Call it a case of youthful naïveté – in 1994, artist Cain Motter received a convenience check in the mail for $50 – and he spent it believing it was a gift. It wasn’t, of course; it was a standard marketing strategy used by many credit card companies. He learned that lesson when he received a bill in the mail for that amount plus the usual charges a credit card company applies.
Either way, it made him start thinking about credit cards in different ways, and led to a credit meltdown of an entirely different kind.
Using heat, scissors and a lot of imagination, he turns the cards he receives in the mail or collects for his art into sculptures that make a big statement about that little piece of plastic in your wallet and corporatism in general.
Whether it’s the day laborers bursting from the Home Depot™ credit card, or the American soldier crawling across the face of the flag, his work looks to examine the meaning behind the symbolism and the culture that credit cards use. They’re strong statements in miniature, which seems to be the point – these little cards have a lot of influence over our lives and our lifestyles. That requires thought, patience, and thorough research.
Motter may have made that mistake when he was younger, but his art serves to inspire people who see it to look at their credit cards in quite a different way.
And that’s something everyone can agree is a smart thing to do.
You can find Cain Motter here on Facebook.
