What inspired this artist to create intricate wood carvings of paper money?

[Stephen Tashi]

Various artists have made art that represents money. One that I find astounding is a guy who carves(!) representations of paper money out of wood. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?161218-quot-old-money-quot

 

[phinds]

Yeah, it's amazing what wood carvers sometimes do. There's a guy in Italy who carves full rooms (dining room table with silverware, bookshelves, etc, full size) and he carved a VW Beetle that he drives around in the canals of Venice to the astonishment of tourists.

The VW is about half-way down the page here:

http://greenbuzzz.com/art/most-amazing-and-artistic-wood-carving/

Obviously not as detailed as the painting on the currency carving you linked to, but an interesting type of carving.

 

[leroyjenkens]

I could take a box and pile money inside of it and it still wouldn't look as realistic as his woodcarving of money in a box. That's stupid-good. I wouldn't believe it was wood if I only saw the final product.

 

[Vagrant]

This just blew my mind:

thanks jeff...a year and a half ago i was in a serious accident and shattered my right hand and wrist. god gave me an incredible gift but he took half of it back. since then i have learned it is far more about imagination and tenacity than physical talent. i used to have the steadiest hand possible...now not so much. i used to do the bills by drawing and painting over a background color with no mistakes. now they are little paintings where the background color is re applied until it looks right. sometimes many layers to do what i could once do on the first try. the carving is all about tenacity and a willingness to just go for it.