Tag Archives: art

Art and taxes

The forms we get from the IRS aren’t what anyone would call inspiring works of art. But the concept of taxes inspires all kinds of artistic expression around the world.

In the U.K. this week, a new street art campaign was launched by a group called Mutate Britain, in support of a “Robin Hood” tax, charging large corporations more than small ones.

IRS forms may be simple in design, but they provide hours of entertainment as parody. In The New York Times last week, graphic designer Sam Potts shared his rendition of the freelancer’s write-off list.

My personal favorite in Potts’ design?: “If you do not twitter, you do not qualify as a freelancer and may not use this form” (follow us @economystory).

Here’s another link between art and taxes: In Mexico, artists can even pay their taxes with works of art. USA Today reported on a project that’s been around since 1957:

There’s a sliding scale: If you sell five artworks in a year, you must give the government one. Sell 21 pieces, the government gets six. A 10-member jury of artists ensures that no one tries to unload junk.

Under the program, the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit now owns 4,248 paintings, sculptures, engravings and photographs by Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, Leonora Carrington and other masters.

The artful dollar

Dollar origami

Marketplace Scratch Pad has a post up on master of origami Won Park, who works in the medium of dollar bills. As Scott Jagow writes, if we reach the point where the dollar isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on, perhaps the traditional Japanese art of paper folding will be a good alternative use.

These days, this piece seems particularly apt:
origamidollar

If the U.S. ever officially folds up, you’ll know where to turn…

Picture this

The economy is notoriously hard to visualize – how do you take a picture that encapsulates everything that’s going on?

An art movement in New York is trying to make people more aware of the economic crisis, and projects around public media are taking user-generated content into account when talking about the recession.

Enjoy Banking is plastering New York streets (and now cities as far away as Moscow, Russia with stickers that have phrases like “enjoy American dream” and “enjoy bubble burst”.

They are placed in opportune and inopportune spots around the city and have gotten quite a bit of attention as both an art and activist movement.

Last May, the PBS program Art: 21’s Hrag Vartanian did an interview with the prolific street artist, who goes only by the moniker “Enjoy Banking”.

“Hrag Vartanian: Is there something specific, other than the obvious economic meltdown, that triggered the EnjoyBanking campaign?

EnjoyBanking: You are partially correct—the financial meltdown is a direct catalyst for the campaign. However, the true heart of the campaign lies in responding to an underlying cause of the collapse: misinformation. Mainstream media outlets, particularly financial news networks, exacerbated the banks’ many problems with panic-driven fear mongering.”

You can read the rest of his interview here.

Independent film blog POV provided a rundown of projects that are trying to get a grasp of economic coverage using images in a post this week, including the New York Times’ Living with Less series and the NewsHour/Patchwork Nation map.

Have you seen EnjoyBanking’s work in public or do you have a picture of your own that symbolizes the economic crisis? Share your thoughts and suggest links to images.