Zárate, Salvador. 2019. “Found Image: Power Tools, 1999.” In Toxic Softscapes: On Entries, Bodies, and Plants, created by Salvador Zárate. In Visualizing Toxic Subjects Digital Exhibit, curated by James Adams and Kim Fortun. The Center for Ethnography. March.
Salvador Zárate, "Found Image: Power Tools, 1999", contributed by Salvador Zárate, Center for Ethnography, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 27 March 2019, accessed 11 May 2024. http://www.centerforethnography.org/content/found-image-power-tools-1999
Critical Commentary
Substantive Caption: The caption should describe what aspects of toxicity are captured in the image as well as any relevant context about how the image was produced, by who, and for what purpose---
The image is of Rubén Ortíz Torres's work Power Tools, 1999.
Air toxicity v. Round-up
Power Tools (function), left
Customized leaf blower with electric engine (quiet, non-polluting).
by Gody Sanchez
36"x18'x13"
Power Tools (form), right
Customized leaf blower with 24k gold plated engine, velvet upholstery, candy urethane with metal flake.
36"x18"x13"
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, permanent collection
Design Statement: Example: This image conveys how the community of practice I study (sustainable fashion companies) themselves advertise their “object of concern” -- here, the factors that can be measured to indicate sustainable business, production, consumption, and general lifestyle practies. It also directs attention to the visual aesthetics of perhaps the opposite of toxity in fashion - that which is sustainable, or should be sustained (the environment, etc.). Toxicity here, is understood and visualized as a phenonemon that can be measured and thus tracked over time through water, CO2, and waste.
+ caption