Penny - "Broke"

Harman Projects is pleased to present Broke by UK-based artist Penny. The artist’s debut solo exhibition with the gallery in the US will include his hyper-detailed, hand cut stencil works on currency and art historical intervention works. Encapsulated within each intimately scaled work is a layered critique on commodity, value and society.

Working with humble materials - paint, paper and a scalpel - Penny achieves mind bending and intricate compositions. Seamlessly blending pop culture iconography with social commentary, each piece is created with dozens of hand cut stencils layered on currency. The tongue in cheek nature of the artist’s work often depicts Her Majesty the Queen - blended with Marge Simpson, pixelated and obscured or assuming the visage of Magritte’s subject in the iconic Son of Man. Tackling darker and prevalent social issues for the exhibition - Marty McFly’s DeLorean burns across a confederate bank note from the 1860’s, tools of police violence are emblazoned across the Lincoln Memorial on the back of a five dollar bill, “Sorry We’re Closed” obscures Washington’s face on dollar bill.

A continuation of Penny’s commentary on commodity, wealth, and capitalism, his most recent series of works depict replicas of famous paintings from art history with key elements “stolen” and excised from the work. A conspicuously missing crown from Basquiat’s “Pez Dispenser” dinosaur and the famed pearl earring from Vermeer’s most notable portrait have been snatched from their frames - begging the question, what is valuable?