Paper cups, airplane cups, and plastic bottles: When you see the totality of it all, it might just overwhelm you.

by David Ng

I’ve been a fan of Chris Jordon for a while, and although I’ve written about him before in other places, I just realized I don’t actually have him tagged here at Popperfont.  Anyway, here’s a sampling for what he does:  that is, he takes statistical information and represents it photographically in very powerful ways.  I recommend clicking on the links for each image, where you’ll be treated to a zooming effect so that you can see his artwork as if from afar and then moving in.

runningthenumbers01
Plastic Bottles, 2007 60×120″
Depicts two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US every five minutes.

runningthenumbers02
Paper Cups, 2008 60×96″
Depicts 410,000 paper cups, equal to the number of disposable hot-beverage paper cups used in the US every fifteen minutes.

runningthenumbers03
Plastic Cups, 2008 60×90″
Depicts one million plastic cups, the number used on airline flights in the US every six hours.