In the new painting, Two Dollars Sky Sunset Aleph, the viewer is challenged and inspired to see money in a new way. How we see and use our resources — money, reveals our values and beliefs, including those we hold unconsciously. Seeing fine art and recognizing our responses to it, plus the new visual information we partake can enrich our lives.

In my studio I use hand created (painted or drawn images, which are then scanned into the computer and altered and combined with other images and then printed out on fine art paper of canvas and painted on to create a work

For instance, the dollar bill is created by combining two separate images, the Exodus 20 (Ten Commandments) basic Essence Portrait of George Washington with the “frame” of a USA dollar bill, which is also created with Exodus 20.

George Washington Exodus 20 (Ten Commandments) by Judy Rey Wasserman

See more details about this artwork and the available print at: Art of Seeing The Divine Shop

I use a professional flatbed scanner to capture the original images, which at present limits them to no more than legal size per image. Scanning is preferable to photographing as it offers greater dpi and accuracy.

The first artist I saw take his original printed image and them paint on it to create new, unique works was Andy Warhol. Although his works of this type were silkscreens, he did explore video and computer art; which were cutting edge new at the end of his life. A major difference is that Warhol’s screen-printed images come from altered photographs and my prints are totally drawn or painted.

Clearly there is an artistic link in that Warhol created works featuring dollar bills. Personally I love the irony in that his 200 One Dollar Bills Sold at Sotheby’s for $385,000 in 1986 and was again sold by them 23 years later for $23,000,000, which is quite a profit on an image of $200.

However, it was a 2007 show at 1018 Art of “Preis Bilder” series works by Martin Kippenberger that eventually inspired my new and ongoing exploration of money art and worth in a series entitles, In God We Trust. According to Roberta Smith’s New York Times review of this show,: “Preis Bilder”… title exploits the double German meaning of “preis”: “price paintings” or “prize paintings.”

In the brand new tradigital painting, Two Dollars Sky Sunset Aleph the digital black and white digital images of two of my dollar bill artworks are painted over with a sunset created with watercolor pencils and inks. Thus the image featured on this blog is not a digital painting, but a photo of a real new of a kind painting. It began as two black and white images that were hand drawn and painted, the portrait and the one dollar bill without the portrait, both images created with strokes that are the letters of Exodus 20. Then that digital image was added to a copy of itself, one on top and one on the bottom, and printed out with only black ink on an professional digital art printer on archival white art paper. Then on that original digital print, painted a sunset with strokes from Genesis 1-2:7, using watercolor pencils and archival art colored inks.

Two Dollars Sky Sunset Aleph by Judy Rey Wasserman

It combines two series, the above mentioned In God We Trust, with my first and ever on-going Genesis Sunset series.

In the Bible, a sunset is always a beginning, a moment of inspiration, the birth of a new day or experience.

Thus, Two Dollars Sky Sunset Aleph is painting about how two dollars can be used to inspire or set life off in a new direction.  Two dollars can buy many things.  It can but a new high quality watercolor pencil for an artist.  Two dollars can buy a couple of candy bars, or the more healthful choice of an apple, orange, or grapes in most markets. It can also provide food for a child for a day, maybe even more than a day, thanks to charities helping people struggling with droughts, wars and political oppression in third world countries.

That this work is painted with the strokes from Bible texts, especially the Ten Commandments, also indicates that it deals with value, worth and honesty. Even a couple of bucks can be significant depending on how they are used. How can you use two dollars to inspire and benefit yourself and others?

In Hebrew, the word “aleph” is the name of the fist letter of the alphabet. Alpeh can also be used as the number “one”, as Hebrew is an alpha-numeric language. Aleph is used in the title of this painting as I intend to create additional original Genesis Sunset works based on the two dollar theme.

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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art at ungravenimage.com.

Check out the Fine Art Limited Edition prints, decorative prints, books, and printables that are currently available to you through Judy Rey’s Art of Seeing The Divine Shop. You don’t have to buy to avail yourself of the art and inspiration available there. However, if you select to collect investment quality archival art, or decorate your home with images created with strokes that are original letters from Bible texts, or buy a gift for someone special, there is a secure shopping cart that accepts most credit cards so your purchase is easy to accomplish. https://artofseeingthedivine.com.

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