Chapter 2: Making Money Instead of Art

After a lengthy hiatus, I return to the Blogosphere with pictures of my newest work in progress: a giant penny made from actual pennies.

I stopped posting blog entries because I felt like I'd said everything I needed to say, and that the stories about my past provided ample material for new and old viewers to peruse and examine.Just because I stopped posting on my blog doesn't mean I stopped working on projects.

In fact, my newest project is a series that I believe surpasses in concept and execution everything I've created up until this point.

For the first time in my explorations, I'm using a specific object to create a modified version of itself: Meta-Art!

Creating coins from coins is satisfying on so many levels, the first and personally most important being that I have gained a great deal of fans based on the powerful coin series I produced in 2002.

By re-visiting the subject of coins, I am coming full-circle on a path that spans 10 years.

My skills have grown immensely, and our world has changed dramatically, so now the project has a cleaner look and a deeper significance.

My plan is to create all four coins again, but this time as two-sided objects.

Revaluing the money as larger versions of itself breathes new life into our sputtering economy, and gives hope to those who fear that money itself will be the cause of our extinction.
Stay tuned for more updates on this project.

Opening Another Toolchest/Earning Amnesty

Sometime ago, I made some tools from chopped coins.

Recently, while browsing the web, I came across a page where I'd been featured. I could vaguely remember getting an e-mail months back from someone asking me if it would be okay to use my images, but I'd never actually seen the article.

When I clicked it I couldn't believe my eyes. Another artist had made some work strikingly similar to my own.

Was I intimidated? Did I feel threatened? No. Our approaches are completely different. If anything, I was impressed.

It's good to be part of a large, broad movement, whose existence in America is only possible within this particular era. Her name is Stacey Lee Webber, she's a jewelry maker by trade, and she even went so far as to obtain a document from the US Mint assuring her she could mess with money.

So there you have it: discouraged , but not penalized.

So I guess that throws a wrench into my plan to get arrested for chopping up coins and finally get the media to cover my art. That's how I'd planned to get famous.

I suppose it's back to the drawing board.

No, the "Adjustable Wrench" sculpture is not adjustable.

It's just art. And it's totally Legal.

Yes: one side is Heads and the other is Tails.

I'm not sure if I'll make more tools from coins, but I wouldn't be surprised if somebody else does.

Can It! (Slogan Parade)

Here's the latest thing I've been able to finish.

Coke is it.

I used to drink this stuff when I was a kid.

Red, White and You.

I guess now instead of citric acid they use phosphoric acid.

Enjoy Coke.

My favorite part is the bottom of the can.

Dawn of a New Direction/sticking it to the world

Looking out the window of my new studio in Brooklyn.

After 2 full years of chopping up coins to make artwork, I've amassed a worthless fortune in stockpiled scraps. Although technically money, this kind of thing is definitely not something that can be spent. What good is a nickel if it's only a speck? How many pieces of a penny does it take to buy a loaf of bread?
So I've decided to distribute the value into another project, in order that thousands of coin particles can merge together and form a priceless art object.

My approach thus shifts, as I begin to stick precut pieces to actual objects. It doesn't get any less toxic than this: Elmers Glue is my initial adhesive.

By building up rows of slivers, I've been able to create an ocean that resembles skewed stacks of nickels.

The land is made from pennies, fit together like a wall of stones.

Mountains are formed by sideways slivers of dimes and Quarters.

Inland bodies of water are denoted by tiny coin punchouts.

When ocean meets land, subtle interplay occurs.

I have been following the actual currents of the world when laying out these waves.

Using the globe as a template, I will continue until I've covered the entire planet.

To be Continued...

First Solo Exhibit of my Career as an Artist

Click to Enlarge

Art Anniversary/Bookending a Body of Work

2 years ago this month, I began experimenting with a new type of art involving cutting coins into pieces and using those scraps to build larger images. The first was political, and I made it during the build-up to the presidential election of 2008.
A few weeks later, I began work on mosaic, 36"x24", with which I wanted to document the shared human predicament of being defined by money from conception.
This piece was always meant to be the first of two similar mosaics, but I became overwhelmed with other project ideas and had to put the second part aside for a spell.

Now, at long last, I've returned to the project and I'm thrilled to say it's nearly completed.

The results could not be more pleasing.

I think I've definitely refined my technique, and have gotten much faster as well.

When I put the silicone onto this mosaic, a few unexpected chemical reactions took place.

Some really crazy cool colors appeared as the curing adhesive reacted with the many money metal alloys.

I had planned to go in later with a patina, but the Universe beat me to it.

Wildest is this brilliant magenta.

So how much money did I use?

Enough to eat for a week, on the right budget.

But not enough to pay a Wireless bill.

Anyway, it's only money.

They'll make more.