As you’ll see when you walk into the Enterprise Library Gallery this evening for his opening reception (5-7:30 p.m.), artist Michael K. Stark has a thing for money. “The Wall of $100s, Lottery Tickets, and Flags” is the fruit of his first foray into art-making after a 25-year hiatus. More of his work can be seen around downtown in the Art House Theatre, Vintage Vegas, and the Horse Trailer Hideout bar.
What will viewers see in the Enterprise show?
We have three new series. One is called “Wall of $100s.” One is a wall of lottery tickets. And we also have a wall of flags. “The Wall of $100s” is currently more than 300 interpretations of the $100 bill. For me it’s all about making people reflect on their relationship with money, with abundance, with luck (the lottery tickets), and about the American dream (the flags), and what that means in our day and age.
After 25 years of not making art, how did you come to make work about money?
I just didn’t know where to start. One evening I started doodling — I took out a $100 bill and just started sketching it. And on reflection, I realized artists do what’s dear to them; artists do what motivates them; artists do things to fulfill a need or answer a longing. Money has always been an obsession, and I couldn’t get around it.
What’s it like to make art about money in a setting like Las Vegas?
The capital in the world of money is Las Vegas. The capital of what you can do with money is Las Vegas. The idea of what money does to people, or could do to people — that’s Las Vegas. If you want to talk about what money’s all about, why not do it in the city that’s the capital of it?
