As the pandemic began to take hold, I realized the economic value of a physical dollar and the risk of contamination it posed would change overnight. Like many new business owners, I held onto the first dollar I ever earned in my new art career, aiming to illustrate its evolving symbolic value during and after the pandemic. Ironically, the first version of this image, painted digitally, became corrupted, forcing me to restart. Prominent sources of inspiration for this work include Picasso’s “Portrait of Dora Maar” and Basquiat’s “Self Portrait as a Heel.”
