A New Kind of Art?

As an artist I am always intrigued to find different styles of art that I had not thought of once before. I have traveled all over the world studying art (Poland, France, Germany) and I have not seen something as simple, and technologically advanced while at the same time, intricate and advanced as this. My art is all mathematically based, as I use a vector graphics software to create abstract visions of objects or ideas. But this is using an idea I had never thought of.

What you see above you is from a collection dollar bills. A tattoo artist, none the less, took this concept and made it a reality. He stacks up dollar bills and uses laser to etch images into the top half of the stack of bills. He uses intense concentration and skill when making these and a single centimeter to the left or the right and the stack of bills is worthless. (Let’s be glad he is using one dollar bills instead of twenty. We are in a recession after all.)

But what is cool about this is that he is taking something that we all take for granted on a daily basis and making it beautiful. These are not new bills. It is used money that has been only who knows where and touched only who knows hands.

Everywhere you go you are seeing signs for $1 only or $0.99. A dollar is a very small amount, on the grand scheme of things, but this is taking a whole new meaning on the term money to burn. This work was actually on display in an art gallery in Miami recently and I regret that I have not heard about this guy sooner. He is a young individual who has taken something to plain and simple and found a way to intrigue me.

I have seen works of art before that do not, in my mind, classify as art. For instance, I was recently in a museum in St. Louis. The work that was on display was not art all. It was what looked like a construction project. I actually had the chance to see some video of the artist and his reasoning behind it, and it was similar to this. He said that he took things that were obvious, every day items and made them into something beautiful. Well, sorry buddy, but a door frame that is covered in saw dust and white paint is just not art.

I hope to see these stacks of bills making its way across the country very soon. I would be very excited to see what these look like up close and personal. It actually reminds me of an art show I saw here in Indy not too long ago. An artist from New York City takes flowers and molds them into the shape of designer shoes. They are actually structured to “fit” individual woman’s feet. Of course, the traveling show is only high quality photography of that foot ware, but you get the point. The entire collection is on display in New York City.

The next time you spend a dollar take a moment to think about what that dollar could end up looking like. Or better yet, take that dollar into a tattoo shop and ask them if they can make you a pretty dolphin or a butterfly out of it. Better than that tattoo you got on your lower back last year on Spring Break down in Panama Beach.