mounir fatmi Morocco, 1970
Oil 22, 2013
Painted agal.
53 x 103 cm. framed.
This work is composed of an agal, a traditional Arab clothing accessory made of rope, attached around the keffieh to hold it in place. The agal was dipped in black...
This work is composed of an agal, a traditional Arab clothing accessory made of rope, attached around the keffieh to hold it in place. The agal was dipped in black paint before being attached to the white canvas, where it leave long trails of black liquid streaming down. The agal joins Mounir Fatmi’s list of repurposed objects that includes antenna cables, VHS cassette tapes, horse racing barriers, and even brooms.With its title, the work clearly indicates the subject of its purpose: the question of energy resources. His work endeavors to reproduce a mechanism, or a type of machinery. Oil, Oil, Oil, Oil exposes the inner workings of an extraction and production apparatus and shows a technique that determines an entire economy and the ways of life that accompany it. In a broader sense, with Oil, Oil, Oil, Oil, Mounir Fatmi questions the means of art and artists to handle major political, social, environmental, and economic disruptions.