I created Black Cat in 2006 while living in San Diego. This piece was an explosion of a lot of cynicism I had been feeling. The Iraq war was on and it seemed to be about maintaining resources, not freeing people.  Furthering our own lifestyle, not so much

improving the rest of the world’s.

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I had been experimenting with making chains of rolled money. I wanted the end product to resemble a roll of Black Cat fireworks. It didn’t take long to realize I couldn’t afford to use real money. I’d been toying around with scanning a twenty dollar bill when Photoshop shut down and sent me to a website maintained by the U.S. Secret Service. Apparently they’re really on this shit.

Big brother was kind enough to lay out all the rules and regulations, letting me know what was legal in terms of replicating currency, and what lead to lethal injection. I thought that was pretty amusing since the money didn’t represent anything real to begin with. I considered the proper, moral course of action. I could always unplug the modem.

America is led by plunderers. They promote consumerism, military production and mass consumption all in the name of democracy. Regardless of the public spin, the underlying message is clear – make more, take more.