Midwest-born, Brooklyn-based artist Mark Wagner cuts up thousands of dollar bills to construct meticulous collages. See George Washingtons chopping down a cherry tree, mowing the lawn, and cranking the clockwork inside the allegorical innards of the Statue of Liberty. With a little razor and glue action, “the most ubiquitous piece of paper in America” gets reborn in narrative scenes and creative portraits, with each little branch, line, silhouette, raindrop, and metaphorically misleading shadow crafted from tiny cut-outs of $1. His latest epic, multi-panel Liberty collage consists of 81,895 pieces of 1,121 bills and can be seen at his solo show at the Pavel Zoubok Gallery in Chelsea through August 12th.
Courtesy Mark Wagner
Courtesy Mark Wagner
Courtesy Mark Wagner
Courtesy Mark Wagner
Courtesy Mark Wagner
Courtesy Mark Wagner
Courtesy Mark Wagner
Courtesy Mark Wagner
Courtesy Mark Wagner
Courtesy Mark Wagner
Courtesy Mark Wagner
Liberty (partial panels.) Courtesy Mark Wagner
Courtesy Mark Wagner