (Spindletop, Texas) 2017 depicts the site of the Lucas Gusher, the world’s first major oil find (in 1901), located in Spindletop, Texas, now barren and exhausted. The site is recreated as a digital simulation, the center of which is marked by a flagpole spewing an endless stream of black smoke. The computer-generated spindle top runs parallel to the Texas site throughout the year, the sun rising at the appropriate times and the days getting longer and shorter with the seasons. The simulation has no beginning or end and runs by software that calculates each frame of the animation in real time as it is needed. Situated at the gateway to Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley, Western Flag (Spindletop, Texas) 2017 acts a stark reminder of not only the willful exploitation and depletion of resources that millions of years ago covered this former sea floor, but also of the energy taken to return the deserted land to its current state of artificial habitation. The invisible gas responsible for climate change is made visible. Flying the flag of our self-destruction, we are asked to consider our role in the warming of the planet and simultaneous desertification of once fertile lands.
