ArtistCulture

yellostressmachine 2005

artistculture — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:53:37 +0000

I found this image while sorting through some external hard drives.

Citrus Dissolve

artistculture — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:14:29 +0000

Citrus Dissolve / 16″ x 20″ / light, acrylic on canvas.

Midway: Message from the Gyre

artistculture — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:10:28 +0000

Midway: Message from the Gyre By Chris Jordan

Chris Jordan’s work inspires me as an artist and confronts me as a human being. A few years ago I encountered Jordan’s “Prison Uniforms, 2007″ a 6 panel 10ft x 23ft photograph. It depicted 2.3 million folded prison uniforms, equal to the number of Americans incarcerated in 2005. Initally I did not know what I was looking at, so I searched out the text and after recalibrating what I had been looking at with the title I was profoundly effected.

The Midway images are a equally morbid and beautiful. The sadness and suffering captured in the photos is so painterly it is almost as Anselm Keifer arranged the plastic and feathers.

Many artists struggle with wanting to make the world a better place with their art. Everyday passionate debates and strong convictions fall on the deaf ears of our brushes and chisels. How can an artist use their passion and most importantly their art practice to effect real change? I have been telling anyone who would listen to watch/ listen to Kate Grenville’s Artist in a time of climate change lecture. The conversation about our planetary reality needs to happen in this society, not every painting can be Eco-Guernica nor should be. I agree with Grenville that artists have a unique set of talents that persuade and enlighten, Chris Jordan is one of those artists.

He and a group of 5 artists have just returned from Midway Island.

From the Midway Journey website:

Five media artists, led by photographer Chris Jordan, traveled to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge to witness the catastrophic effect of our disposable culture on some of the world’s most beautiful and symbolic creatures. But even more, they embarked on an introspective journey to confront a vitally relevant question: In this time of unprecedented global crisis, how can we move through grief, denial, despair and immobility into new territories of acceptance, possibility, and wise action?

http://www.midwayjourney.com/