Matthew Hinçman is what some people call a guerilla artist. Guerilla Art, sometimes called Street Art, is unsanctioned art that is developed and displayed in public places. Guerilla art is more than graffiti. It is art designed to surprise and make the public think and sometimes participate.
One of Hinçman’s newest projects is the creation of Pomme de Terre (French for “Potato“) and Pomme en l’Air (“Apple in the Air“) tokens. Hinçman describes them as “loosely based on mid-19th century Hard Times Tokens.” He had 1,200 copper tokens minted and will drop them on the streets of Boston by the end of the year.
Those in the Boston are may want to follow Hinçman on Twitter @metchew for clues as to where he drops the token.
Hinçman also had 50 silver tokens minted but has not announced plans for those tokens.
Interestingly, this is the second time I found an artist making a statement about or with money using art. Rather than the existing bureaucracy, maybe we should include more of these artists in the process. They seem to come up with better ideas.
Image courtesy of Matthew Hinçman.