Images out of Money
In the Republic of Belarus, Igor Arinich, an artisan who has been pursuing an unusual hobby for more than twenty years, creates painterly pictures full of colours ... out of money. His masterpieces have a wide demand from abroad. Arinich is an advocate of the art style "Kupjuropis".
Igor Arinich is a professional engineer. In the early 1990s, when the Soviet Union collapsed, he lost his savings, like most of the citizens of the USSR, as the Soviet ruble was devalued. Therefore, it was necessary to do something with an output regarding the available useless money of the earlier superpower. He decided to use the money to create pictures. In the production of a cloth, about 3,500 banknotes were batched during about 6 months of work. First, the artist designed a painting project. It took him a long time to decide on a color scheme. Then he took the according bank notes, cut the pieces with a pair of scissors to a certain shape and inserted them onto the painted layout. The condition of the banknotes plays an important role here, worn notes are no longer suitable.
According to the artist, Soviet money could not be better suited to art. The bills are bright and look good on a canvas. However, every year it becomes harder to get old banknotes. In search of Soviet money, Igor contacted all his friends, he attended antique dealers, collectors, and flea markets.
Igor invented the term "Kupjuropis" and put it into circulation. His hobby is to simulate further ideas and perspectives of people when thinking of contemporary art, or even change the view that money is only a simple means to make payments. He spares no effort in terms of time or money on this matter.
By the way, the money goes into the creation of similar images. Streets are now the material for his new creativity. Igor is not to stop. Many people treat themes in their works like Igor: they tell of the Soviet past as well as of the beauty of nature. Critics gave him a great future. The most famous work of the artist is "The Bathing Red Horse" for which Igor Arinich got modest 2,000 dollars.
