b2210mottel: Revision 4

Proposal # 4 B2210

• Project Title : POINT OF VIEW: Surrounded by Coca-Cola Trucks in New York City

• Abstract: This photographic installation highlights the Coca-Cola corporation’s visibility in New York City by overwhelming the viewer with POV photography of their delivery trucks, shot by the artist as he is to driving a delivery van in New York City. The Coca-Cola truck is a hindrance to New York City; populating the streets, blocking traffic by double parking, causing congestion, all while distributing an unhealthy product. As the artist makes deliveries by himself, he sees these Coca-Cola trucks as an overwhelming obstacle that needs to be documented.

• Intro your project idea: ‘

This photographic installation highlights the corporation’s visibility in New York City by inundating the viewer with POV photography of the corporation's delivery trucks, shot by the artist while driving and making deliveries in their own van in New York City. The documentation of the Coca-Cola truck is important as a public record of a malfeasant company, clogging the streets and disrupting the artist’s own delivery business. The Coca-Cola truck is so omnipresent in New York City, that for most, it goes unnoticed. The ubiquity and ease of access to Coca-Cola does not happen by chance. It is a deliberate and methodical “campaign” to maximize profit at the expense of everyone else. The classic economic adage ‘demand creates supply’ is false. ‘Supply creates demand.’ The scale of Coca-Cola in New York City is rarely thought of, its effects are multiplicitous. The photographic installation will document my point of view as a delivery driver in New York City. When I encounter Coca-Cola trucks, I will take as many photographs as possible. These encounters will be by chance and unplanned, so the photographs will be shot without deliberate composition and focus. [The photos will then be transferred digitally. They will be arranged in sequential shot order from left to right, akin to a film strip. The work will be presented as mural sized photographs. A series of 16 encounters will be documented by connecting multiple photographs to form single prints of each encounter. The photographs were shot over 8 weeks. Each set of photographs comes from this period of tuesday/friday delivery cycle where the artist always encountered the Coca-Cola truck.

• Background:

This work affirms my inclination to use art to propose an alternative to the political, cultural, economic or social status quo. The harm caused by Coca-Cola affects all communities. Coca-Cola is a bad actor; from health concerns, to traffic, pollution, poor labor practices. For example, Coca Cola has destroyed the groundwater supply in India near its Coca-Cola plant, destabilizing farming communities.

This project also challenges the Pop Art depiction of Andy Warhol’s iconic ‘Coca-Cola’ image. His glamorization of that product enabled Coca-Cola to become ‘hip’ and gain cultural traction.

“All the cokes are the same and all the cokes are good.” -Andy Warhol

Warhol was not critiquing Coca-Cola, but adding a layer of value to an image that was already dominant in global culture. His concretization of Coca-Cola acted as an additional advertisement for the product. This project also draws upon John Cage’s use of ‘chance operations’ since I never know when I will see the next Coca-Cola truck while driving, and when I do that is my cue to photograph. The influence of Cage is based on his appreciation of natural, unplanned organization. Warhol staged events, copied/appropriated images and was dealing with hierarchical organization; artist as tastemaker. These photographs act as an ephemeral visual composition, as they are shot only when the Coca-Cola trucks appear. Rick Klotz is an artist who has transformed the logo of ‘Tide Detergent’ into ‘Freshjive’ for a t-shirt line. His art follows a path of appropriation that is is not interested in any political statement, or challenging corporate norms. In his own words ‘its bullshit’ He is following Warhol’s non-critique and is part of the status quo. This is a cop-out that I do not support.

This project is also influenced by the ‘political pop’ photographer, Chinese artist Wang Guangyi. Guangyi takes iconic political images of Communist China and adds western pop cultural corporate logos. His work is about juxtaposition in society, while the ‘political pop’ of the Coca-Cola trucks suggests a rejection and highlights the dominance of Coca-Cola. Guangyi challenges the status quo in his work, in a way similar to Cage, an in opposition to Warhol and Klotz.

• Work plan:

Photographs of Coca-Cola trucks will be captured from the point of view of the van driver (me) when driving around New York City. I am in the van, driving, focusing on getting to the next delivery point, and often have to make deviations in the route based on a Coca-Cola truck blocking my path. This is my moment to shoot. Photographs are shot in rapid succession, both from fixed position (while stopped) and while driving (to document movement). These photographs imported to Photoshop where the photos from each encounter will become a composite image and then printed. The reference for the composite image is a film strip, where one can see images frame by frame and the artists POV by viewing the group of shots as one image. The size of resulting composited photography will be at least 24x30 horizontal. Photos will either be installed on the wall or on a made material where the viewer is surrounded by the photography in an enclosed environment.

• Significance of your project; what do you want to accomplish?

I would like to use this project as part of an argument for a city wide initiative that calls for the banning of Coca-Cola in New York City.