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It Drinks Gas

3’ x 3’5” x 8’3”

Cast iron, fiberglass reinforced concrete, steel, enamel paint, vintage Wheaton gas pump handle

2019

2019 Hot Metal Artist

 

 

Artist Statement

My work examines the way humans interact with our environment to extract resources and form our habitat. I am interested in the design and size of machinery that makes our civilization function, especially vehicles and motors. Cast iron as a material, with its rich architectural and utilitarian history, invites me to use it to comment on our society’s use of resources.

The skeletal figure on the fountain is entirely cast iron, representing the strength of industry and innate human desire for what we see as progress. Large cast iron connecting rods, a component of the internal combustion engine, support the fountain from below. Unlike the cast iron on this fountain, the oil we support our economy with will disappear and everything will collapse. The fountain I have left behind at Franconia stands as a macabre trophy, celebrating our excellence in remaining addicted to oil. You drink gas, I drink gas, it drinks gas.

Huntington Mine Lake

6’7” x 5’ x 13’

Cast iron, steel, mine rocks, found objects

2018

2018 Hot Metal Intern Artist

 

 

Artist Statement

I am interested in the history of the man-made landscapes around us and the way that humans interact with natural resources. The availability of resources have traditionally defined our communities, culture and behavior. Living a comfortable American lifestyle drives markets that destroy our habitat, but the average person pays little attention to where our abundance of plastics, metals and oils come from. How far can we push?

The Cuyuna range was heavily mined from 1911 until the late 1960’s, with a peak output of 3,875,125 tons of ore in 1953. Huntington Mine was operated as an underground mine until 1924, when the Hanna Iron Ore Company took over and stripped the land as an open pit mine. Other open pit mines in the area developed in a similar way leaving the rolling Midwestern landscape pockmarked with giant holes. The mines were abandoned and have since filled with mineral rich spring water and young forests have taken root on the steep hills of loose rock. Minnesota has established the area as a recreational state park and a mountain biking trail system, breathing new life into the former iron mining towns of Ironton and Crosby. I am fascinated by the inventions created to ease removal of ore from the Earth, the amount of fossil fuels burned to move it and the people who worked in dangerous conditions to bring comfort to a modern world. As an artist living in Minnesota and working with iron, I felt compelled to respond to the medium by connecting it to part of this state’s history.

Matthew Weber

http://www.mwebphotography.com/

Born: Richmond, VA, USA, 1996

Resides: Rosemount, MN, USA

Education

BA, University of Minnesota, 2018

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