Fair Enough: Moola-riffic

The posts so far:
Fair Enough: And I'm Off
Fair Enough: Traveling Incognita?
Fair Enough: All Over But the Posting
Fair Enough: Art or Trash?
Fair Enough: Prologue to the Report
Fair Enough: ABMB, Part 1
Fair Enough: ABMB, Part 2
Fair Enough: Aqua Art
Fair Enough: Pulse
Fair Enough: Seven
Fair Enough: Scope
Fair Enough: NADA
Fair Enough: Ink
Fair Enough: A Peek at Art Miami
Fair Enough: Doubletake at Art Miami
Fair Enough: Art Miami
Fair Enough: My Just Right Breakfast
Fair Enough: Speaking Volumes

Jack Pierson at Galleria Christian Stein, Milano; ABMB
.
Vs.

Doug Aiken, Regan Projects, Los Angeles; ABMB

In a tossup between Sex and Money, money came out on top. Sure there was the usual assortment of erogenous body part (aren’t there always?) but currency—real, reproduced, reconstituted and ridiculously fake—were in evidence everywhere.

Seeing all the currency-related art at the fairs, I can’t help but think about Oscar Wilde’s comment: “When businessmen get together they talk about art. When artists get together they talk about money.” What’s ironic is that you have wealthy collectors shelling out thousands for one and two-dollar bills.

I didn’t love it all, but I did like the artists’ wit and their range of materials. Standouts for me were Dan Tague's manipulated money, folded to reveal unexpected meanings; Lauren DiCioccio's Jefferson in stitches;  Patrick LoGiudice's inflated digital image preserved under a scrim of wax; Srdjan Loncar's mattress with the money on the outside; and Dave Cole's currency couture, which serves as a well-crafted metaphor for the intersection of art, fashion and money.

Jota Castro, Private Dancer, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin; ABMB
(Of course, sometimes sex and money are intertwined)

Detail below

Dan Tague at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans; Pulse
Closeup of one photograph below

Randy Noborikawa at Anderson Art Collective, Santa Barbara; Red Dot

Michael St. John at Andrea Rosen, New York;  ABMB

Detail below

Patrick LoGiudice digital print submerged in wax at Von Braunbehren Galerie, Munich; Art Miami

Closeup below 

Lauren DiCioccio embroidered currency, actual size, at Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco; Aqua Art

Installation view below
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Artist at Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm; ABMB

Closeup below

Yang Qian at Eli Klein Gallery, New York and Beijing; Art Miami

I'm showing you two closeups of this funny money

Above: It's a confetti mosaic of shredded paper

Below:  The confetti is made from Chinese paper. Talk about reading between the lines 

Mark Wagner, Rub-A-Dub, 24x24 inches, at Pavel Zoubok, New York; Pulse

If the message is that our economy is backed by the Chinese, as the previous work suggests, this collage shows us graphically that our economy is adrift. Or am I reading too much into these works? 

Srdjan Loncar at Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans; Art Miami

Why put your money under the mattress when you can make the mattress out of bills? These appear to be photocopies but that's OK.  I love the Benjamin buttons that secure the (non-existent) tufting

Image above from the gallery website; my detail below

Susan Stockwell currency quilt at Patrick Heide Gallery, London; Pulse

It's not always just about the Benjamins

Detail below

Maximo Gonzalez at Galeria Valle Orti, Valencia, Spain; Pulse

Detail below

Paul Sietsma at Matthew Marks Gallery, New York; ABMB
The bill, rendered in ink and enamel on paper, is actual size

Justine Smith at Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami; Art Miami

Detail below

Dave Cole at Dodge Gallery, New York; Pulse

Cole embodies the art/fashion/money nexus in thin slinky, semi-transparent dress knitted from American currency

Detail below

Post Script

Just as I did a prologue to the book post, I'd like to add a post script here. When viewing a trend in anything--in this instance, currency-based art--it's easy to think we're seeing it for the first time. While I'm sure large the impressive showing is directly connected to the economy, there are artists who have been working with the U.S. dollar for a while. Take a look at the website of my buddy Oriane Stender, who has been making Dollar Bill Quilts for over a decade.  Here's a peek:

Oriane Stender, Dollar Quilt, shown about actual size