Oil is History™

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This series is significant in several timely ways... Read on.
Artistically
These compositions of rustic textures and earthy colors, surrounded by lush vegetation are a journey back in time and witness to the amazing resilience of the earth. Keen eyes for detail and balance with an equal affinity for mechanical objects and nature are summated in this work.
The Santa Barbara Independent, wrote, “Marler’s subtle tonal range of color prints gorgeously captures the essence. Images are beautifully seen and executed.”
Environmentally
As a 70s ecology kid and life-long lover of nature, I am using these photos as a bridge at this critical point in time. Our lifestyles and environmentally-friendly choices are intertwined. Am hoping to affect individuals to make smart choices, do their part to reduce carbon imprints and reduce global warming.
In this photography is the poetic story of life cycles: Dinosaurs became extinct due to the dramatic climate change, the ice age... Far later, people decided that fossil fuel (from dinosaurs) was their energy of choice for cars (among other uses)... Now we are realizing that these very gas-guzzlers burning fossil fuels are a major reason for global warming and the potential extinc-tion as life as we now know it. Ironically these steel heaps return to earth... We are hopefully intelligent enough to recognize a derivative path.
Giclee printing is a French word for ink jet. Archival papers and inks are used for fine art prints. It is a very clean process with very little waste, no toxic cleaners and little carbon footprint.
Socially
Americans love affair with their cars started long ago. By the 1950s most people proudly considered theirs, one of the family. The American Dream has always included a new car. In the past it was bigger. Now is is shifting to more compact and fuel efficient. Oil is History® serves as a sentimental reminder of the past and gentle push forward!
Historically
Mostly 1950s Chevies, these cars and trucks were near the Missis-sippi River in one location, Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. While this town is recognized for its French colonial architecture, this contro-versial site was a surprising curiosity to tourists.The Missis-sippi River had major floods in 1977 and 1993. The cars were underwater which explains the ones half submerged in the earth, as well as the foliage growing out of others.
The Auto Graveyard (as the locals called it) was always a strange mystery in Ste. Genevieve... “Willie Hoffman returned from World War II and took a job as a mechanic with the Chevrolet dealership.” It was then he began bringing wrecked ones home, to his 1809 Federal I house. The post World War II gas-guzzlers of the confident post-was era encircle the architectural survivor of the Jeffersonian period.” - excerpt from the Ste. Genevieve Herald, July 3, 2002.
With a contemporary perspective, this historically significant site has been documented by these pictures. The entire yard was cleared except for the house in 2006.

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