To make these bowls, twenty dollars worth of quarters and nickels were melted and dripped over a form.

This year in Milan, Nathan D. Paoletta debuted More Than It's Worth, a series of bowls drip-casted from 20 dollars worth of nickels, quarters, demerara sugar, and blank dvds (which we were told were blowtorched into shape).

The project is part of Loaded, presented by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago at Spazio Rossana Orlandi. The exhibition, developed over two semesters, explored the potentials of two historically catalytic materials: iron and sugar. Nathan's work investigates physical expressions of value, reconfiguring familiar metrics by which we understand worth. The bowl shape provides a familiar lens through which we can compare the physical aspects of $20 worth of sugar to $20 worth of DVDs.

More photos after the jump.

Three of the four pieces in the series.

Bowl made from blowtorched DVDs.

Bowl made from sugar.