Dichotomies coalesce.

CHRIS JORDAN: INTOLERABLE BEAUTY: PORTRAITS OF AMERICAN MASS CONSUMPTION

PHOTOGRAPHIC CENTER NORTHWEST

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 

SEPTEMBER 1-OCTOBER 15, 2005

Photographer Chris Jordan has had two major solo exhibitions this year at the galleries that represent him, Yossi Milo in New York and Paul Kopeikin in Los Angeles. A smaller selection of his photographs, curated by Ann Pallesen, was shown recently in a third and less well-known venue, Seattle's Photographic Center Northwest. Jordan's new works add to an ongoing postmodern dialogue about beauty and disgust as well as representation and abstraction. Jordan's compelling large-format photographs address these dichotomies by capturing the unpredictable splendor in America's refuse and scrapyards. From afar, the objects and subject matter are effectively mysterious and indecipherable, hinting at landscapes and mountains. However, closer viewing instills an equally blurry and disorienting view. His images provoke contemplation on consumption in the United States that neither preaches about the problems of our garbage nor purely documents the situation.

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For Diodes, New Orleans (2005), an inkjet print nine feet long, Jordan photographed vast, chaotic piles of semiconductors. Each diode tip is slightly colored, breaking up a predominately white image. The unruly cluster extends beyond the cropped composition, giving no reference to the exact size of the piles or where they are located. The items appear ungrounded, giving the illusion that they are floating in space. The diodes act like a brushstroke akin to those found in Jackson Pollock's action paintings, enlivening the canvas and bringing forth an energy in the quality of the lines.

Cigarette Butts (2005) depicts 126,000 smoked cigarettes--a number roughly equivalent to the amount discarded as litter in the United States each second. The brownish-orange filters and the white tobacco paper create a speckled field of texture that is unrecognizable until viewed at a short distance. Viewed even closer, more details emerge from the heap, including brand names (Winston and Marlboro), charred ends, and lipstick smudges. To depict the mass quantity of cigarettes, the artist digitally tiled together several instances of the same image with flawless skill. The scale and abstraction in Cigarette Butts and Diodes manage to make these banal subjects mesmerizing.

Jordan's most evocative works deceive perception. In one image, light streams from the top of the photograph, illuminating what appears to be an urban landscape. The photo seems to depict an aerial view of a metropolitan city, with its familiar grid pattern and raised square forms representing buildings neatly arranged over an expanse of land. When the title of the piece is read, Circuit Boards, Atlanta (2004), the subject matter becomes clear. The rounded shapes on many of the circuit boards suggest water or oil tanks, further implying architectural features. Due to the reflective characteristics of the circuit boards and the careful lighting, the photo gives the impression that pools of water linger on rooftops.

Another work, Sand and Gravel Yard (2005), depicts a mountain with eroded ridges remarkably evocative of Bryce Canyon, Utah. Photographed in New Orleans this is in fact an unremarkably large pile of gravel and sand, as the title indicates. In the context of Jordan's other works, the viewer rapidly learns that things are not what they seem. However, each time Jordan manages to convince us to suspend our disbelief, he draws us closer to discovering the true nature of the subject matter.

Jordan travels to his sites without an agenda, waiting for something to strike him like a "punch in the stomach." (1) When he arrives on location he sets up an 8 x 10 camera, which, although cumbersome, is the only tool that yields the precision he seeks for large prints. Handling the film requires patience and experience and he handles all of the printing himself in his studio. He first scans his film into Photoshop and then uses an Epson Ultrachrome archival pigmented inkjet process to produce editions limited to nine prints. Jordan prefers to oversee the proofing and printing of each photo to achieve the exact outcome.

Jordan's works are peculiarly similar to Edward Burtynsky, an observation that has sparked a number of online blogger debates. (2) Burtynsky has captured the world's recycling and shipyards, in Canada, Bangladesh, and the U.S. In 1997, he created a series of images in Hamilton, Ontario, of metal recycling compounds titled, "Densified Oil Drums #4" and "Densified Scrap Metal #3a." Burtynsky's and Jordan's images overlap on several fronts. Jordan's on-site shot of Recycling Yard 1 (2003), taken in his hometown of Seattle, captures old flattened cans that are compressed into a cube, waiting to be processed. The close-up shot reveals Libby and Jolly Green Giant brand labels, which materialize from the aluminum rubble as if signs of a civilization long past. The image seems to portray an excavation site recently unearthed. In both this piece and in Burtynsky's series of images of scrap metal such as Densified Scrap Metal 3A, Hamilton, Ontario (1997) the vantage point, natural lighting, and subject matter are very similar. The aluminum has been prepared similarly in both images and the same murky water pools below the stacks. Other connections are made between Jordan's and Burtynsky's container ports. Although excluded from the Photographic Center Northwest show, the images of Container Yard #1 (Seattle 2003) and Container Yard #2 (Atlanta 2005) are similarly captured.

Regarding this, Jordan comments, "The similarity between Ed's work and mine has been a thorn in my side. When I began this body of work I only knew of Burtynsky's ship breaking images." (3) Jordan went on to comment that if you place several photographers in the same locale, they are bound to overlap and often take similar images. He is quick to note that instead of thinking of the work as derivative, the similarity merely proves that a number of artists are working and thinking about the same concepts and aesthetics. Burtynsky and Jordan have both brought to light world consumption and waste--a territory large enough for more than one artist to mine. While Jordan's work from the "Intolerable Beauty" exhibition relates to a larger contingency of artists concerned with the environment and waste, it appears that this is merely a first step in revealing his potential.

TRACEY FUGAMI is a freelance curator and writer currently residing in Seattle, Washington.

NOTES

1. Author interview with the artist, October 2005.

2. See www.galleryhopper.org; http://art.blogging.la; http://zekesgallery.blogspot.com.

3. Author interview with the artist, October 2005.