Stephen Barnwell

B I O

Stephen Barnwell’s moneyart prints have been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the United States and Europe, including the Palais de Tokyo Contemporary Art Museum in Paris, the Lahti Art Museum in Finland, the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art in California, and the Andrew Kreps Gallery in New York City.  Mr. Barnwell’s prints are in private collections in all fifty US states as well as in fifty-one countries around the globe. A complete set of his political moneyart prints are in the permanent collection of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles. 

S T A T E M E N T

The best way to challenge authority is to steal its voice.  Only governments are authorized to create money, so I take the vocabulary of government and use it to speak out against authority.  I subvert the language of power to criticize power.  The visual language of authority also extends into the world of capitalism in the form of stock certificates.  I subvert this language as well to comment on economic and corporate issues.  By appropriating the visual language of commerce, my work acquires a false perception of authority or history, as well as a sense of purpose or functionality. 
I take fetishized objects of value and replace them with mocking substitutes, using the stolen sense of authority to amplify my voice.