Artist Spends Last Cash to Make an Economic Statement

The fruits of Brian Rushton Phillips' labor, made of 208 U.S. $1 bills and thread.

When Toronto-based conceptual artist Brian Rushton Phillips lost his job as an art designer in February, he decided to make an artistic statement about his lot and that of millions of others in today’s economy. So he sewed up 208 U.S. $1 bills and made a blanket—what he calls his “Financial Security (Blanket).”

“Blanket,” of course, is something of an misnomer here: Phillips’ creation doesn’t provide an ounce of financial security or ample shelter. In fact, the cash he used to make the blanket was Phillips’ last. He is now living on credit. I recently interviewed Phillips about his project by email. Below are excerpts from our conversation:

Tell me how you went about making the blanket. Where did the money you used came from? And how hard was it to sew together?

The bills were sewn together on a standard Singer sewing machine using dark green embroidery thread. It was a painstaking process which took months to complete. The final blanket is actually the second attempt. The cash that was used to create the blanket is my last. I am presently living on credit.

You mentioned that the first blanket didn’t work out. So were you planning to have a little cash left over—say, the cash you used to make the second blanket—to live off of?

The first blanket was constructed at a time when my available cash was greater. There wasn’t a plan to have cash left over to live from. It just turned out that the last of my cash was used to complete the final blanket.

Why did you decide to use the rest of your cash on this project and just live on credit?

It seemed appropriate under the circumstances, to use what little cash I had left on this project. I felt it mirrored the fate of so many others in today’s economic climate.

Is there anything you’ve learned from living purely on credit that you might not have expected?

Living solely on credit, with an uncertain financial future, has taught me the true value of cash and encouraged a re-evaluation of my living expenses and lifestyle.

Phillips putting his blanket to use outside a Bank of America.

What does the blanket symbolize for you? What do you hope other people see when they look at photos from the “Financial Security (Blanket)” project?

The blanket is a comment on the failure of the mortgage and credit industries, and it symbolizes my own financial uncertainty and the fragility of our economy. I would like viewers to walk away with this understanding.