Jordan Wolfson
1980–
During the last decade, Jordan Wolfson has created a powerful yet enigmatic body of work that delves deep into the libidinal subconscious of our society and consumer culture. While studying sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design in the early 2000s, the budding artist began making videos that, like those of his contemporary Cory Arcangel, precociously combine the legacies of Conceptual and Pop art with new visual technologies.
Con Leche mines the icons and ruins of the American Dream to surreal effect. The film installation features an army of animated Diet Coke bottles filled with milk (con leche) that traverse the empty streets of real-life Detroit. The graffiti covering the abandoned buildings provides a formal counterpart to the hand-drawn soldiers, which hauntingly recall the magic brooms in the 1940 Walt Disney classic Fantasia. The video image itself is constantly skewed, just as the artist shifts and subverts any reading of these layered images.
Wolfson has paired the video with a longer and continuously out-of-sync soundtrack featuring a woman’s voice that recites information gathered from common Internet searches: “How do I know if I’m gay?,” “reincarnation,” “Kate Moss cocaine,” “Is diet soda bad for you?” and “cell phone.” The resultant verbal stream is interrupted by the artist’s own voice, giving directions to his narrator: “Can you pause, please?” “Please lower your voice.” Wolfson reveals himself to be the creator of this world, but refuses to endow it with a specific meaning. “I like the viewers to do the interpretive legwork,” he has said.
Introduction
Jordan Wolfson (born 1980) is an American visual artist who lives in Los Angeles. He has worked in video and film, in sculptural installation, and in virtual reality.
Wikidata identifier
Q6277138
Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License . Accessed April 24, 2025.
Introduction
American video artist.
Country of birth
United States
Roles
Artist, video artist
ULAN identifier
500294191
Names
Jordan Wolfson
Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed April 24, 2025.
