Infernal Machine

PIPELINES & BORDERLINES: People Can't Drink OIL! Print Portfolio

"Infernal Machine" Linocut by John Pitman Weber.

Artist’s Statement Concerning “Infernal Machine” 
“Infernal Machine” is inspired by the Whiting refinery, an immense, immensely complex, and fascinating piece of engineering. I could not view that awe-inspiring, towering forest of pipes and tanks without a being also horrified by its purpose: “The Canadian Crude Project. “ Canadian and very, very heavy crude. The refinery is being expanded and refitted specifically for crude to arrive by pipeline from the Alberta Tar Sands mines. One cannot but be concerned about the catastrophic results to be expected from the destruction of the Boreal forest and the energy intensive reduction of the tar sands to an exportable liquid. Some of that refining is going to happen right next door, resulting in massive releases of greenhouse gases, and of toxic chemicals directly into Lake Michigan, the water supply for many millions, including my family.

John Pitman Weber is a printmaker, painter, and muralist based in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. His prints and paintings have been included in major travelling shows, notably the landmark “Committed to Print,” MOMA, 1988, “Kunst und Krieg,” 1989 Berlin, “Bridges and Boundaries,” from the Jewish Museum, 1999-2000 and the recent “Collaborative Vision: the Poetic Dialogue Project.” He founded the Chicago Mural Group, now known as Chicago Public Art Group, with the late William Walker and with Ray Patlan in 1971. His public work includes mosaics, cement reliefs, sculpture, and painted murals. He has led public projects in New York City, Los Angeles, and smaller cities in Georgia, Iowa, Florida, England, France and Spain, as well as Chicago. During summer 2010 he served as a U.S. Cultural Envoy, leading mosaics with the program La Ciudad Pintada in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Alava, Spain.

Weber has had two dozen solo shows, including 5 in New York City. He also has had two print retrospectives. He participates annually in Pilsen Open Studios and in the Made in Pilsen exhibit at Prospectus Gallery, 18th & Racine. He taught for 43 years at Elmhurst College.

Weber studied printmaking with S.W. Hayter at Atelier 17, lithography with Ray Martin and Mark Pascale at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has done printmaking residencies with David Driesbach at NIU and with Derli Romero in Patzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico.

www.jpweberart.com and Facebook: John Pitman Weber for more information and images.