Funny Money

“Knowledge,” the new mural at the Green Villain just asks you to interpret its imagery. After all, it was created for a specific occasion, Thanksgiving, there’s a big “Thank” up there in Gothic letters, flanked by two figures obviously representing Native Americans, albeit with some distinctive “modern” touches. But no turkeys to speak of.

So, yeah, what’s I mean?

But I don’t want to take on the whole mural. Just a segment. Look here at the lower left, just above the stage:

I really really want to see that as a parody of paper money, American style. It is green, after all, the traditional color attributed to money—green backs and all. And the proprietor of the place, when asked about the name, Green Villain, did say something about money as the root of all evil. So, money. Funny money.

Instead of complex engraving in the background we’ve got that green vermiculated work, which is the nom de guerre of one of the artists, Distort.

And instead of a US President in the middle, we’ve got a Native American, a man of some status among his people as indicated by the many feathers in his headdress.

But what’s he smoking? And that purple, what is it? Purple haze perhaps? And where’s it leaking to? See it there at the upper right, leaking out of the confines to the funny money and into the rest of the mural.

Just won’t behave.

Meaning’s like that. Leaking all over the place. Won’t behave. Money’s like that too. Couple of years ago it leaked the economy all to hell. Dangerous.