Piesă de Doi Bani, chocolate coin wrapped in tin foil, 50 Ø x 4,50 cm / stand, 100 x 21x 21 cm, 2011.

Chocolate coin representing King Albert II of Belgium on one side and 2 Euro value on the other side.

Piesă de Doi Bani (literally, coin of 2) is a tongue-in-cheek / black humour expression in Romanian, meaning something cheap for some, but not for others; something cheap but not worthless. The title is also à clin d’œil to Magritte’s “The Treachery of Images”: it’s a piece (art work) but not a coin; it’s chocolate but it’s not for eating; it’s a worthless coin that intends to gain value as art.

My mother worked all her life in the unique Romanian chocolate factory (Kandia), which in the post-communism period went bankrupt and closed.
Because of the economical situation, the poverty, most workers of the factory “extract” everyday some chocolates from the factory (they were stealing), so this chocolates it can be sold “under the table” and ameliorate the personal economies of the workers.

I remember at one point we had the wardrobe full of chocolates, a Paradise of any child at my age that time.

There are always two sides to a coin: “royalty” on one, small change on the other. Fluctuating between the good life and barely making it.