Greenback
Essay
A banknote is the most widely printed engraving in history. It is printed from metal plates in intaglio, and all those guilloches, rosettes, microtype and hatched portraits were invented in the nineteenth century for one purpose: so that no one could repeat them. "Greenback" has been the nickname of the American dollar since the 1860s, when the reverse was first printed in green ink. Since then green, grey-black and serif typography have been the most recognisable graphic system on the planet — and one that no one looks at.
The series looks. The engraving is enlarged to wall size, and what takes millimetres on the note becomes the subject here: a portrait built in hatching, an ornamental border, a legend, a beetle that has landed on the paper. Beside them a collage of torn notes, green with pink, where money is scattered into fragments and reassembled as pattern. Greenback here is not about money but about the most perfect engraving ever printed in billions and never seen.
Relief on artboard — the engraved hatching modelled and painted; green and grey pigments in layers; leaf gold in the borders and seals; epoxy resin, which gives the paper the density of banknote stock. The edition is numbered.
A series for a study, an office, a meeting room, a restaurant and a bar. Greenback on the wall is an irony everyone understands and a craft that shows up close.
The object
Each work is built by hand at the st.Aura studio. The object's data is recorded in the series passport and the studio registry.
Editions
Every edition is closed: once exhausted, no further numbers are issued. Number and tier are recorded in the certificate of authenticity.
Catalogue
Formats
Weight from ≈9 kg/m², converted per format. Proportions on request.
Price
The price of each work is quoted personally — too much affects it to fit a price list:
- — Resin depth: 2 / 4 / 8 mm, sanding and mirror polish
- — Finish: gold leaf or genuine gold, details of the work
- — Format and bespoke proportions
- — Studio workload: we are a local studio with our own schedule
A quoted price is held for a limited time from the date of enquiry.
Order from this series
AN ORIGINAL ST.AURA WORK52
Certificate of
authenticity
This is to certify that the work described above is an authentic original created at the st.Aura studio, numbered within a closed edition and signed by the author. The work is recorded in the studio registry under the certificate number.
ST.AURAAU-DOLLAR-52
Artistst.Aura Studio
Authenticity is verified by certificate number against the studio registry. A holographic label bearing the same number is affixed to the back of the work.
