TROMPE L’OEIL
(Exxon Valdez Spill Date 03/24/89
Location:  Bligh Reef, Prince William Sound, Alaska
Latitude:  61 02 N , Longitude 146 05 W
Prudhoe Bay Crude Oil 
Tank Vessel, Oil Type 2,  Barrels 240500
Dispersants:Bioremediation, In-situ Burning)

An Installation designed by Behind the Eight Ball Enterprises
J.E. Ilgen and C. E. Licka, Contributions by Ken Graham photographer and Gary Adams, Graphic Designer
Digital print, steel, powder coating, oil lamp

Corporate illusionism is a given at the global level.  Shifting and changing strategies of oil companies are all keyed to profit and consumer exploitation.  The devastation caused by the aftermath from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill is indicative of the problems we face from corporate oil companies who have not been good stewards of our lands and oceans.  In this instance, the linguistic punning involves playing off of a well-known term in painting, trompe-l’oeil, an optical illusion which tricks the eye into perceiving a reality that does not exist. “X-ing” out is self-evident, but X also marks the spot, which metaphorically speaking is not an illusion, but a real moment in time, as the plumb bob arcs its passage across the oil flame–a memento mori ironically lit by the very energy source that caused so much destruction.

Behind the Eight Ball Enterprises is design consortium whose two lead designers and owners of this not-for-profit corporation, J.E. Ilgen and C. E. Licka, design, execute as well as commission other artisans/artists to produce their designs for installations and site-specific works.  J. E. Ilgen, BFA Design, Syracuse University; MFA Metalsmithing, University of Washington;  C. E. Licka, BA and MA Art History, University of Colorado, PH.D. Art History, University of Washington