INTRODUCTION

We have chosen four contemporary artists that create art within a socio-political context in relation to consumerism and the politics of beauty to create a virtual exhibition.
Each of us has hand-picked someone they feel strongly fits the criteria for bringing some form of awareness or connection to socio-politics, and as long as the artist and work was contemporary we had no qualms with locations or media.
With each image we thought we'd give a short analysis of our interpretations and the ways they visually engage with social issues and also add any tangents of interest or different points of light that may be questioned and discussed.

Any challenges of opinion or imput into other possibilities are welcomed with a little rational on the side.

Julie Bartholomew
I am Louis Vuiton, I am Manolo, I am CoCo (2006)


This work questions the state of consumerism and realism whilst challenging the belief that one has to adorn and alter ones self above and beyond any personal costs. The 'I am' series looks at the effects of female fashion on culture as well as packaged identities, and speaks of notions on how to attain beauty.
The metamorphosing that occurs looks (at first glance) to be something of beauty with intricate detail, but on closer appraisal you begin to take in the distorted forms fused in to the high class brandings. The person and the object are one while identity seems to be in some form of matrix

Julia deVille

Sparrow, brooch 2006
sparrow, sterling silver, gold, gold leaf, enamel paint13.0 x 6.0 x 2.0 cm

Wax Eye brooch 2006

Wax eye (bird), diamonds, sterling silver 7 x 5 x 2 cm

Parot Wings, brooch 2006

parot wings, sterling silver

Mechanical Wing, brooch

Kingfisher Wing, silver

This series of brooches by Julia deVille combines jewellery and taxidermy in way in which is both confronting and fascinating. The once living creatures (or parts of) she uses in her work, all of which died of natural causes, exist as symbols of life. While at first questioning our perceptions of beauty, by her use of material, we also question their functionality, could you really wear a taxidermied bird on your chest? The artists own intentions are that which relate to 'momento mori' (remember you must die), bringing to attention the mortality of life, she sees taxidermy as a celebration of life as it preserves things and keeps them as beautiful in death as were when they were alive. While still being slightly morbid, deVille's work is somehow able to capture a moment of fragility in all her works while maintaining aesthetic beauty.

These works also touch on the other theme being brought up by other works in this exibition, which is consumption. Most of the animals used in deVille's work were donated by petshops, so in sense these animals being sold are seen as a consumable object, and once they die they are waste, so looking past the slight morbidity of her work she is actually 'recycling' a 'material' that would otherwise be thrown out as waste.

Fiona Hall
Leaf litter (detail) 1999-2003
Caryota urens; kitul palm/fishtail palm (Sri Lankan currency) Bank notes,gouache (183 components)


In this series Leaf Litter, Fiona Hall presents to us the fragile diversity of the natural world, while communicating the concept that there are some things that no amount of money can buy.
The series consists of 183 sheets each containing a life-size portrait of a leaf, meticulously painted in gouache over banknotes from the leaf’s country of origin. The leaves are transparent in places so that the person on the note underneath shows through.
This artwork comments on the crucial role plants have played in the history of colonization and the development of world economies. Many species have been responsible for the rapid growth of European power and wealth over the past five hundred years.


Medicine Bundles for the non-born child, 1993-1994
aluminium, rubber teatschild’s jacket (28 x 44 x 10 cm), child’s booties each (8.5 x 9 x 5.2 cm), child’s bonnet (13 x 13 x 7 cm), child’s teething ring (31 x 9 cm) diameter



This artwork questions the concept of human consumption in relation to societies attitude to the everyday throw away object. The audience is presented with three Coca Cola cans with babies’ teats, a knitted baby’s jacket, booties, bonnet and rattles, but unlike most knitted clothing these items have been knitted from shredded aluminum Coca Cola cans. Hall is illustrating concepts of international globalisation of products; what the products stand for, how these products originated; consumers’ attitude to household throwaway items and lastly she conveys how this will impact future generations, and this is reflected in the knitting of baby clothes.


Chris Jordan
Plastic Bottles, 2007 60 x 120"



Depicts tow million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US every five minutes.

In this work, Chris Jordan not just depicts two million plastic beverage bottles, he also presents the recent studies which suggest that the quality of bottled water is lower than the quality of water which comes out of US taps. The reason for this, according to Jordan, is that tap water is measured by the EPA who tests for approximately 90 chemicals. Bottled water, on the other hand, is monitored by the FDA who only tests for six. Jordan says one of the chemicals they don’t test for is found in the plastic bottles, which, over time, leach into the water that we then consume. Once in our bodies, that chemical acts as a female hormone.

To create this image, Jordan got a couple thousand bottles from Washington Recycling Department and dumped on them onto his driveway. Then he positioned the camera above the bottles and shot, then stirred the bottles with a rake and shot again, until it added up to two million plastic beverage bottles.

Barbie Dolls, 200860x80"
Depicts 32,000 Barbies, equal to the number of elective breast augmentation surgeries performed monthly in the US in 2006.

“Barbie” (2008) is a 60″ x 80″
Chris Jordan is famous for using photography to explore American consumerism. In one of his lasted piece, chris uses Barbie dolls equal to the number of elective breast augmentation surgeries performed monthly in the us in 2006
His works are a form of social commentary and send a message backed by frightening statistics. These dolls represent the number of real boobs jobs performed in one month in the united states alone in the year 2006
His goal was to arise awareness of the plasticity and artificiality consuming today’s society. That’s 384000breast augmentations in a single year in just one country.
This work can be read depicts consumption and tragedy in this country.