The artists in the exhibition investigate monetary value by meticulously repurposing bills and coins into exquisite, conceptually engaging artworks.

Marcella Lassen is one of the exhibiting artists. Although she is primarily an oil painter, she has always had a deep fascination with the hamburger as a worldwide cultural icon. For 15 years, Lassen created hamburger art in various media. Her project-exclusive website, www.hamburger-art.com, displays an array of the popular burger reminiscent of Andy Warhol or Wayne Thiebaud's Pop Art work. For her piece in Cultural Currency, “Wall Street Burger”, Lassen strays from her traditional medium of oil painting to sculpture. She states, "The Wall Street Burger is very much an "in your face" visualization of consumerism in its most pronounced form. However, the piece makes other statements as well." Lassen further elaborates that the burger symbolizes one of humankind's most basic needs: we must eat to survive. Yet the need for money seems even more pivotal to survival in contemporary society. Food and money are interconnected by Wall Street, an iconic symbol of Western economy and referenced in Lassen's title. Without this connection, one cannot exist without the other.

The constant exchange of money for goods and services is core to our daily lives and has been for centuries. We rely on monetary transactions, a quintessential human act, to meet our needs and desires - from luxury purchases like high-end cars and clothing to essential items like food and shelter. Given this worldwide phenomenon, consumers rarely consider the aesthetic qualities of currency, which range in various colors and sizes, and were designed and crafted by artists…

Oakland-based investment advisers Davis Riemer and Louise Rothman-Riemer know this sentiment well and have played the role of guidance counselor throughout their careers. In 1995 they began their collection of currency-themed contemporary art inspired by some of the stories they have been told with the goal of encouraging new attitudes toward money’s intrinsic value.