See FRESH 3.0 and darkSky at Art Chicago

Animation still, FRESH 3.0 (2009)

If you are in the Windy City please drop by the Jean Albano Gallery at Art Chicago this weekend (Booth 549, 12th floor) at the Merchandise Mart.  There is tons of interesting art to examine, including FRESH 3.0–a new version of a dynamic animation that shows scrolling unnatural landscapes of bottled water label nature imagery.

The FRESH project attempts to raise awareness about the high cost of bottled water in cities where citizens have access to good quality tap water. This particular composition was generated by custom animation software written by the artist. The software creates a quirky tableau of artificial landscapes found on labels of popular brands of bottled water. The images seem familiar. Stripped of their bar codes and corporate logos, the mountains and waterfalls are ironic symbols for a product that is proven to have harmful effects on the environment.