«The pure gold»

In September 2016 the Guggenheim in New York installed a working toilet made of solid 18-karat gold. It was Maurizio Cattelan's "America", and visitors could actually use it. In 2019 it was stolen from Blenheim Palace. A joke about wealth had turned into the real thing, and someone carried it away.

That story is the starting point of this gold wall art painting.

Andrew Jackson, the face from the US $20 bill, stares out of a glitch: strips of his face slide sideways across the mouth, as if the picture is losing signal. He wears a black top covered in ornate gold baroque patterns, with a Greek-key border at the cuffs. In his hands he holds a toilet made of real gold leaf. Jackson was the 7th president, and in 1832 he vetoed the renewal of the Second Bank of the United States, so he fits a picture about who gets to hold money.

The background is gold too, heavily textured, with thin hand-drawn charts labelled CNY and ETH. Small Mondrian-like blocks of red, blue, green and maroon drift across it. I like that the strict grid looks quiet next to the baroque ornament, and that everything in the frame is gold except the person.

Warhol painted dollar signs in 1981. Cattelan took the idea further and made a luxury object out of the most ordinary one in the house. I wanted the same joke as gold wall art in paint, with the money face from the banknote carrying it.

This original is oil, acrylic and gold leaf on canvas, 120 x 90 cm, painted in 2022. It is number 5 of 8 in my second collection, SCAM, and works as contemporary pop art and statement wall art above a sofa or in a hallway that wants some shine.

Most of my original paintings are already in private collections, but I paint originals to order in any size. To ask about this one, message me on Instagram or by email. There is also a hand-finished lithograph of this image.