Dollars and sense Dollars and sense (January 02, 2004)

Palo Alto Art Center exhibit looks at money in myriad ways

by Nisha Ramachandran

Poet Gertrude Stein once wondered, "Is money, money?" Stein pondered this in a 1936 poem, in which she wrote: "Everybody who earns it and spends it every day in order to live knows that money is money, anybody who votes it to be gathered in as taxes knows money is not money. That is what makes everybody go crazy."

Now, the Palo Alto Arts Center is tackling the same question through a new exhibition that runs through Jan. 4.

"In this economic situation we live in, the question of 'Is money, money?' is a fascinating one," said Signe Mayfield, curator of the Palo Alto Arts Center. "What do we value? How do we determine value? Who are the arbiters in an economy who define value?"

Named for Stein's poem, the exhibition features artists who use a currency-based medium to question value. Each piece strips away the monetary value attached to a piece of currency, such as a dollar bill, by reassembling the pieces in a new way.

"What is interesting is that aesthetics in effect have ensured a value to money -- if you look at the currency across the world, it's quite beautiful," Mayfield said.

Swathed in money, these pieces ask the viewer to not only reassess the original function and symbolism of the medium, but in some cases, the value of the art itself.

In Ray Beldner's series "Counterfeit," dollar bills are sewn together to reproduce iconic works of art. One piece, "All You Need," recreates Robert Indiana's 1966 "Love" in this fashion, questioning the relationship between the iconic art piece (which was recently featured on a U.S. postal stamp) and its price tag.

Similarly, Oriane Stender's work approaches famous images of art with a wary eye on the monetary value of art. Stender recasts work by market-driven, celebrity pop artist Andy Warhol in dollar bills, questioning how and why such pieces are valued.

While Beldner and Stender focus on contemporary artists, Lisa Kokin examines the intrinsic worth of money by using shredded currency.

In an artist's statement, Kokin wrote: "I like money in its shredded state because it is stripped of value and power...No one wants it in this state of impotency."

Most of Kokin's pieces explore this idea using disembodied body parts. In "All Debts Public and Private," Kokin uses shredded money as if it were a bandage for a leg cast. In another, "The Prisoners," she uses the currency to form truncated human heads, stringing them together on a long thin string.

The exhibition also includes pieces of pre-1950 African currency, which are currently acquired by contemporary collections as abstract sculptures. Except for the textile currency of Kuba Shoowa (a type of textile) cloth from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, pieces in the exhibit were either forged or cast in metal.

Despite the similarity in material, the currency pieces vary in both function and form. The selections in the exhibition included objects valued for a number of reasons, such as a hoe -- valued for tilling the soil -- and throwing knives and a spear blade, both valued for protection.

Jewelry pieces are also included, such as the Ngbandi (a tribe from the Democratic Republic of the Congo) anklet currency, and Manillas, small open bracelets cast in England or Portugal, which were used as trade currency (they were even used to purchase slaves) until a 1919 ordinance prohibited trade with such foreign money.

"I think first of all, to understand your own culture, you have to look to other cultures and other times," Mayfield said. "It's enough to jostle the imagination, to think of some of these very large pieces as money because we are more accustomed to something more portable. It's something to think about, to come back to the notion of how value is attributed."

What: "Is Money, Money," featuring work by contemporary artists Ray Beldner, Lisa Kokin and Oriane Stender

Where: Palo Alto Art Center, 1313 Newell Road

When: Through Jan. 4. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday also from 7 to 9 p.m.; Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.

Cost: Admission is free.

Info: Call (650) 329-2366

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