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99 cents
These multi-media pieces are my response to commercialism and the global marketplace. I am interested in exposing the hidden costs of products that on the surface appear very inexpensive. In these artworks, I created conceptual sculptures which I then photographed and paired with text. All of the supplies I used in making these sculptures I purchased within walking distance of where I was living at the time in San Francisco, and a majority of the items came from dollar stores on Divisadero Street. For me, these materials were readily available, easy to obtain, and unreasonably cheap. This is because people in other parts of world are paying the true price of these products by injuring their health, damaging their local environments, working for below living wages, etc.

 

The "cheap" and recognizable products (soda cans, toy guns, globes, etc.) used to create the sculptures reference jewels and jewelry. I decided to present these works as digital images with text in a poster-like format in order to position them in the realm of advertising. By using both images and words it allows me to critique the advertising-driven consumer culture which demands cheap goods, and at the same time question the value and useful life of these goods. I would like to recognize the value in all materials and expose the true "price" of products shipped half way around the world so that I can buy them, at my convenience, for less than a dollar down the street.