New York artist Peter Simensky investigates the mechanisms by which value is assigned, accounted for, stored, and exchanged. He utilizes a strategy of appropriation that blurs the distinction between fiction and reality, art and commerce, to both participate in and critique the current overheated art market.

Under the umbrella title Neutral Capital, Simensky has developed an alternative currency system that acquires value through acquisition and exchange in the art market. Neutral Capital bill multiples, which were first presented at the 2005 Armory Show in New York, were bought by collectors who in turn used them to purchase artwork by other artists—at once assigning a market value to the currency and expanding their collection.

Cerca Series: Peter Simensky will present the original Neutral Capital bill collages and the Neutral Capital Collection—a mobile gallery-in-a-box that houses artworks by prominent international artists purchased using Neutral Capital. New video and sculptural plaster multiples—created in Los Angeles, San Diego and Tijuana—made for this exhibition, expand Neutral Capital into the arena of informal trade, treasure hunts, and other speculative narratives.

Cerca Series: Peter Simensky is made possible by members of MCASD’s Corporate Council.