Counterfeit to Canvas: Shredded & Crumpled Dollar Bills by Arthur J. Williams Jr.

Arthur J. Williams Jr.’s story sounds like a Hollywood script: a South Side Chicago counterfeiter who once cracked the uncrackable, the 1996 hundred dollar bill, printing millions in fake currency before a stint in federal prison changed his life’s course. But what sets Arthur apart is what he did afterward. Behind bars, he taught himself to paint, turning his old obsession with money into an entirely new art form.

Years after his release, during the pandemic lockdowns, he began experimenting with ways to capture the fragile, familiar texture of a dollar bill stuffed in a pocket, crumpled, creased and forgotten. After countless experiments, he landed on what he calls his “Space Material,” a special paper that stiffens when crumpled, letting him sculpt his large-scale dollar bills into distorted, frozen forms.

Equally striking are his shredded bill pieces, direct nods to his counterfeiting days, when he would destroy any fake that didn’t meet his high standards. Today, he recreates that same destruction on canvas, transforming this symbol of wealth and temptation into something raw, honest, and strangely beautiful.

More art on the grid via Instagram