Bedford Gallery

Bedford Gallery, a program of the City of Walnut Creek, exhibits the work of historic, modern, and contemporary artists. The Gallery is dedicated to providing the public with opportunities to learn about visual arts through public programs that are varied, accessible, challenging, and educational. Its mission is to provide exhibitions and other programs that both reflect and engage the diverse audiences of the entire Contra Costa region.

Exhibits

Living in a capitalist society, our lives are consumed with the constant exchange of money for goods and services. We rely on these transactions to meet our wants and needs from food and shelter to entertainment and travel. A lack of financial means can cause serious, life-threatening instability and hardship. For those who are financially solvent, there seems to be an insatiable desire for more. Given this tumultuous relationship, it is rare for us to consider the aesthetic value of currency, seeking to use bills and coins as a creative medium vs. a means to an end.

Cultural Currency: Contemporary Art from the Riemer Collection explores the innovative ways artists use money as a medium to expand its value beyond a given denomination. Each of the national and international artists in the exhibition investigates preconceived definitions of monetary value, meticulously repurposing bills and coins into exquisite, precise artworks. Universally relevant, humorous and, at times, critical, Cultural Currency asks us to consider how the definition of currency can be reshaped into a multifaceted object steeped in meaning and intrigue.

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