Artwork Essay

I have never seen nor heard any artwork procedure or styles like Chris Jordan put into his work. His imagination to condense small materials to create and connect to a bigger picture is incredibly impressive. Given that I previously took Asian Art History, I also became familiar with some of Hokusai’s paintings. I believe that Chris Jordan’s version of Hokusai’s “The Great Wave Off Kanagawa”, which he call it “Gyre”, has a harmonious theme. Chris uses plastics as a medium for this piece because it depicts humans’ over usage of plastic and fails to recycle them. As a result, many non-biodegradable ends up in the ocean polluting the marine ecology. Chris Jordan named this piece “Gyre” because the word gyre refers to a circular course of motion. However, it is a common oceanography term referring to a large circular oceanic current mostly involve with large wind movement. Chris used gyre as a tittle because most plastic wastes in the ocean are trapped in oceanic gyres. Specifically, Chris used “The Great Wave Off Kanagawa” to pinpoint the location of the most polluted oceanic gyres. In Hokusai’s artwork, it depicts Mount Fuji facing the Pacific Ocean where major oceanic gyres, and where the largest ecosystem on earth is located. Finally, I also believe that Chris choice of Hokusai’s art is genius because based on my Asian Art History, “The Great Wave Off Kanagawa” portrays an apocalyptic tsunami waves that is higher than Mount Fuji. Hence, Chris Jordan connected his art pieces amicably for he did not only expressed the underlying plastic consumption and waste problems in our environment but also the negative effects it could lead