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Chris Jordan is an artist well known for his alluring photography which makes a statement about collective consumerism. He makes staggering social and environmental statistics visible by transforming problems into pictures.
Through both documentary and digitally manipulated photographs, he shows us the results of unchecked mass consumption. He has photographed mountains of cell phones, cars, and other consumer waste products.
"Whale" is one of the digitally manipulated works in his "Running the numbers" series. He used 50,000 plastic bags in this image to represent the floating plastics foundper square mile in the pacific ocean.
In my project, instead of referencing the idea of translating statistics visually. I would like to explore on the idea of creating scale/ visual impact through digital manipulations.
Whale, 2011, 44'' x 82", Archival Pigment print.
In Gyre, viewers are drawn into the famous Japanese painting by Hokusai titled The Great Wave Off Kanagawa which forces us to be confronted visually with the aftermath of the collective accumulation of the mass culture.
"Seen from a distance, the images are like something else, maybe a boring piece of modern art. On closer view, the visitor has the most unpleasant experience with the artwork. It’s almost like magic trick; inviting people into a conversation they did not want to have in the first place."
- Chris Jordan
Gyre, 2009, 243 x 335 cm, in three vertical panels
Digital collage print.
This is a TED talk video of Chris Jordan talking about his "running the numbers" series as well as his views of the collective consumerism in America.
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