Pei-San Ng

This match stick dollar sign art was made for the current Chicago Art Department $200 exhibition.  This is a collaboration between Nathan and I.  I first wanted to make art with balsa sticks, specifically a skeletal framed apple.  This idea came from my architecture model making days.  I love making models out of sticks.  However, now that I am out of school and out of work, my resources are limited and balsa wood sticks can get expensive.  As an alternative, Nathan suggested that I use match sticks.  They can be found at Home Depot, 750 count for approximately $4.  Thus I began making things out of matches.  The first few were apple and letters, to be spelled out into words. Every time when I finish making one, we badly wanted to burn it immediately.  This first finished 7″ x 9.25″, match sticks on poplar piece is called Temptation.  I actually made two, one for the show and another for us to burn.  We took photos of the burning as a visual tease for the unburn piece.  For me, the value of $200 is a temptation.  It is Nathan’s temptation of blowing it all away one night at the strip club.