Western Flag (Spindletop, Texas), John Gerrard 2017

One of my favourite artworks of recent years…

In a Channel 4 interview Gerrard describes oil as “a dynamic that allowed for a very particular change in society, allowed for hyper-mobility, changes in food and agriculture. Much of what we think of as ‘real’ is a petroleum reality. Heat, comfort, mobility, it all comes from petroleum.”