Friday, June 17, 2011

Copperhead Grid by Moyra Davey


Another visit to the The Metropolitan Museum Of Art and I went to see the modern photography section. The first piece in the exhibit is a giant array of photos of circulated United States cents called Copperhead Grid by Moyra Davey.

I SOOOO COULD DO THIS
Really I have actually taken many pictures like this but I did not post them because I thought no one would care. Then again that is what makes Davey an artist, she puts it out there when she gets inspired. Davey's other photo are of everyday items that seemed to become transformed into uniquely beautiful artifacts. 

100 10x8 in. Chromogenic prints make this giant wall of cents.

The verdigris on the coins give a very textured look adding dimension to a worn coin.

 
 

From The Met...
Artist: Moyra Davey (Canadian, born 1958)
: Copperhead Grid
: 1990, Printed 2009
: Chromogenic prints
: Approx. 25.4 x 20.3 cm (10 x 8 in.) each
: Purchase, Vital Projects Fund Inc. Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2011
It was in 1990-at the height of a worldwide economic recession that also marked the end of the 1980s art bubble-that Davey began photographing the scratched, worn-away surfaces of pennies, the most devalued and lowest form of currency. Her accumulation of one hundred micro-photographic specimens is constructed around the readymade patterns of decay that countless anonymous owners have unconsciously wrought upon their surfaces; their base materiality is incisively contrasted with the most elevated of national symbols. As with all of Davey's work, there is a melancholic sense of loss that connects subject and form: like pennies, photographs are objects of exchange imprinted by contact with the world around them..
1st thing is the Met calls them pennies which I will excuse as common language, technically they are cents.
2nd thing the most devalued and lowest form of currency is great exaggeration and very much one person's opinion.
3rd thing Davey is Canadian and if she is anything like me foreign cents even when the country is next door is fascinating. 

The value of this art piece is not known, by me at least.

6 dollars worth, for Comments/Questions click here.:

Kelly said...

Very interesting, especially the things you've pointed out at the end.

Obsolete Currency said...

Interesting.

livingaslegendshavelived said...

hello so i was looking everywhere for an email but ill just leave a comment it has nothing to do with the post at all. but i have a 10 dollar bill from 1950 and google did its best to tell me what its worth, but i want to know the real value because i have no idea what i have and i stumbled upon this blog so i was wondering if you could help me out.

Man said...

looking everywhere for an email
There is no email published, but all comments go directly to my email so I will always respond.

10 dollar bill from 1950
Depends on serial number but generally they are $12.00 in very fine.

Anonymous said...

I just got a 1983-(P) cent with a strange dot on Lincoln's forehead right on the border of the portrait and fields. The coin is worn to fine-vf. Is it worth anything over face value?

Man said...

1983-(P) cent with a strange dot on Lincoln's forehead right on the border of the portrait and fields. The coin is worn to fine-vf.

Sounds like a bubble or minor die break, either way no extra value.