ARTIST STATEMENT: In 2001, Vandana Jain came across a digital repository of corporate logos, hosted on a Russian site. Coming directly from a practice of assemblage and collage, she saw an opportunity to use these symbols, and to draw on their instant recognizability and branded meanings. For the last decade, she has focused on using this "alphabet," to see what it can say about capitalism, globalization and consumerism. Her work often uses labor-intensive techniques and handiwork such as embroidery, to contrast with the clean aesthetic nature of the brands and mass-production. Through her work, this corporate symbolic language is exploded, and what remains is a re-examination of the structures that define the 21st century.
Rejected Hand-me-down 2018 felt applique on kid's polo shirt, plastic hanger 20 x 18 inches Jenny Holzer x Ralph Lauren Polo
United Snakes of America 2017 Marker on cardboard 16 x 30 inches A calculation of the relative cost of a luxurious latte for the wealthiest person in the US, at the time it was made.
I got my eye on u(r) prize 2018 color xerox 11 x 17 inches
Allt At Alla 2016 artist and holographic tape and paint 6.5 x 10 ft Showcasing two logos of Allt At Alla (Everything for Everyone), a Swedish autonomous group know for their "upper-class" safaris and other anti-capitalist actions.
Fortune 2012 animation 3:27 'Fortune' is an animation based on data from Fortune Magazine's annual ranking of the highest grossing global corporations. The top 100 companies of the fiscal year ending in March 2011
Enlightenment 2012 cast sugar 60 inches in diameter Casts were taken directly from blister packaging for compact fluorescent lightbulbs(CFLs).
Infinite Array 2016 shattered tempered glass 13 x 18 feet Installed at Jamaica Colosseum Mall, Queens, NY.
Taking something ubiquitous in the city streets, like shattered auto glass, and using it to create drawings of diamonds, also “found” on
Live For Now, Die For Later 2015 latex paint on brick wall 17 x 22 feet Mariajampolé, Lithuania
Dazzle 2014 artist's tape on wall 80 linear feet x 12 feet high This work was inspired by the graphic patterning of WWI era dazzle camouflage applied to corporate trademarks.
Installed at Smack Mellon, Brooklyn
Double Happiness 2016 paper tape on wall 10 x 5.5 ft The Starbucks logo is overlaid with McDonalds color and imagery, envisioning a future merger of the two disparate yet ubiquitous food franchises.
Double Happiness (detail) 2016 paper tape on wall
House of Brands 2014 printed vinyl wallpaper 12.5 x 10.6 ft This cutaway view of a house is composed from seven wallpaper patterns, each created from a different set of logos. Ranging from healthcare and pharmaceuticals, to entertainment and social media, to t
Alphabet 2003-2011 wool on linen 76 x 136 inches A series of 26 hand-embroidered panels where each letter in the English alphabet is substituted with a corporate logo.
F (Fidelity) 2008 wool on linen 16 x 16 inches
Prayer Flags for Healthcare 2009 screenprint of fabric 10 x 13" each, dimensions variable Photo from Old Stone House, Brooklyn, NY, 2018.
Prayer Flags for Healthcare 2009 screenprint on fabric 10 x 13"
Protest for the Sublime 2009-2011 gouache on carboard variable
World Empire Dominion 2010 acrylic on existing wallpaper 60 x 84 inches Inspired by the notion of corporate personhood, I’ve started creating figurative forms from logos. In this work, I draw together symbols from various industries including real estate, freight tr
Deere Crossing 2007 wood and sintra 12.5 x 17.5 x 3.5 feet Installed at Socrates Sculpture Park, LIC, NY.