EASTBOURNE.- In their latest work, Faith in Fiat, Maslen & Mehra have constructed a 360 degree shrine to currency.

Maslen & Mehra designed and fabricated the shrine, completing it with a painted trompe l'oeil, marble effect. The focus of the installation is a series of 70+ framed ‘icons’, which depicts international currency symbols. They have been hand-drawn and completed with ink, gouache and liquid gold. The shrine steps are populated with artificial flowers and LED church candles.

“Fiat money is currency that a government has declared to be legal tender, but it is not backed by a physical commodity”. (Fiat is Latin for “let it become”) * The value of money is derived from the relationship between supply and demand, rather than the value of the material that the money is made of. Fiat money is effectively a storage material for purchasing power and a substitute for barter and no longer redeemable against its equivalent commodity such as gold. The Fiat or global monetary system sees markets and central banks value the worth of the currency based on perception of a country’s governance, the economy and their effect on interest rates.

Fiat money is no more than a promise. Is it sustainable to have such faith? History suggests not. The boom and bust cycle is nothing new and despite the 2008 global financial crisis, the cycle appears set to continue.

Faith In Fiat also brings to mind our slavish devotion to money today: money for money’s sake, materialism, and consumerism.

Tim Maslen and Jennifer Mehra have worked collaboratively since 2000. Working in a remarkably diverse, experimental and imaginative graphic language, they engage in a powerful dialogue on the natural and human world in which we live.

Tim Maslen (b. 1968, Australia) studied Fine Art at Curtin University, Perth and completed an MA at Goldsmiths University, London in 1997. Jennifer Mehra (b. 1970, London) studied Fine Art at City Art Institute, Sydney and the National Arts School, Australia. Mehra was a founder of VOID, an East London artists’ - run space, which staged dozens of exhibitions for four years from 1997 - 2000.

Maslen & Mehra have worked collaboratively since 2000. They are recipients of a grant award from the Arts Council of England for their ongoing work Cash, Clash & Climate (2015 - 2017). Work from this series has been included in various exhibitions including Towner Contemporary in 2016 and The Fall Of The Rebel Angels in Venice in 2015. The complete work will be exhibited for the first time at the Hastings Museum September - November 2017.

In 2014, they staged a solo exhibition at Lucy Bell Gallery for the Hastings Photo Festival. They were selected by Paul Noble for Creekside, London 2013, and were included in LUMINOUSFLUX at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery as part of the Perth International Arts Festival. In 2011, they were shortlisted for the Latitude Contemporary Art Prize alongside Graham Dolphin, Delaine Le Bas, Andy Harper and Alice Anderson.

The work of Maslen & Mehra can be found in collections such as Tattinger Switzerland, Galila Collection Brussels, Art Es Collecion Madrid, numerous international private collections and the Altered Landscape Collection, Nevada Museum of Art. Maslen & Mehra are featured in the stunning accompanying book titled The Altered Landscape published by Rizzoli.

Solo exhibitions have been staged in New York, London, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Dubai, Istanbul, Toronto, Perth, Sydney and Berlin. In 2011 there was a solo presentation of their work for the Scotiabank CONTACT International Festival, Toronto. A monograph, Mirrored – Maslen & Mehra was published by Verlag für moderne Kunst Nürnberg in 2008 with texts by Hamburger Bahnhof Museum Curator, Eugen Blume and art historian, Edward Lucie-Smith. Earlier projects include an installation at the Frissiras Museum, Athens during the Olympics (2004), a sculpture installation exhibited at Artspace, Sydney (2002), and a solo project at Dilston Grove, London achieved with awards from the Henry Moore Foundation and London Arts (2001).

Faith in Fiat is on view at the Towner Museum and Art Gallery, Eastbourne, UK as part of the summer exhibition until the 1st of October, 2017. Maslen & Mehra have a solo project titled Cash, Clash & Climate opening at the Hastings Museum 1st Sept - 12th Nov, 2017.

* Quoted Investopedia