Mischievous Masterpieces

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Over the past two decades, artist Robert Wechsler has focused his work on the U.S. cent. He specializes in encouraging his audience to see familiar objects in a delightfully unfamiliar light. In addition to cents, Wechsler has worked with a multitude of found objects from bikes to toasters, but his true medium is the element of surprise. 

Most recently, he created a 100,000-cent cube in which he cut notches into each coin and pieced them together to form a lattice. This process took him seven years to complete. “I was worried that the penny would be canceled and removed from currency before I finished, because if I finished the piece after that, it would be nothing but a memorial to the penny,” says Wechsler. “And I didn’t like that idea because, for me, it has a lot more to say.” 

This coin has fascinated Wechsler ever since he was a kid and his grandfather would pretend to pull a penny out of his ear. He kept those coins in an orange Tupperware container because they felt magical to him. He carries on that magic with his creations. His large cube sculpture follows other latticed cent projects, including a rhombus, a column, and a variety of other geometric shapes. He also created a piece called 1000 Libertys, which consists of the legend LIBERTY cut from 1,000 U.S. cents, arranged in a gradient from shiniest to most tarnished. Toning, patina, and just plain dirtiness are part of the cent’s charm in this artist’s eyes. “It’s like a little world.”

I spoke with Wechsler about his artistic inspiration, creative methods, and upcoming projects.

Olivia McCommons: How did the idea to lattice coins originate? What inspired you to try that for the first time?

Robert Wechsler: In my work, I take ordinary objects and transform them into something extraordinary. These creations give the audience an opportunity to rediscover some of the marvels we too often take for granted in our day-to-day lives. The penny cube encourages viewers to reconsider the penny in a new light; in assemblage the humble penny becomes novel and monumental. 

Every American has a connection to the U.S. penny. Pennies are rich with meaning—a monument to a beloved president, made of the same metal as the Statue of Liberty. Pennies have been the smallest monetary token of the world’s largest economy. They are deeply familiar but often ignored, as common objects always are.  

I could make a cube out of washers and it would possess many of the formal qualities that the penny cube does, but it wouldn’t speak to our relationship to money, democracy, Lincoln’s legacy, childhood piggy banks, wishing wells, good luck, memorials, liberty or any of the other complex themes of the penny. 

OM: I’m sure our readers are itching to know if a numismatic expert reviews your pennies before they meet the blade to check for rare, valuable dates or special error coins. Is this part of your process?

RW: Your readers may be relieved to know that I screen my pennies very carefully. I will not claim to be a “numismatic expert,” but I am detail-oriented, and I have a great fondness for pennies. I’ve spent 15 years handling hundreds of thousands of them. 

I inspect every penny I use at least 3 times during the production of a piece. The large cubes contain the most common pennies, specifically, zinc-core Memorial pennies dated 1982 through 2008.  I’m careful to put aside any rare or unusual coins I find; including coins with unique patinas.

I have on occasion made special pieces for friends using rarer pennies. I once made a cube using 540 1943 steel cents. 

I’ve been accused more than once of “destroying” pennies, but I don’t see it that way. The coins I use remain largely intact and rather than being destroyed, I see these coins as being preserved, frozen in time, and placed in a framework that ensures they will not be lost but carefully kept and appreciated in a specific and meaningful way. But yes, I screen my coins very carefully. 

OM: In reviewing your portfolio, I see that your pieces play with the line between the whimsical and the uncomfortable—therefore, your art asks questions. Our readers look at coins extremely carefully—a common adage in the numismatic community is “Don’t forget the third side: the edge!” In what ways would you encourage coin collectors to view the object of their hobby differently?

RW: My work is only tangential to numismatics. Advising your readers on how to view their coins feels like visiting a foreign land as a tourist and offering the locals advice on how best to spice their cuisine. I wouldn’t presume to give that kind of advice. 

I love the adage  “don’t forget to look at the third side.” Observation is the engine behind human understanding; it is the cornerstone of both science and art. While working closely with coins over the years I’ve gained a deep appreciation of the numismatic community for its celebration of careful observation. 

If my artwork is about anything, it’s about reminding people to look twice. After seeing my coin work people sometimes say to me, “I’ll never look at pennies the same way again,” and I’m glad to hear it. It’s gratifying to open a person’s eyes so they see something new in a thing they’ve seen a million times before. I also hope that helping people to flex the mental muscle of observation will help them to see other parts of their world differently too.

OM: Now that the U.S. Mint will no longer produce any new cents for circulation, will you continue to make penny art? If so, how will its meaning change? If not, do you have a different medium in mind?

RW: With the end of penny production I have been thinking a lot about how I will move forward. I’ve been anxiously anticipating the end of the penny for nearly as long as I’ve been working with them. The stopping of production changes the meaning of my art, and that’s something I’ve been considering. 

Value is something that gets discussed a great deal in relation to art. We are all familiar with the idea of the starving artist and we are all familiar with the idea of a priceless painting. When I make work using actual money, people react to that. 

Small objects made of pennies are received lightheartedly. They are neat novelty objects. People see a little penny cube and feel compelled to tell me things like “I hate pennies” or  “I just throw my pennies away” or “glad someone knows what to do with them.”  

Large penny sculptures provoke a different reaction. It angers some people, who say I am “destroying money” or “wasting money.” This change in reaction is interesting to me because of course pennies were still pennies, but at the scale of thousands of pennies, people stopped thinking about coins and just started seeing “money.” But those same people wouldn’t think of money when looking at a copper statue. The penny is a trivial amount of money, yes, but it’s still money, and we understand in our bones that money is powerful and important. The penny is still in circulation, but the cessation of production brings the coin one big step closer to no longer being money.