Johannes Steendam uses motor oil from various vehicles to create abstract compositions of lines and fields. Each oil comes with different qualities such as vibration, intensity, and colour, depending on the engine and how the owner used to drive and maintain the vehicle.
Olifield recalls the tradition of colour field and landscape painting. The fluidity of the oil adds an element of surprise and unpredictability since the final result is beyond the control of the artist. From a speculative future perspective, the works also raise the question as to what will constitute the main source of value of petromodern artworks after the end of oil. Could they be interpreted as storages or carbon sinks and cherished for their paradoxical material value (a return to the archaical definition of the sacred as something that mustn't be touched or used)?

Johannes Steendam is a Rotterdam-based artist, curator and owner of Neck of the Woods artspace. He started experimenting with petroleum in 2012, exploring the boundaries between nature and un-nature. If human claims that everything is nature, their behaviour and creation are also.