Artist Chris Jordan is working on an incredible series of prints using statistics to illustrate our culture. The print above depicts the number of plastic bags used in the US in 5 minutes.

“Statistics tend to feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or $12.5 million spent every hour on the Iraq war. This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs.”
Consumption features heavily and the Seurat painting created from 106,000 aluminum cans - the number Americans consume in 30 seconds is a quite incredible. See a sample of his work here

The artist points out that one really needs to see the prints in person in order for the scale to really convey the full impact of the image so please let us know if your aunt, uncle, girlfriend or neighbhor owns a gallery and would be willing to put on an exhibition of this powerful work.