Strange Currency: New art exhibition in London features miniature Dictators painted on two pence coins.

Artist Matthew Barnett presents a series of new paintings at the 96 Gillespie Gallery, North London, UK.

August 10, 2004 -- The tabloid press are often eager to deride the more conceptual extremes of modern art as a licence to print money, a notion that London based artist Matthew Barnett has taken almost literally. In Strange Currency his upcoming show at North Londons new 96 Gillespie Gallery Matthew exhibits 20 miniature paintings on two pence coins. The series of meticulous portraits depicts a roll call of Tyrants, Terrorists and Dictators, from Saddam Hussein to Ferdinand Marcos, all of whom have at some time been supported economically or politically by the United Kingdom.

Thanks to the events of September 11th, explains Matthew, many people are aware that much of Bin Laden's 300million actually came from CIA cash aimed using Bin Ladens Maktab al-Khidimat fighters to win the Afghan war and install a sympathetic government in the country. Its also fairly common knowledge that the US and UK provided access to sophisticated weaponry and that the SAS trained many of the fanatical Mujahedin guerrillas who would later play in a key role in Al Qaeda. However, the nurturing of questionable regimes for our own ends is a tradition that stretches back to our Imperial past and is unlikely to end soon. We are warned on a constant and spectacularly melodramatic basis that money spent on illicit contraband - such as drugs and pirate recordings - is used to fund terrorism and war and aggravates third world exploitation. However, little information is given to us regarding the so-called legitimate use of the wealth we generate from our country.

It is a serious subject, but not tackled without humour from the cheeky inclusion of a grinning George W Bush in the rouges gallery to the use of traditional headshots to mirror the familiar profile of Queen Elizabeth that adorns the flipside of each coin. Beyond this, in the very use of a monetary unit as a canvas, I can also detect a sly underlying dig at the notion of the art object as little more than financial commodity. These works are of immediate value in
that they have an intrinsic worth - in this case a base value of two pence sterling or, as Matthew puts it, They arent going to get destroyed any time soon as noone throws money away. Nobody I know, anyway.

Whilst he is happy to discuss the political motivation behind the exhibition, Matthew is also keen to emphasise the formal aspects of the work.

Conceptually, the use of coins is a very obvious visual pun, but formally the work is also heavily influenced by Victorian Miniatures and Locket portraiture. Cameos and miniatures were often commissioned as keepsakes for loved ones. In contrast to the grand gesture of the full-blown oil painted portrait, they were a sign of a more intimate often secretive - affection.

Certainly, the painstakingly handpainted images themselves are surprisingly formal.

Whilst I consider myself a conceptual artist, I do enjoy painting and think that the reports of the death of painting as a primary medium are greatly exaggerated. Quite the opposite, painting potentially has even more power in its twilight years as it carries such a weight of history and recognition.

Despite this, it was not Matthews original intention to solely exhibit the work in a gallery.

As these are objects intended for mass circulation, the defacing of the coins draws on the techniques of classic art intervention. I got to thinking that if you graffiti a wall, then maybe 100 local passers by will see that work, but if you graffiti a coin, then that will pass through perhaps a 100,000 people, from all walks of life. I intended to paint and circulate the series over a period of time, leaving the anonymous recipients to draw their own conclusions for the reasons behind the mystery appearance of the odd dictator in their wallet or purse. Eventually, though, I thought they served their purpose better being exhibited together as a collection first.

Thats not to say I wont spend them afterwards, he adds with a grin, I am a Yorkshireman after all.

STRANGE CURRENCY is exhibited at the 96 Gillespie Gallery, 96 Gillespie Road, London N5 (tel:020 7503 3496), nearest tube: ARSENAL.

Open September 1st - September 7th 2004, free.

Private View: August 31st, 7PM-9PM : All welcome

Visit www.matthewbarnett.net or www.96gillespie.com for further Information

preview article by Ramsay Holden

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