Mark Wagner makes money into art.
posted by grapefruitmoon on Jun 15, 2009 - 17 comments

"Ten Thousand Cents" is a digital artwork that creates a representation of a $100 bill. Using a custom drawing tool, thousands of individuals working in isolation from one another painted a tiny part of the bill without knowledge of the overall task. [more inside]
posted by sveskemus on Apr 12, 2008 - 35 comments

Is the high end Art market finally tanking? A week or so ago, it sure looked like it. An important van Gogh piece did not sell, Sotheby's stock price went into shock. However, all is well this week as both Christie's and Sotheby's kicked it into high gear and set some new records. [more inside]
posted by psmealey on Nov 15, 2007 - 13 comments

Stephen Barnwell makes meticulous bills for fictional worlds, such as the Dream Dollars of a lost Antarctic colony, complete with symbolism and backstories. He has introduced several new, more politically controversial fictional currencies for less ideal worlds: the United States of Islam, the State of War, and the Empire of America. He is not the only artist who imagines currency, there are the beautiful notes of Kamberra and the strange work of JSG Boggs [prev] who hand-draws almost real bills that subvert the lines between money and art, occasionally running into issues with the Secret Service on the way. On the borders between reality and fantasy is the new currency developed by foreign exchange specialists Travelex, the Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination, introduced to solve some of the problems in money in space, and which may actually be used by space tourists. [prev.]
posted by blahblahblah on Oct 16, 2007 - 18 comments

Australian art student Nicholas Manion has hit upon a clever idea: delicately cut paper currency forming the skyline of major cities. Via.
posted by jonson on Aug 3, 2007 - 10 comments

Banknote art by Justine Smith. Alternating currency: by Marshall Weber, portraits in money by Mark Wagner, a Ganesh out of Rupee notes by CK Wilde (a spectacular previously). Beautiful banknotes at the World Paper Money Image Gallery. Unusual coins. Unique banknotes, like the 100 Million Dinara note from Croatia. U.S. currency and the pictures behind the portraits. Mildenberg's Dream Collection of Greek Coins at the Money Museum.
posted by nickyskye on Jul 11, 2007 - 19 comments

Proof that artistic inspiration can come from any walk of life, Anthony White has turned his former life as a stockbroker into inspiration for a series of Stock Code paintings. Also available - paintings depicting different values of British, American, Australian, and Euro currency.[via ArtNews Blog]
posted by grapefruitmoon on May 19, 2007 - 29 comments

Moneygami is origami made from U.S. currency; the subtle genius lies in the way the artist incorporates the prints on the dollar bills into the facial characteristics of the finished figures. More moneygami here. Via.
posted by jonson on May 6, 2007 - 14 comments

Art Money is an alternative, worldwide currency in the form of original works of art. The Bank of International Art Money is an independent organization directed by artists and free from any form of government financing.
posted by fandango_matt on Oct 15, 2006 - 7 comments

Currency Collages from CK Wilde of Artichoke Yink Press [via]
posted by peacay on Apr 20, 2006 - 27 comments

A cool idea, and a fun allegory: Bird and butterfly collages made with old bank notes (two pages, horizontal scrolling). Click the images to view larger versions and see the notes that were used (scroll down). More here without the note source info.
posted by taz on May 10, 2005 - 4 comments

Money Art. They say it's hard to make money from art, but some people find ways to make art from money. Or at least a few accessories. (via)
posted by cali on Jan 7, 2005 - 8 comments

Euros That Never Were 1945 - 2001 (I think).
posted by dobbs on Aug 27, 2004 - 12 comments

You've probably never heard of him, but as an artist JSG Boggs has been making "money" for two decades. Boggs has been the subject of many articles, a film, and a book by Lawrence Welscher. He's bought lots of things with his art ("Hot dogs, watches, airplane tickets, rent, clothing, jewelry–-anything." (And he's done so in England, Germany, France, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, the USA, and Italy.) The largest collection of his works belongs to The Secret Service. [more inside]
posted by dobbs on Sep 21, 2003 - 17 comments

Ugly money : burnt bills, Santa singles, good time greenbacks, bodacious bum bucks and then some. On a related but cool note, conceptual currency.
posted by pedantic on Jul 6, 2003 - 7 comments

Paper money in many countries is really beautiful and often employs great use of typography and color. The designs are sometimes used to showcase an indigenous resource, to pay homage to a cultural icon or national leader, or occasionally as a political weapon. Anyone looking for currency scans on the web usually ends up at Ron Wise's site - thousands of quality, free for the download scans from every country in the world (I have not verified this), including a 1991 500 Afghanis note from Afghanistan, which portrays the national sport of Butskashi (polo played with a goat carcass). Like the proverbial cake that's too pretty to eat, some of this currency seems almost too beautiful to spend.

There's also some speculation that as a deterrent to counterfeiting, American currency just might be getting some color.
posted by iconomy on Apr 29, 2002 - 28 comments

David Greg Harth is not afraid. As part of his ongoing art project in which this New York artist stamps US currency with phrases, he's releasing 'I am not afraid' and 'I am not terrorized'. He needs help circulating the bills.
posted by prolific on Nov 4, 2001 - 23 comments