09 May 2008

Highlighted Environmental Artist: Chris Jordan

Paper Bags, 2007
60x80"
Depicts 1.14 million brown paper supermarket bags, the number used in the US every hour.


Partial zoom:


Detail at actual print size:



Running the Numbers
An American Self-Portrait

"This series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something…My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books…This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. The underlying desire is to emphasize the role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming."


Cans Seurat, 2007
60x92"
Depicts 106,000 aluminum cans, the number used in the US every thirty seconds.


Partial zoom:


Detail at actual size:



Plastic Cups, 2008
60x90"
Depicts one million plastic cups, the number used on airline flights in the US every six hours.


Partial zoom:


Detail at actual size:


"My only caveat about this series is that the prints must be seen in person to be experienced the way they are intended. As with any large artwork, their scale carries a vital part of their substance which is lost in these little web images. Hopefully the JPEGs displayed here might be enough to arouse your curiosity to attend an exhibition, or to arrange one if you are in a position to do so. The series is a work in progress, and new images will be posted as they are completed, so please stay tuned."

~chris jordan, Seattle, 2007
http://www.chrisjordan.com/

2 comments:

Rachel J. said...

Beautiful idea. I am obsessed with the many uses of paper bags. My mom is oldskool and way frugal and I have adopted her usage of them in the kitchen. I cut down their center that their inside lay facing up; and they welcome my hot cookies from the oven. I even crumple them before I wrap a gift to give. Lovely with a silky bright orange bow or jute or rope of greens from my lush yard. My latest paper bag moment was cutting them into cigar bands with my logo stamp in the center to package my homemade soap.

green mormon architect said...

Hi Rachel – very creative! I actually just saw a clip of the artist from an interview on the Colbert Report that was really good. Here is the link: http://www.greenschoolsalliance.org/video/schoolpages/videoJordan.html