Mark Wagner’s Collages are Made Entirely of Cut-Up US Banknotes

Like most art, Mark Wagner’s collages require money. But unlike most art, money serves as the actual material from which Wagner’s art is constructed. Using cut-up US banknotes, he creates mind-boggling collages that make for an interesting statement.

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Frédéric Bartholdi's sculpture LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WORLD is known by another name i'd rather not mention here. To call something a “STATUE" rather than a “SCULPTURE" lessens the work artistically… suggesting that the thing is merely stayed or historic. At the time of construction LIBERTY was everything but stayed. Conceived of by Bartholdi as a pat on the back for the USA who had only recently sloughed off slavery, LIBERTY's image and meaning have been coopted, recast, and muddied innumerable times since. It's not intended as a symbol for… fill in the blank… its a symbol for freedom period. See the broken shackles on her hind foot??? The project's original engineer, Eugene Viollet-le-Duc planned for the monument's support to be a brick pier nearly filling the inside. When the man fell ill and died in 1879, his replacement was none other than Gustave Eiffel (of eponymous tower fame). Eiffel nixed the plans for this massive pile of rock in lieu of an elegant framework of seal I-beams. Thus LIBERTY became the harbinger of all modern architecture…"the first monument to hang rather than stand". By the way, the pointy things coming out of her head are not spikes attached to her crown. They represent rays of light… the intangible made tangible. Cheers, Mark MarkWagnerinc.com Pictured here: LIBERTY ADRIFT currency on panel, 20×15 inches. DM for availability and pricing. #moneyart #currencycollage #dollarart #collage #art #cutandpaste #excelblades #glue #money #finance #dollar #dollarbill #economy #economics #capitalism #subversive #neorealism #popsurrealism #expressionism #artcollector #gallery #mixedmedia #illustration #contemporaryart #collageart #markwagner

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“I’d been doing collage out of a whole bunch of different materials, and initially, I wanted a piece of paper that was just super common — something that everyone could recognize,” he explained in an interview with Kai Ryssdal. “There’s a power behind taking something that’s familiar to everyone and making it into something completely new.”

Based in New York, his artwork has garnered both online and offline attention, collected by dozens of institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the US Federal Reserve Board, and the Smithsonian Institution. It has also been shown extensively at The Metropolitan Museum, The Getty Research Institute, and the National Portrait Gallery.

But though undeniably noteworthy (pun intended), his collages are also kind of breaking the law, as the law clearly states that you can’t destroy American currency. “Any time I see my stuff referred to online, there’s always, like, a roll call of nannies and hall monitors complaining about it being illegal,” said Wagner. “When people ask me that, I like to say, ‘Should it be illegal?’”

Take a look at some of his finished work in the gallery below.

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hashtag tree your mind

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