ArtClothText

$20 Weaving (new 5’s), 2005, 6″ x 6″woven $5 bills, photo by the artist

“I have always been drawn to weaving as a process because of its structural integrity. By this I mean that, unlike painting or drawing, where a base structure is set up (such as a stretched canvas) and then decorated, or some forms of sculpture in which an armature is created, then a surface treated added, the process of weaving creates structure and surface simultaneously. The structure, surface and imagery are built, incrementally, weft by weft, and are inseparable. I find this satisfying both conceptually and as an actual working system. Weaving also connects me to an ancient technology, one that developed independently in different parts of the world thousands of years ago, and was a precursor to the invention of the computer.

In contrast to this historical process, my materials are generally very modern and nontraditional. I like to use (or re-use) materials that carry pre-existing meanings and connotations. This piece is from an ongoing body of work made of money, specifically US dollars, a substance that has universal significance, a substance that carries not just symbolic, but real power.”

submitted by Oriane Stender, Brooklyn, New York