New York-based artist Yuken Teruya was commissioned by the New York Times to create this piece entitled Green Economy. The article, written by Paul Krugman, asks the main question, “Is it possible to make drastic cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions without destroying our economy?”
To complement the New York Times informative article, Teruya cut these very precise nature designs that appear to be rising up out of variations of these thin, paper, international monetary notes. The leaves and buds sprout out of the surface of the money as a symbolic representation of our natural world existing in harmony with a prospering economy.
The Japanese artist works with all kinds of materials, from toilet paper rolls to paper shopping bags, and these intricate designs are exquisite. According to Teruya's website, “His ideas often reflect life and history of Okinawa, his homeland,” as well as nature, consumption, and the contrast of the natural, organic world set alongside consumer culture.
