Curatorial Statement: "Coal Oil Point Series 1"

On western edge of the University of California’s campus at Santa Barbara, a sticky finger of land juts into the Pacific. Labeled Coal Oil Point on some maps and Devereaux Point on others, this minor extension of the shoreline steadily collects oil as the winds and tides paint it with the excretions of offshore drilling platforms as well as natural seepages from the ocean floor. On the beach, the oil functions as a kind of mineralizing superglue, binding sand and stone and occasional bits of organic material into nascent shale. In the endless battle between the land and the sea, the oil plays a subversive role, washing ashore with forces of erosion – but then allying itself with the besieged shoreline. In the fullness of geologic time, the progressively lithified shale will become part of some future terrestrial offensive.

For the beachgoer at Coal Oil Point, oil is a three phase experience: you can smell it as it evaporates from the surface of the ocean; you can see it in liquid form as it slides in rainbow sheets over the tide pools, and you can feel it as it adheres in stubborn lesions to the bottom of your feet. In order to capture this experience, artist Devin Rutz refined actual tar collected from the point to create “Coal Oil Point Series 1.” The 23-year-old Rutz who holds a Masters from the Savannah College of Art and Design formed his impressions of the Point over a series of visits from early childhood to the present. His work invites the viewer to consider the aesthetic dimensions of a controversial commodity that is most often appreciated in terms of its economic and geopolitical significance.