Trained as a historian and economist, Jonathan Blaustein uses his photographic work to examine both the economic and environmental impact of an overwhelming world of commodities. For his series Party City is the Devil, Blaustein created simple still lifes out of materials purchased at Party City, where, the artist notes, “everything is disposable.” Each image utilizes the visual language of commercial photography, creating glossy, colorful, and seductive compositions that play on the viewer’s desires while simultaneously cultivating a sense of dread and a realization of the wastefulness of an entire industry.