The Million Series
An expression of the greed, the value, the selfishness and the worth
To scratch something that is worth a million dollars
The Million series was conceived in 2002 not long after Lally moved to France. The challenge was to create artworks using a subject that could convey greed, value, selfishness and worth. It took a while before he decided on the figure of 1000000, which was the only subject that he felt, did not fall into a pitiful cliché.
Scratched on wood panels 1000000 times between 2005 and 2020, The Million series are the first art works of the 21st century that follows in the footsteps of artist like Whistler, Picasso, Duchamp, Balthus, Serrano and Hirst that question the very nature of what art represents, and what is its worth.
RED MILLION 01
This was the first Million, it was 6 months in when some of the paint began coming away from the wood, which led to the realisation, maybe it would have been better to prime the surface. Shortly after, the painting was started again
Artist: Lally
Medium: Acrylic on wood
Year: 2005 – 2020
Size: 150cm/100CM
Price: $1000000
GREEN MILLION 01
This is the ugly duckling, yet the artists favourite, it is both the same colour as the dollar bill and if you look at it long enough, it appears to be transforming into a green monochrome version of Munch’s scream
Artist: Lally
Medium: Acrylic on wood
Year: 2005 – 2020
Size: 150cm/100CM
Price: $1000000
We are all just scratching on the surface
John Lally
Artist and painter
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