Here are more creative works from innovative, socially-conscious, and eco-minded artists. Enjoy!

Chris Jordan

“Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait” is a series by Chris Jordan, an artist who aims to make unbelievable statistics about the extent of American consumerism and environmental impact less abstract through visual imagery. In the words of Jordan, “This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs.”

This image depicts one million plastic cups, the number used on airline flights in the US every six hours.

A close up:

28,000 42-gallon barrels, the amount of oil consumed in the United States every two minutes (equal to the flow of a medium-sized river).

This depiction of Georges Seurat’s famous painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” is made of 106,000 aluminum cans, the number used in the US every thirty seconds.

Tyree Guyton

Guyton, a native of one of Detroit’s many poor and forgotten neighborhoods, has transformed his community into a living art gallery. The Heidelberg Project, named after the area where Guyton works, refers to Guyton’s efforts to paint run down houses and reconfigure the junk that he has cleaned up from vacant lots so as to pump new life into a community that is otherwise riddled with all the problems of urban poverty. The artist calls his work “medicine for the community.” To find out more, watch this video.

Charles Kaufman

Kaufman creates his crushed can art by hand-painting images onto soda and beer cans.

Related posts:

1. The art of garbage: part 4
2. The art of garbage: part 2
3. The art of garbage: part 3