Embrocation
Emily Johns
What the
Oil is Thinking
Six large etchings
The black goo of the printer’s ink spreads the oil thin enough to
see its story.
Her Embrocation
For thousands of years crude oil has been used for skin complaints. Oil is in the apothecary’s shop, her tar baby is the bottle. This shop is on Rye High Street in East Sussex. Out of the window there is the view of Rye harbour from the castle that Paul Nash drew for his poster “Everywhere you go you can be sure of Shell”. The inspiration for the first ever oil well is said to have come to Edwin Drake as he was looking at bottles of embrocation in the window of a Pennsylvanian drug store.
138cm x 90cm