Our old friend Chris Jordan

[Bruce Watson]

If anything, we ought to be having more babies in the first world, not less.

That's just completely illogical.

Seems to me that dictators, Socialism, beaurucrats, and the lack of a market system have caused the world's leading environmental disasters...

Right... the free market is what gave us DDT in the first place, and wide spread use of DDT was a far greater ecological disaster than Chernoybol. It was governments that banned DDT. Because government is good.

The free market without regulation would kill us all in the pursuit of profit, as the DDT case clearly illustrates. Would that this were an isolated incident, but it is not. Regulation, government regulation, is what saves us from the excesses of the free market. The free market will not regulate itself as it has shown over and over and over. Even republicans in the USA know (knew?) this -- it was Nixon who created the EPA, remember? Even Nixon knew that government regulation was a good thing.

It's the current crop of regressive republicans who insanely think that regulation is bad. And it's this current crop that is at least partially responsible for artists like Chris Jordan. They've created such a mess that artists like Chris who are concerned for the future and can see beyond next Tuesday feel like they have to change direction and address the mess.

I'm glad there are artists like Chris Jordan out there doing that work, calling attention to the mess we are making and implicitly asking us to do something about it. It's a worthwhile calling. Good on him.

[Tim Hyde]

Bruce-

As "resident heretic" you should question conventional wisdom more often. Even the left-leaning World Health Organizaiton now admits that banning DDT was a mistake, based on bad science, and has cost millions and millions of lives because of malaria, mostly in poor countries.

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

Oh well, I guess I am going to catch the flack for not participating in this love fest, but I gotta say it.

Jordan deserves kudos for his great ability to promote himself and finding the right schtick to feed the "art" world, the sappy, pseudo environmental, I am so noble for my social conscience kind of crap.

I liked his initial work, the one where he got published in VC, he then went on to do carbon copies of Burtynsky's work and his present work is like working at a paper mill, you are at first shocked by the smell but then get used to it after a little while and fail to notice it. He found a clever idea to illustrate statistics and for that my hat off to him, but the "message" is trite and as much as beating a dead horse as the digital vs analog debate here.

The worst part for me is that this is the kind of BS where the person decrying such deproable behavior is actually saying "do as I say not as I do". I am so tired of this fake social conscience, if you want to denounce consumerism, then go live in a comune, walk or use a bicycle to do your work, in other words, live like a Quaker or Menonite and then come and point the finger at me. Exolting a cleaner living, and then going about your life using a gas guzzler (if I recall correctly he used to drive a Jeep, one of the worst fuel economy vehicles around), heating and cooling your apartment or house with electric energy or gas, etc, etc, is just plain hypocritical.

It has become popular to jump in the "environmental" bandwagon, but those who do rarely follow their own advice or they do for a while until it becomes too inconvenient.

So I guess just to be honest and maybe state what I beleive many here are thinking, yes, I envy his self marketing skill (he should be the one here telling us how to promote ourselves), I certainly envy his print prices and the fact that he seems to be able to sell them, and I salute him for finding the right combination of BS to give to the "art" community.

[Michael Kadillak]

Posts like this one give everyone a chance to rip everyone for everything they think should be rectified. No matter who holds the political reins certain people have a tendency to see the glass half full. I am just proud of the fact that this post has not gotten completely out of control.

The marvelous thing about living in a free society is that each and every one of us can pursue our passions as long as we stay withn the context of the law. From shaving your head giving up all of your worldly possessions and moving to a monestary in Tibet to being a CEO of a major corporation and all parts inbetween the possibilities are limitless and for that we can all be thankful. I wish Chris the best.

As my grandfather said many times - There is no heaven on earth

[SamReeves]

Sorry I don't buy into "green" art or photography. It's bad enough most Dems and a few Reps are pushing "green" lifestyles down our throats from a legislative standpoint. I'm keeping my SUV, using plastic bags (especially for the film holders), and eating meat. I don't feel sorry for doing so one bit.

[paulr]

There are obvious reasons why people feel this kind of work is hypocritical (look at all that paper! Computers are toxic! He had to drive to make the pictures! He took a plane to the exhibition opening!).

Chris has discussed these concerns in interviews, and has said many times that he doesn't want to be seen as preaching. He hints at this in the interview linked by the o.p. ... he's not saying "look at yourself," he's saying, "look at us."

Any activist endeavor raises questions. It is very difficult to address fundamental problems in a society without participating in that society, and by extension participating in the problems themselves.

Becoming a hermit and living in a solar-powered yurt with an organic garden would indeed have been one option for Chris. But it begs the question, could he make as much difference doing that as he could by engaging the public with his art? One person dropping off the grid likely makes less difference than thousands of people having their consciousness raised by notch or two.

In general, rhetorical art is not my thing. I don't like being told what to think or feel. So I appreciate chris saying that he identifies himself as an activist (an admittedly rhetorical role) as much as an artist.

And I like the way his work works. It simply represents the consequences of how we live, in a visual way that we can actually grasp. statistics are often ungraspable; we tune out big numbers because we have no frame of reference for them. But to actually SEE 8 hours of jet vapor trails, or one afternoon worth grocery bags, or whatever, brings these numbers back down to earth, into a realm where they can actually make an impression.

[tim atherton]

And I like the way his work works. It simply represents the consequences of how we live, in a visual way that we can actually grasp. statistics are often ungraspable; we tune out big numbers because we have no frame of reference for them. But to actually SEE 8 hours of jet vapor trails, or one afternoon worth grocery bags, or whatever, brings these numbers back down to earth, into a realm where they can actually make an impression.

I must say that the jet trails is one of his best pieces in the series so far too (especially after following all the back and forth on here about how to find them)

[Brian K]

There is a downside to doing cut and paste work that is trying to communicate a message. The fact that it is cut and paste, therefore completely contrived causes a loss of credibility of the image, that is while it may represent something true, the image itself is not true, it's contrived.

[clay harmon]

Sorta like a painting, you mean?

There is a downside to doing cut and paste work that is trying to communicate a message. The fact that it is cut and paste, therefore completely contrived causes a loss of credibility of the image, that is while it may represent something true, the image itself is not true, it's contrived.

[Don Miller]

There is a downside to doing cut and paste work that is trying to communicate a message. The fact that it is cut and paste, therefore completely contrived causes a loss of credibility of the image, that is while it may represent something true, the image itself is not true, it's contrived.

I do agree that how it is made detracts from it's beauty. Or perhaps detracts from the emotional impact. His 8x10 work has more impact.