Little Blue Phase

Stemming from Leirner’s long engagement with paper currency as a found material, Little Blue Phase is made up of thousands of one-hundred cruzado notes. These bills were rendered relatively worthless by Brazil’s runaway inflation. By transforming this weak currency into art, Leirner plays with the notion of value. Through painstaking efforts, each banknote was collected, sorted, punched with a hole, and threaded onto a supporting cord. This laborious and transformative process serves to restore value to the notes.

The series title Blue Phase stems from the color of this issue of the cruzado note, which features an image of Juscelino Kubitschek, president of Brazil from 1956 to 1961. Leirner likewise intended Blue Phase as a reference to Pablo Picasso’s so-called Blue Period, traditionally ascribed to his somber works of 1901–04.