Chris Jordan. Cans Seurat, 2007. Pigmented ink-jet print. Courtesy of the artist.

Skull with Cigarette, 2008. 98 x 72 inches. Pigmented ink-jet print. Courtesy of the artist.

 

Chris Jordan: Running the Numbers

January 15, 2011 to April 10, 2011

Lawyer-turned-artist Chris Jordan follows his recent photographic documentation of natural disasters with these large mural-size compositions, colorful versions of well-known paintings, like George Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, but made with recycled objects— in this case, 106,000 aluminum cans. Another expansive landscape mimics Ansel Adams’s iconic imagery of the Alaskan wilderness but is actually a composite of thousands of GM stickers used for advertising their Yukon model vehicle. Organized and distributed by the Museum of Art/Washington State University, Pullman, WA, the exhibition addresses such issues as sustainability, health, and consumerism in twenty seductively beautiful photographs.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the museum has planned a program of activities with its on- and off-campus partners. These include support for photography, environmental leadership and law courses as well as lectures and presentations addressing two of the UO’s “Big Ideas”—green product design and sustainable cities. Other programs focus on recycling and the environment on campus and in our communities.