Today I read the book “Do Americans Shop Too Much” by Juliet Schor. Schor wrote an essay about her thoughts on contemporary American consumerism and consumption and reflected back on her earlier work “The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don’t Need” (which I also checked out from Homer Babbidge). What I liked about DASTM is that there was a variety of essays that responded to Schor’s initial thoughts. There was a variety of opinions and ideas from different scholars. Surprisingly, some of them even had different and more conservative opinions than Schor. I thought it was a good (and concise) read that gave me a more variable insight on my topic.

I’ve also been looking at different artists work and their reactions to Consumerism.

First off is Chris Jordan. He takes objects (LOTS and LOTS of them) and documents them. We consume and waste by the mobs and his work shows that in an immense fashion. The first time I saw his work, I felt both horrified and mesmerized:

I also looked at Kate Bingaman-Burt’s work with “Obsessive Consumption“. Because she was in a lot of debt, she took her debt to artwork and started to illustrate everything she bought. She kept drawing things repeatedly until she paid them off and she even drew bills for her credit debt in a couple situations. It’s not that she is against consumerism (as she says herself) she just wants people to think about it and be more aware of their purchases:

Classmate Nicole R. told me about artist Erwin Wurm last night. His work is a commentary on the excessiveness of consumerism as his series of obese sculptures parody status-symbolizing objects:

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When I leave for Disney World on Sunday, I plan on bringing books with me on the other different aspects of consumerism that I haven’t looked at as much. Oh my gosh, I can’t wait for all the photographs I’ll be taking there!