OIL
Marathon, Texas – 2023
Despite our acute awareness of the environmental harm of carbon omissions, there is something incongruously appealing about the early days of the oil industry. It is difficult to articulate the reason for the appeal, but perhaps it’s because we warm to pioneers and people who risk it all to follow their dream. Daniel Yergin’s 1992 Pulitzer winning book – The Prize – told the story of the petroleum industry from 1850 to 1990 and became so acclaimed that it was translated into 14 languages. In the 900-page classic there was enough insight to satisfy the scholar. But it was his narratives on the colourful personalities in the history of oil that captured the interest of the public. The further back in time, the more these protagonists played to the lore of early prospectors. The early days of oil were a treasure trove for storytellers.
Film makers such as Paul Anderson with There will be Blood and now Martin Scorsese with the highly anticipated Killers of the Flower Moon homed in on the nascent US oil production industry in the years before and after the First World War. Both films focus on the dangers of avarice and the merciless pursuit of wealth in thinly governed frontier towns.
Scorsese used my old Texas buddy – Ty Mitchell – as a most convincing bad guy in Killers of the Flower Moon and I knew I wanted him on this set – despite the fact his day rate has moved north now that he is known to work with Marty.
My plan was to use the base of the derrick in West Texas as a platform on which to play a parody of those early dirty days of wildcatting and I knew Ty would kill his look. He is as authentic as they get and we like authenticity. Meanwhile, I asked Texas local Roxanna Redfoot – who we regularly cast – if she minded getting soaked in oil, partly because I knew she would say “bring it on” . I needed the vignette to be elevated by the characters and not be just an action oil shot.
Sometimes a creative idea just comes together and works better than ever imagined. This is very much one and huge credit goes to those four Texans for what they went through for a photograph. It certainly has the wow factor.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 56” x 86” in (93.98 x 218.4 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 101” in (180.3 cm x 256.5 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 37” x 57” in (93.98 x 144.8 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 72” in (132.1 cm x 182.9 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
TEXAS
Marathon, Texas – 2023
There are no landmarks in this image, no famous references and no famous people. Instead, there are just a couple of prompts and those prompts all emphatically shout Texas. That was my goal; to stage a playful vignette that incorporated a strong sense of place without going over the top. This would be a hard challenge in most US States, but in Texas there are cards to play with.
The set in West Texas was designed with meticulous care and I thank all involved. It was the perfect canvas to tell stories and, true to the era it portrays, the nearest community of note was 45 minutes away. The sense of remoteness was most genuine.
We have traveled across this vast state with a frequency that suggests we have developed a deep affection and that would be true. John Steinbeck got there first and summed it up far better than I could ever do.
“I have said that Texas is a state of mind, but I think it is more than that. It is a mystique closely approximating a religion. And this is true to the extent that people either passionately love Texas or passionately hate it and, as in other religions, few people dare to inspect it for fear of losing their bearings in mystery or paradox. But I think there will be little quarrel with my feeling that Texas is one thing. For all its enormous range of space, climate, and physical appearance, and for all the internal squabbles, contentions, and strivings,
Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America. Rich, poor, Panhandle, Gulf, city, country, Texas is the obsession, the proper study, and the passionate possession of all Texans.” John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 56” x 78” in (93.98 x 198.1 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 93” in (180.3 cm x 236.2 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 37” x 51” in (93.98 x 129.5 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 66” in (132.1 cm x 167.6 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
THERE WILL BE OIL
Marathon, Texas – 2023
West Texas is the hub of the American Petroleum industry – so much so that West Texas Intermediate ( WTI) is a benchmark crude oil futures contract traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).
Oil was first discovered in West Texas at the turn of the 19th century and the reserves in the Permian basin are so big that the region still produces 4m barrels a day – a third of US oil production.
With oil came a story book of characters. My sense was that drilling sites in West Texas in 1915 were loosely governed and uncompromising places, where avarice and sin lurked around most corners. Wildcatting in the wild west came with little cultural refinement and probably a cavalier abuse of unchecked power.
To incorporate all this in one vignette required using the space on our set efficiently. There were many thoughts in my mind that morning near Marathon, Texas, but the overarching one was to offer a sense of place. It is not such a challenge in West Texas, which is why so many acclaimed movies, such as Paul Anderson’s Oscar winning There will be Blood, were shot in the area. We return here regularly to tell stories and each time our ambitions have broadened. It is a place that has traditionally not rewarded modesty.
As a photographer, I try and resist the urge to both “show and tell”. I prefer to just “show” and then it is up to the audience to interpret.
I am not sure of the relationship between the woman and the oil man, or indeed any of the drillers, or what she was doing in town. But at this very moment in time, the crew had more important matters to deal with and whatever her game, it was going to have to wait.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 56” x 79” in (93.98 x 200.7 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 94” in (180.3 cm x 238.8 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 37” x 52” in (93.98 x 132.1 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 67” in (132.1 cm x 170.2 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
Black Gold
Marathon, Texas – 2023
It may seem totally incongruous in 2023, but horses and oil derricks were necessary bedfellows in the nascent days of the US oil industry.
This was true everywhere, but presumably in cowboy states, it was the most natural of combinations. Long after the invention of the motor vehicle, horses would be a mainstream feature of drilling locations in West Texas.
My goal was to tell a story around this unlikely combination and my instincts were for it to be simmering with energy. Like so many, I found Paul Anderson’s There will be Blood totally mesmerizing and no more so than the moment they struck oil.
The narrative was one of chaos and people running in many directions and that was what I wanted to borrow from.
We had built our set not far from where There will be Blood was filmed in West Texas. There were many reasons for doing this, no more so than our friendship with many local cowboys who we have worked with over the years. There is also a “can do” attitude towards getting things done which we really admire. The horsemanship in this part of the world is also without equal and my lead here – Ryan Marshall – is as good as they get.
My preference is always to shoot against the light as it adds drama to features that are defying gravity, which in this case was both oil and dust. I haven’t seen this story being told before, which always gives me a little thrill. Like Texans, we think big too.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 65” x 56” in (109.2 x 93.98 cm)
- Framed Image: 80” x 71” in (203.2 cm x 180.3 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 43” x 37” in (109.2 x 93.98 cm)
- Framed Image:58” x 52” in (147.3 cm x 132.1 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.