Glass, Seattle

Artist Chris Jordan American, born 1963

Date2004

MediumInk-jet print, laminated and mounted on Plexiglas

Dimensions44 x 56 in. (111.8 x 142.2 cm)

ClassificationsPhotography

Credit LineGift of Allen G. Thomas Jr. in memory of Joseph N. Quinn Jr.

Object number2007.4.2

On View

Not on view

Label Text
The close-up perspective of this vividly colored photograph turns the waste and refuse of contemporary society into a disorienting and abstract composition of pattern, light, and color with a stunning clarity and an impressive level of detail. The sheer accumulation of trash depicted—a vast expanse of broken glass bottles—is at once bleakly overwhelming and breathtakingly beautiful. Chris Jordan’s monumental images of society’s castoffs bring the viewer face to face with contemporary consumption, industrial waste, and the resulting environmental consequences. He offers an alternate view of the American landscape, one seen from salvage yards, scrap heaps, recycling centers, and dumps.

“My hope,” Jordan has stated, “is that these photographs can serve as portals to a kind of cultural self-inquiry. It may not be the most comfortable terrain, but I have heard it said that in risking self-awareness, at least we know that we are awake.”
[L. Dougherty]ProvenanceCreated Seattle, WA, 2004; collection of the artist; [Paul Kopeiken Gallery, Los Angeles]; Allen G. Thomas Jr., Wilson NC, 2006; given to NCMA, 2007.
Published ReferencesJon Finkel, "Los Angeles: Chris Jordan at Paul Kopeikin," Art in America 93 (September 2005), 160.

Linda Dougherty, "The BIG Picture," Preview: The Magazine of the North Carolina Museum of Art (May/June 2007), detail (color) 12-13.

Linda Dougherty and Kinsey Katchka, "The Big Picture," Preview: The Magazine of the North Carolina Museum of Art (July/August 2007), mentioned and illus. (color detail) 9.
Exhibition HistoryLos Angeles, CA, Paul Kopeikin Gallery, "Chris Jordan: Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption," February 12-March 12, 2005; New York, NY, Yossi Milo Gallery, September 8-October 15, 2005.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The Big Picture," March 18-September 2, 2007.

Savannah, GA, Telfair Museum of Art's Jepson Center for the Arts, "Fast Forward: Three Decades of Contemporary Art from the North Carolina Museum of Art," January 23-April 27, 2008 Object Rights Statement

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