Chris Jordan, an exceptionally gifted American artist from Seattle, has carved a career in visual expression through his distinct portrayal of contemporary consumerism and culture. Jordan assembles “intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs.” His enlightening and ingenious artwork depicts a broad array of scenes from thousands of tuna fish swimming around to over 300,000 light bulbs.
Each of the pieces in his “Running the Numbers” galleries “portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on.” These precise values then go on to represent an insightful message into the heart of the actions of mankind.
The picture presented above, titled Prison Uniforms, was displayed in Von Lintel Gallery, NY, June 2007. At first glance, the two men in the photo may appear to be starring into six bands of solid orange nothingness, but upon a closer examination, one can see they are actually admiring a beautiful collage of 2.3 million folded prison uniforms. This extensive number represents the sheer amount of Americans incarcerated in 2005; the largest prison population out of any country in the world.
Chris Jordan rationalizes on his website, “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. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with, and make meaning of, 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 32,000 breast augmentation surgeries in the U.S. every month.”
Jordan goes on to explain, “this project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society [...] in the hope to raise some questions about the roles and responsibilities we each play as individuals in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming.”
If you’re interested in reading more about Chris Jordan or literally being blown away by more of his “Running the Numbers” collection click here.
[Chris Jordan]
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