Yesterday I stumbled upon an interesting art project by artist team Brad Kuhl and Monique Leyton called "Elite Deviance." Elite Deviance is a series of five works that seek to capture the essence of high-profile white collar fraudsters through the use of colorful pieces of acrylic and bookbinding tape.
Shown below, for example, is a piece entitled, "Bernie and Ruth Madoff" which shows the infamous Ponzi scheme operator and his wife uncomfortably huddled up together while a sea of arms and hands seem to be grasping for them.
The artists do not explain the symbolism of the piece on their website. My own take is that it shows the couple after the scheme has been revealed, and the world is united against them. The arms belong to the victims who want to pull Madoff out of the refuge of his Manhattan penthouse apartment so that justice can be done. Although it probably goes without saying, I should probably note that I am an Economics major and a lawyer and have no idea what I am talking about here.
The series includes several other interesting works, including a great depiction of Martha Stewart receiving whispered (inside?) information while she is in the middle of making a salad. There is also a provocative piece that shows Allen Stanford and the former chief regulator of his Antigua bank taking their highly-publicized "Blood Oath" in 2003.
Great stuff, and thank you to Brad Kuhl and Monique Leyton for allowing me to display the Madoff image above. See the complete project here.
No comments yet