These images develop in part from Alex Da Corte’s appreciation for the “Cat o’ nine tails” entry on Wikipedia. Or rather, its photograph: one cat o’ nine tails, brown shag, U.S. dollar bill; shot from above, stilted, over-lit, and distasteful in that your-neighbor’s-recroom way. Alex kept the downward gaze (distaste intact) then upped the ante with models—frozen, stunted—placed to and fro amongst shampoo bottles, boas, Swiffer bits, candy canes, fabrics galore, etc. The models lay contorted on the ground, blankly seized in gravitas defying expressions. These are photographs; still, Alex is a sculptor first and foremost, setting up relationships between objects. So he also included a dollar bill there in the corner, for comparison. What’s the scale? Let’s just say you can get gussied up whichever way you like. Go sheen dom sub twee prep retro norm. No matter—if you aren’t positioned to feel the rush of that teetering effect market gravity has on each and every step you take in the stiletto power heels of capital your pay’s below, and any which way you lose. You’re reclining on the brown shag business side of the dollar.