Clever and Creative C-Notes. Redesign the $100 Bill at Make Your Franklin.

above: the 100$ bill redesigned by Sean Fermoyle

Make Your Franklin is an online community art project devised by French designers Vincent Desdoigts, Martin Joubert and Etienne Lecorre, that allows anyone to design their own version of the United States 100$ bill. They are asking for you to recreate the money with a symbol of modern society.


above: my own lame contribution to the project, Luche Ben (mask courtesy of Mask Maniac)

All you have to do is download the template (a gigantic jpeg of the C-note) and start designing. Then you can upload your finished Benjamin to their online gallery. They simply ask that it be no larger than 7300 x 3000 pixels and no smaller than 1000 x 411 pixels.

Some people have gone all out and created viable and beautiful alternatives to the paper currency, while others (myself included) just had some fun defacing ol' Mr. Franklin with icons and imagery reflective of trendy and popular culture (e.g Disney, Mona Lisa, KISS, etc).



above: bills with popular iconography like Paul Stanley's KISS make-up and Leonardo DaVinci's Mona Lisa, by Molle William and Loic Bel respectively, were amongst the designs submitted

The site has clearly been very popular given that their server was predominantly down yesterday because of traffic.

Here's a few of the bill redesigns from their online gallery, selected at the time this post was written. I'm sure many more terrific designs have since been submitted.

First, some seriously beautiful redesigns of the $100 bill:

Alexandre Manet Pikartzo:

Christelle Mozzati:

Julien Benayt:

Hugo Lecrux:

Arinin Evgeny:


And some funny money:

Two versions of Mickey Money by Didier Gerardin:


Paul Schuler gave it a complete Khadafi overhaul:
A Pink Floyd reference from Thomas Fontaine:

An homage to Darth Vader by Sylvain Weiss:

Agathe Teubner brings the American Eagle to life:

Some colorful currency from Martin Joubert:

Cedric Bariou asks Why So Serious? with his joker version:
Dekker Dryer's Monopoly Money:

Superhero C-note from Arlam:

Wasted Rita's take on a song we all know:

Vivien Cormier's illustrated version:

Fabio Maiorana cleverly gave Ben some time off:

and Cabanes' toxic money:

Bouton Bleue punks it up:

and a lovely minimal take on it from Burkhardthauke:



Give it a try or just view the gallery of submitted designs at Make your Franklin.

Tattoo Artist Scott Campbell Cuts Up Currency & Burns Tortillas

The last time I featured someone who defaced money in the name of art, Hanna Von Goeler, the post received numerous controversial comments.

Well, get ready to start typing again, because this time, I'm sharing with you some seriously cut up currency by tattoo artist Scott Campbell.

Using imagery commonly associated with tattoos and the current trends like skulls, roses, religious icons, barbed wire, the Grim Reaper, swallows, swirls and hearts, Scott has adeptly carved out stacks of currency to create stunning monetary sculptures. Others have script phrases such as "Bros Before Hos" and "Thank You Jesus".

In April of 2009, Campbell held his first solo exhibition at O.H.W.O.W. to much critical acclaim. The show featured various pieces, only a few of which were the intricately cut stacks of bills. Other pieces include tortillas burnt in the likenesses of Jesus, Mary and Bart Simpson, c-prints of tattoos, carved book covers and more.

Whether or not you think it's 'illegal' the following works are beautiful and just one of Scott Campbell's many talents.










detail:



detail:




detail:










images courtesy of Scott Campbell and LaMJC and Supertouch art

At present he has show at the Lazarides Gallery in London. 'Almost Always There' will be on display from 1st October 2009 - 30th October 2009

Some other pieces from his solo shows:

C-prints of tattoos of various iconic figures wearing 3D glasses:



Burnt Tortillas:





above image courtesy of New York Times Magazine

In April of 2009, Campbell held his first solo exhibition at O.H.W.O.W. to much critical acclaim. The show featured various pieces, only a few of which were the intricately cut stacks of bills. Other pieces include tortillas burnt in the likeness of Jesus, Mary and bart Simpson, c-prints of tattoos, carved book covers and more.

In 2004, he opened Saved Tattoo in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Since then, it has grown to be the East Coast's premier tattoo shop with a devout following of celebrity clientele. Campbell has the taken the blue collar grit and lore of tattoo culture and extracted a visual language and wit that are supremely refined and deliberate. He has an uncanny ability to tell a story with any medium, flesh or otherwise.