Permission Inside

A grid of folded hundred-dollar bills, poured over with gold leaf and dark texture. Each note is creased in half and pressed into the mass, so the canvas reads as relief rather than as a picture.

“Permission Inside”, from the “Superstitious Goods” collection. 94 × 74 cm on canvas, in a black and gold frame.

The gold went on top and is torn through in places: here the green of a banknote shows, there only the shine.

The work is about giving yourself permission. About the moment a person first says out loud that they can afford it.

It is a brash thing. I am not going to pretend otherwise.

Hang it over a desk, in a study, in a meeting room, in an office lobby. At home it goes where decisions are made, not where people rest.

The black and gold frame seats it on any wall, dark ones included. It needs directed light: without it the gold goes out and a dark rectangle is all that is left.