“All About The Benjamins” - 2019 by contemporary artist Taylor Smith. Oil, enamel, transfer & gold leaf on panel
Taylor Smith’s mixed media painting, All About The Benjamins is an homage to the breakdown of the American Dream. Wealth, class warfare, social denial, materialism and the glossy dreams of the 1% are represented in this series of class conscious paintings. Taylor Smith speaks to contemporary facets of life in 21st century America by referencing data corruption, technology, luxury designer goods, inequality, political chaos, consumerism and art history. Mass production of luxury goods, the saturation of media with advertisements and promotions for branded products, and even rising levels of personal debt are addressed in her work.
Smith appropriates source material from the US Treasury, social media, pop culture, art history, European fashion houses, and the local shopping mall while working with silk screen, enamel, precious metal leaf, ink and transfer as a means to mechanically fix these images in stark contrast to the designer labels and designer logos loved by consumers.
Pop Art Street Art Graffiti Fusion Painting titled “All About The Benjamins” by contemporary artist Taylor Smith.
Smith uses designer logos from the House of Chanel, US currency, technology, gold leaf and high-gloss epoxy resin to convey the highs and the lows of modern American life and the pursuit of wealth. Artworks are hand painted and silkscreened on canvas, paper and wood panel. At the crossroads of culture and crime, this is art that makes you think. From the “Luxurious Disaster” series of original paintings and screen prints.
