Chris Jordan Plays the Number Game
by Bonnie Alter, London 
on 03.19.07
Chris Jordan is a photographer/artist with a strong social message. His work is concerned with the depiction and comprehension of statistics and showing what they really mean. Through the medium of intricately detailed prints, assembled from thousands of smaller photographs, he is making serious political statements. For example, the seemingly familiar painting of Cans Seurat (left,above) is in fact, the depiction of 106,000 aluminum cans (right, above--a detail), the number used in the United States every thirty seconds. Another, which is a "picture" of Benjamin Franklin, is actually comprised of minute pictures of 125,000 one-hundred dollar bills ($12.5 million), the amount the American government spends every hour on the war in Iraq. Yet another one depicts 60,000 plastic bags, the number used in America every five seconds. He is trying to make us understand the sense of unreality about the magnitude of numbers. A photo which looks like five black columns is really 3.6 million tire valve caps, one for each new SUV sold in 2004. :: Chris Jordan Via :: Cool Hunting
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Cool way to show our excess, the plastic bags amazed me.
Great artist but mediocre speaker.