Liquid Modernity is a series that investigates the aesthetics of petroleum, exploring the complex relationship between post-natural materials, their pervasive presence, and their seductive allure. Drawing on Stephanie LeMenager's concept of petroaesthetics, these works are meticulously composed, each "field" a composite of up to fifty individual images of hydrotreated heavy petroleum paraffinic distillates. By blending organic and industrial elements, natural and synthetic forms, the series aims to challenge our conventional understanding of nature. Their monumental scale invokes the sublime while reflecting on the entangled legacy of petromodernity—a legacy that is both awe-inspiring and disquieting, at once beautiful and unsettling.
Liquid Modernity 1, 2023–2024. Chromogenic Print, 62 x 85 in.
Liquid Modernity 1 [Detail], 2023–2024. Chromogenic Print, 62 x 85 in.
Liquid Modernity 1 [Detail], 2023–2024. Chromogenic Print, 62 x 85 in.
Liquid Modernity 2, 2023–2024. Chromogenic Print, 62 x 85 in.
Liquid Modernity 2 [Detail], 2023–2024. Chromogenic Print, 62 x 85 in.
Liquid Modernity 3, 2023–2024. Chromogenic Print, 62 x 85 in.
Liquid Modernity 3 [Detail], 2023–2024. Chromogenic Print, 62 x 85 in.
Liquid Modernity 3 [Detail], 2023–2024. Chromogenic Print, 62 x 85 in.