$500

I owe the blog and readers a series of posts as I was in NYC for several days and at a hotel where the wireless was down (or my computer wireless card was on strike).

The first such post is by way of artistic tribute to the American economy. Above is Raymond Waters' "Five Hundred Dollars", which was part of his Values exhibition earlier this year. You'll get some sense of how it fits into the overall show with my catalogue essay "Foreword: The Art of American Values." The work is $500 U.S. in various denominations, shredded and then arranged on canvas under Plexiglas (a great Canadian invention,by the way -- Plexiglas, that is). It is approximately 66 inches high x 45 inches wide.

Stay tuned for an announcement over the next few days when this work will be placed on a time-limited Dutch auction, where its value will decrease -- indeed, plummet -- day by day until somebody buys it or the seller goes bust.