Artist and activist, Chris Jordan creates amazing images that portray America’s consumption. Chris’ hope is that his images will have a different effect than raw numbers alone. Since simple numbers no matter how large can be rather abstract it can be difficult to connect with ones impact. Whereas a visual representation of vast quantities can help make meaning of 106,000 aluminum cans, the number used in the US every thirty seconds or two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US every five minutes.

This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. The underlying desire is to emphasize the role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming.

Skull With Cigarette, 2007 [based on a painting by Van Gogh]
98X72"

Depicts 200,000 packs of cigarettes, equal to the number of Americans who die from cigarette smoking every six months.

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Jet Trails, 2007
60x96"

Depicts 11,000 jet trails, equal to the number of commercial flights in the US every eight hours.

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Prison Uniforms, 2007
10x23 feet in six vertical panels

Depicts 2.3 million folded prison uniforms, equal to the number of Americans incarcerated in 2005. The U.S. has the largest prison population of any country in the world.

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Installed at the Von Lintel Gallery, NY, June 2007

Cell Phones, 2007
60x100"

Depicts 426,000 cell phones, equal to the number of cell phones retired in the US every day.

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Paper Bags, 2007
60x80"

Depicts 1.14 million brown paper supermarket bags, the number used in the US every hour.

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Cans Seurat, 2007
60x92"

Depicts 106,000 aluminum cans, the number used in the US every thirty seconds.

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Denali Denial, 2006
60x75"

Depicts 24,000 logos from the GMC Yukon Denali, equal to six weeks of sales of that model SUV in 2004.

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Paper Cups, 2008
60x96"

Depicts 410,000 paper cups, equal to the number of disposable hot-beverage paper cups used in the US every fifteen minutes.

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Pain Killers, 2007
60x63"

Depicts 213,000 Vicodin pills, equal to the number of emergency room visits yearly in the US related to misuse or abuse of prescription pain killers.

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Handguns, 2007
60x92"

Depicts 29,569 handguns, equal to the number of gun-related deaths in the US in 2004.

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Ben Franklin, 2007
8.5 feet wide by 10.5 feet tall in three horizontal panels

Depicts 125,000 one-hundred dollar bills ($12.5 million), the amount our government spends every hour on the war in Iraq.

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Plastic Bags, 2007
60x72"

Depicts 60,000 plastic bags, the number used in the US every five seconds.

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Constitution, 2008
8 x 25 feet in five panels

Depicts 83,000 Abu Ghraib prisoner photographs, equal to the number of people who have been arrested and held at US-run detention facilities with no trial or other due process of law, during the Bush Administration's war on terror.

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Cigarettes, 2007
60x82"

Depicts 65,000 cigarettes, equal to the number of American teenagers under age eighteen who become addicted to cigarettes every month.

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Building Blocks, 2007
16 feet tall x 32 feet wide in eighteen square panels, each sized 62x62".

Depicts nine million wooden ABC blocks, equal to the number of American children with no health insurance coverage in 2007.

With figures drawn for scale reference:

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Office Paper, 2007
60x87"

Depicts 30,000 reams of office paper, or 15 million sheets, equal to the amount of office paper used in the US every five minutes.

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Valve Caps, 2006
10x25 feet in five vertical panels

Depicts 3.6 million tire valve caps, one for each new SUV sold in the US in 2004.

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Energizer, 2007
60x99"

Depicts 170,000 disposable Energizer batteries, equal to fifteen minutes of Energizer battery production.

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If 170,000 batteries were depicted at their real size, the print would need to be 26x43 feet, as shown here. To depict one year of Energizer disposable battery production (six billion batteries) would require a print 26 feet high by 146 miles long.

Shipping Containers, 2007
60x120"

Depicts 38,000 shipping containers, the number of containers processed through American ports every twelve hours.

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A Picture Can Show a Million?