Julian Charrière's Black Mirrors

Julian Charrière is fascinated by the consequences of industrialization and climate change on the environment. The Berlin-based Swiss artist has traveled to Indonesia to investigate the 200th anniversary of Tambora, a volcano located on the island of Sumbawa, as well as the rapid deforestation in order to build non-native oil palm plantations for palm oil, a cheap ingredient used in processed food and cosmetics. He’s also voyaged to the North Pole to observe the melting icebergs. In his latest exhibition, "Buried Sunshine," Charrière explores the La Brea, McKittrick, and Carpinteria Tar Pits of Southern California.  

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For the show on view at Sean Kelly New York until March 2, Charrière collected tar from these sites for a light-sensitive emulsion to develop imagery on large scale, stainless-steel plates through heliography, one of photography’s oldest techniques. The artist, who honed his practice under Olafur Eliasson as his student at the Institut für Raumexperimente, took imagery of naturally occurring oil fields—the Kern River Oil Field in the San Joaquin Valley, the Placerita and Aliso Canyon Oil Fields in Santa Clarita, and the Inglewood Oil Field in Los Angeles County—from a bird’s eye perspective. Using heliography and the tar-filled emulsion to process the images, Charrière created a series that traverses between the abstract and figurative, the oil fields’ swirling paths resembling gestural brush strokes.

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At Sean Kelly, a giant sculpture, carved out of obsidian—the natural rock formed by volcano lava as it cools—reveals not only the beautiful lines of the natural element, but a chance for self-reflection from the smooth surface of its concave curves forming “black mirrors,” with which to ponder technology’s impact on humanity. The final part of the "Buried Sunshine," a film entitled Controlled Burn, invites viewers to watch a pyrotechnic performance from above, thanks to a drone floating above oil rigs open pit coal mines. The researched-based Charrière certainly gives us reason to think about the way man has impacted nature—and the way the environment sends out warning signals that have yet to be answered.

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“Buried Sunshine" is on view through March 2, 2024 at Sean Kelly New York at 475 10th Ave, New York, NY 10018.