Cultural Currency: Contemporary Art from the Riemer Collection is a nationally traveling exhibition curated by Emilee Enders featuring a collection of money-themed art begun in 1995 by Louise Rotham-Riemer and Davis Riemer, investment advisers from Oakland, CA. The Franklin G. Burroughs • Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum in Myrtle Beach hosts the exhibition from June 15 to Sept. 22.

The exhibition presents the innovative ways artists use money as a medium to explore preconceived notions of value and worth beyond declared denominations. The 38 artists in the exhibition investigate monetary value by meticulously repurposing bills and coins into exquisite, conceptually engaging artworks.

Primarily an oil painter, artist Marcella Lassen has had a deep fascination with the hamburger as a worldwide cultural icon. For 15 years, Lassen created hamburger art in various media. Her project-exclusive website, hamburger-art.com, displays an array of the popular burger reminiscent of Andy Warhol or Wayne Thiebaud’s Pop Art work. For her piece in Cultural Currency, Wall Street Burger (above), Lassen strays from her traditional medium of oil painting to sculpture. She states, “The Wall Street Burger is very much an “in your face” visualization of consumerism in its most pronounced form. However, the piece makes other statements as well.”

Consumers rarely consider the aesthetic qualities of currency, which range in various colors and sizes, and were designed and crafted by artists. The artists of Cultural Currency have repurposed money into contemporary art that addresses an array of issues, including race, capitalism, politics and cultural identities. What ties all of the work together thematically is the emotional impact of monetary rule over our society. From humor and fantasy to desperation, the psychological toll of money is palpable, as money seems to be an abstract, illusive object for many.

Universally relevant, visually stunning and at times critical, Cultural Currency asks us to consider how the definition of currency can be reshaped into a multifaceted object steeped in meaning and intrigue.

Cultural Currency: Contemporary Art from the Riemer Collection was organized by Bedford Gallery at the Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, CA.