Arts | Westchester: In a Former Bank, Money Still Talks

SINCE the opening of “The Bank & Trust Show,” the current multimedia exhibition at ArtsWestchester’s Arts Exchange, puzzled passers-by have been going into the gallery asking if it is closing. Their concern is provoked by a sign in one of the windows facing Mamaroneck Avenue, a hot-pink poster with bold charcoal lettering proclaiming “Selling out to the bare walls.”

ArtsWestchester, of course, is not going anywhere. The poster, “Bare Walls” by Kim Beck, is one of 85 works that fill both floors of the Arts Exchange with responses to the current economic climate. Pieces by 21 artists address a range of related issues, from corporate greed and the pitfalls of consumerism to the fluctuating art market, redefined notions of trust and identity, and the lure of the quick fix.

“The O’ Woof Woof,” for example, Kambui Olujimi’s mixed-media installation, presents a showy raffle booth complete with gold drum and artist-designed tickets for a raffle that never takes place. “The title is Southern black vernacular meaning ‘something you ain’t gonna get,’?” said Dara Meyers-Kingsley, who curated the show.

Visitors can watch the economy literally melting in Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese’s video of their 2008 work “Main Street Meltdown,” a large-scale ice sculpture of the word “Economy” that was placed in Foley Square in Manhattan. And they can answer Jennifer Dalton’s question, “Are Times of Recession Good for Art?,” by selecting a chocolate coin from one of two gumball machines labeled “Yes” and “No.” The comparative levels of candy left in the machines will measure the public’s opinion.

Actual money appears in various incarnations throughout the show. In Ray Beldner’s “Money Bag,” three moneybags are sewn from paper currency and stuffed with sawdust; Mark Wagner created his intricate collages, “Yield” and “Eeny Meeny Miney Moe,” using finely sliced dollar bills. “That’s one of the subthemes,” Ms. Meyers-Kingsley said. “Art as money, money as art.”

Another theme is the changed role of banks, particularly germane given that the exhibition occupies what was once the People’s National Bank & Trust Company. “We wanted to look at repurposed classical bank buildings like the one we’re in now,” Ms. Meyers-Kingsley said. So Michael Vahrenwald was commissioned by ArtsWestchester to photograph former and current banks in White Plains and New York City. The results — 14 photographs — are hanging in the main upstairs gallery. And among the pieces displayed inside the space’s original vault, which was preserved in the building’s renovation, are Diane Tuft’s “Safely Hidden” photographs of ornate bank vaults in Manhattan.

“There’s a lot to think about in this show,” said Janet T. Langsam, ArtsWestchester’s chief executive. “It’s not just, ‘Oh my God, the economy is terrible.’ It’s about who we are, what we value, what’s important in our lives.”

To further the conversation, and in recognition of April’s recent designation as National Financial Literacy Month, ArtsWestchester is hosting a series of free financial education workshops for adults and children. Families visiting the exhibition can also pick up a self-guided “Art Fun Finder” work sheet, which, among other things, challenges them to find particular images in the show (like Queen Elizabeth II’s face) and design their own currency.

While most of the pieces in “The Bank & Trust Show” reflect the current economic situation, several works were made earlier. Tom Otterness’s sculptures “Last Penny” and “Embezzler and Cop” are from 1999. “They’re not about this moment of crisis,” Ms. Meyers-Kingsley said, “but his work has always commented on the capitalist system.”

Perhaps the most optimistic creation is “Chance City,” Jean Shin’s monumental metropolis constructed with thousands of precariously balanced used lottery tickets. “What holds it together is gravity and friction,” Ms. Shin said, “and desire, and care.”

She noted the dichotomy between society’s work ethic and the impetus for playing the lottery. “You spend a few dollars and you think you’re going to win,” she said.

“?‘Chance City,’?” she continued, “is about negotiating risk. It’s about people’s sense of hope. There something wonderful in that.”

ADVICE IS FREE

“The Bank & Trust Show” runs through June 4 at the Arts Exchange, 31 Mamaroneck Avenue, White Plains. (914) 428-4220; artswestchester.org. Open Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m.; admission is free.

WORKSHOPS Free financial literacy sessions for adults include “Loans and Mortgages: What You Need to Know,” 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on May 5, and “Tips for Creating a Spending Plan and Managing Debt,” 2 to 4 p.m. on May 7. “Funny Money Workshop,” for parents and children, is from 2 to 4 p.m. on May 21.