Luke Cornish, also known as ELK, is among Australia’s foremost contemporary artists. This work comes from his maverick series, Dissimulation, made in collaboration with Melbourne papermakers Dodgy Paper. Its substrate contains blended bank notes from all the world’s 195 countries – gathered from the artist’s travels, community and eBay. Each note’s value is too small to exchange, reconfigured instead into a commentary on the false promise that assets buy freedom.

Atop each sheet of handmade paper, ELK has skillfully captured a national bird with aerosol paint. There is another detail to spy too: incorporated within the work’s box frame lies a pastiche of $50 banknotes, hidden from immediate view. This unexpected intervention brings a note of wit and artifice, inviting a closer look and rewarding the viewer with something beyond the striking image of the bird itself.

For collectors of Australian contemporary art, works on paper and ELK’s distinctive fusion of street-art sensibility and painstaking craftsmanship, Scarlet Ibis, Trinidad and Tobago is a wonderful find – a sly commentary on the empty promises of fast money.

ELK Luke CORNISH (1979 - )
'Scarlet Ibis, Trinidad and Tobago'
Aerosal and handmade paper
Edition of 10
Image Size: 42 x 30 cm
Dimensions: 52 x 43 x 4 cm
Signed: Titlled and signed ELK in margin
Condition is very good
(c) The Artist or Assignee