Cardboard Currency Collection. The Images of Cheap Desire...Money.

"All of these works are performed on cardboard packaging with various media on top, spray paint, acrylic, watercolor from home made stencils. To create a beautiful image on a worthless surface is half of my artistic message.  The other half addresses the constant craving we have towards the accumulation of these venerated pieces of paper.  I replicate the likenesses of banknotes and in the process of production I let the images evolve whimsically creating new interpretations of a popular image.  Unlike pop-art, my work reeks of handmade skill, the kind needed to produce a quality painting.

They are all approximately 24-30 inches or smaller and through finishing processes have an archival value.  Lost in this kind of computer viewing are the surface textures, the transparent and opaque brushwork painted surfaces, and the rough visceral cardboard material that seems proud to support the banknote image portrayed upon it. 
The series below was inspired by the recent currency devaluation/Bank failure and the occupy movement that started in Europe and continued here in the USA.  My next series will focus on Mexico which is the country of my second language and last name."

​-Artist, Nick Mancillas 

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