On first glance, every piece in artist Chris Jordan’s collection, “Running the Numbers,” appears to be simply a beautiful work of modern art. But look more closely, and you’ll see that each piece depicts the enormous amount of natural resources we consume and throw away – represented by plastic bags, light bulbs or packing peanuts. Here’s a sample of works from Jordan’s thought-provoking collection.
Look closely at this homage to Georges Seurat’s famous painting, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” and you’ll see the 400,000 plastic bottle caps Jordan painted to represent the average number of plastic bottles consumed in the U.S. every minute.
READ: 360: Bottle Caps
This close-up view of “Caps Seurat” allows you to see the individual bottle caps Jordan painted to create the landscape. To see a larger image of the artwork and zoom in further, visit Jordan’s
website.
Ever wonder how much energy is wasted when your computer is in sleep mode or because your electrical wiring is inefficient? This celestial piece depicts 320,000 light bulbs, equal to the number of kilowatt hours of electricity wasted in the U.S. every minute from these types of inefficient residential energy uses.
READ: 7 Surprising Ways to Save Energy
A close-up view of Jordan’s “Light Bulbs.” To see a larger image of the artwork and zoom in further, visit Jordan’s
website.
A close-up view of Jordan’s “Plastic Cups.” To see a larger image of the artwork and zoom in further, visit Jordan’s
website.
A close-up view of Jordan’s “Paper Bags.” To see a larger image of the artwork and zoom in further, visit Jordan’s
website.
What may look like a snowstorm at first glance is actually an explosion of 166,000 packing peanuts, equal to the number of overnight packages shipped by air in the U.S. every hour.
READ: Recycling Mystery: Expanded Polystyrene
A close-up view of Jordan’s “Packing Peanuts.” To see a larger image of the artwork and zoom in further, visit Jordan’s
website.
How many trees does it take to produce the stack of junk mail clogging your mail box? Jordan’s piece, “Toothpicks,” depicts 100 million toothpicks, which represent the number of trees cut annually in the U.S. to make the paper for junk mail.
READ: 8 Ways to Reduce Your Junk Mail
A close-up view of Jordan’s “Toothpicks.” To see a larger image of the artwork and zoom in further, visit Jordan’s
website.
Jordan recreates Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus,” portraying 240,000 plastic bags, equal to the estimated number of plastic bags consumed around the world every 10 seconds.
READ: Hawaii’s Big Island Bans Plastic Bags
A close-up view of Jordan’s “Venus.” To see a larger image of the artwork and zoom in further, visit Jordan’s
website.
A close-up view of Jordan’s “Whale.” To see a larger image of the artwork and zoom in further, visit Jordan’s
website.
Based on the famous Japanese woodblock print, Jordan’s “Gyre” is actually made using plastic litter collected from the Pacific Ocean. The piece shows 2.4 million pieces of plastic, which represents the estimated number of pounds of plastic pollution that enters the world’s oceans every hour.
READ: Method Unveils Bottle Made of Ocean Litter
A closer view of Jordan’s “Gyre.” To see a larger image of the artwork and zoom in further, visit Jordan’s
website.
A close-up of the actual ocean plastic used to recreate the famous Japanese woodblock print.
Donna Scott Kopenhaver
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