Project Statement

by T. Shaw

Commodity Character is a witty and sad description of how economics effects individuals. Rutkovsky's cast of characters include an unemployed waitress in England, a Hawaiian resident who leaves his job picking pineapples for The Big Apple, a retired couple, a family supported by a factory worker's union, and a young woman living in a community built around the local nuclear power plant. Each episode in the book consists of a photograph with an often humorous caption. These episodes are further described through an icon system of smiling, frowning, and ambivalent mouths. The mouth icons relate to how much money and how much time the characters have in the episode. This book is a great example of the early effects of transnational market systems and the blurring boundaries of national economies. Rutkovsky's project is to show globalization's affect on individuals in a uniquely funny manner of social documentary.

Commodity Character

Paul Rutkovsky

Agents

Paul Rutkovsky

type: initiating

role:
artist
photographer
author
designer

dates:
publication: 1982-00-00

Visual Studies Workshop

type: initiating

role:
printer
publisher

Aesthetic Profile

movement:
popular culture (AAT)

subject:
artists' books (LCSH)

themes: Consumer culture [T. Shaw]

content form:
documentary (local)

publication tradition:
artists' book (local)

inspiration: Economic inequalities [T. Shaw]

related works: Other of the artist's books such as Get More and I Am Siam. [T. Shaw]