Screen Print
US In Ruins
Curtis William Readel · 2026
Part of the BMAG Permanent Collection
Creator
Curtis William ReadelYear
2026
Dimensions
Sheet 10 × 20 in (25 × 51 cm)
Materials
3-color hand-pulled screen print on Mohawk Superfine Ultrawhite, 160. Cut edges. Signed and numbered. Edition of 25.
Location
BMAG Nashville
Collection
In the museum's care
Type
Screen Print
Exhibition
Paper MoneyAbout This Work
Three prints (Treasury In Ruins, White House In Ruins, Capitol In Ruins) return to the subject of Readel's 2008–2009 MFA thesis, in which the monuments on the back of U.S. bills collapse. A 2010 woodcut titled US Treasury In Ruins places this imagery in his practice for well over a decade.
Provenance
Exhibited
Paper Money, Oct 11 – Nov 29, 2026
About the Artist
Curtis William Readel
Curtis William Readel (American, b. 1981) is a Chicago-based artist and master printmaker whose work examines money, power, institutional authority, and the symbols embedded in American visual culture. He received a BFA from the University of Iowa and an MFA in Printmaking from Northern Illinois University. United States currency has been a recurring material and subject in his work since at least 2007, when he made pieces from shredded dollar bills. His MFA thesis turned the monuments printed on American currency into images of a collapsing empire, with presidential portraits deteriorating into skull-like forms. Readel is a co-founder of the Chicago print studio POP!NK Editions, established in 2014, where he has helped produce hand-pulled editions with artists including Hebru Brantley, Ryan Travis Christian, Carlos Rolon, Karl Wirsum, FUTURA, Swoon, and Ben Frost.
18 works in the BMAG collection
Now on View
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