John Ilg

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Honesty

Honesty, 2008 dollar bills, hardware mesh, galvanized steel, wood 11.5” h x 39” w x 2.6” d

Honesty | Media List

Honesty, 2008 dollar bills, hardware mesh, galvanized steel, wood 11.5” h x 39” w x 2.6” d

Statement

My original concept for the piece was to challenge a person's moral fiber when presented with a temptation—especially when no one is watching. I presented 316 dollar bills rolled and inserted into hardware mesh with nothing other than friction and a viewers’ ability to resist temptation as the only force holding them in place. At its debut showing at the 2008 Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition (where 200,000 or so people would be passing by over the run of the Fair), I expected that such a number of bills would be taken so the word “HONESTY” would dissolve into illegibility–wouldn’t take many missing to have this happen–and eventually ALL would be gone. But Minnesotans are hyper-honest! People, in fact, could not keep their hands off the money but not as expected. To my surprise, and financial good fortune, people inserted nearly $150.00 additional dollars into the piece! Although people messed with the letters somewhat, (especially adding to the “Y’) they never removed or replaced any bills as I had placed them (bills were folded and inserted in a set pattern so I would notice any variation). I often wonder what would’ve happened if I’d used $5’s or $20’s–temptation may have not been so easy to resist! Anyway, people working there had a ball watching people “work on” this piece and I heard many funny stories. As an added bonus (and to show that nature imitates art in perverse ways), the economy headed deeply south about a month after that showing and the recession was on.

It turned out to be an unexpectedly interactive piece that got under people’s psychological skin. I meet people in my studio now and then during the St. Paul Art Crawls who told me they’d added a dollar at that show. I ask them Why? and they don’t know, they say it felt like the right thing to do. Quod erat demonstradum I should think.

Reviews

“Honesty” was given the First Award by the 2008 Minnesota State Fair sculpture judge Olga Viso, Director of the Walker Art Center.

“Honesty” was featured in a review of the 2008 State Fair Show show my Mary Abbe in the Minneapolis StarTribune as well as number of local newspapers.

This piece has been shown at the Bloomington Center for the Arts Inez Greenburg Gallery, Commonweal Theater in Lasesboro, MN and at a Solo exhibition of my work at Normandale Community College where it was stolen.

The theft of “Honesty” triggered a story by Mary Abbe in the Dec. 17 2010 edition of the Minneapolis StarTribune. Her report inspired an in-depth story on KSTP.com,CityPages.com, a live telephone interview on WCCO radio and a slideshow commentary by KSTP TV that same Friday. The Strib story was picked up by UPI and Scripps news services and within 24 hours, spawned stories in numerous media outlets including CNN, NPR, PBS, New York Daily News and in many cities in the United States. Internationally, the Strib story was referenced in India,Turkey, Sweden, Croatia, Zimbabwe, the UK, Australia and other countries. Also countless "News of the Weird" blogs. I suspect the story has the ironic appeal of “Man Bites Dog”with an “Only in America” flavor.

Artist Work

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Ecclesiastical Artist

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