Battle Emblems (2006)
Choppy Oshiro
Honest (detail), 2006
Custom silkscreened labels, inkjet print, mixed media
"The exploitation of the working poor is now central to the business strategy favored by America's most powerful and, by some criteria, most successful corporation [Walmart]." –Simon Head, "Inside the Leviathan," New York Review of Books, 12/16/04
"Conspicuous consumption, as practiced in this country, and as promoted by free trade logic, ignores so many consequences. How many people are aware of how goods are made, what landfill those items end up in? My piece envisions a logo system that utilizes symbols to provide dependable information on the manufacturing origins of clothing. Idealistically, it would be an internationally understood graphic language that would be adapted to any product. For the producer, it could indicate integrity, and good ethics. A corporation with integrity and ethics. Wouldn't that be nice?" - Choppy Oshiro
Battle Emblems
February 1 - March 25, 2006
Intersection for the Arts
San Francisco, CA
Photo credit: Scott Chernis