Alex Liros: Men at work 3

May 29 – June 9 2013

Reception: Thurs May 30 7pm

Cell Gallery at Gallery 1313

1313 Queen St W   416-536-6778

This work continues my interest in men and technology, and my interest in drawing, drawing with the addition of photo-based collage elements of images pulled from the internet. My job is to yank out the images I want and make them come to life on white paper, to give them space to live.  Sometimes it goes well, more often it’s a struggle.  

Once again I go back to pipelines, the pipeline workers and the machinery used to build and maintain the pipelines.   About half of the work is based on images found on industrial websites (manufacturers of pipeline equipment, petroleum magazines, oil companies).  In these images the workers are either posing to have their photograph taken, or are working without looking at the camera.  A few images are straight from manufacturers’ catalogues of pipeline equipment, including pipeline “pigs” (maintenance projectiles that are launched into the pipeline and then removed).

However, as I trolled the internet I began to come across something quite different: images  that showed the hazards (or opportunities) that come with oil pipelines.   Lots of images of guards or soldiers (mostly in Iraq), patrolling the pipelines, and one image of military officers examining damage to a pipeline, and another of four men using a pole to break into a pipeline (from a video that also showed dozens of oil tankers lined up ready to siphon the stolen oil).  And then I include a Nigerian delta rebel, posing with a gun in his hands, with his eyes shut; he is one of many rebels who have taken up arms against the government and oil companies whose profits do not benefit the impoverished delta people.

All works are on paper 9in x 12in, pen and ink with collage.