Paul Rousso

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About the artwork

Paul Rousso's "Coca Cola International" is a striking sculpture that playfully merges global consumer culture with the concept of wealth. The artwork features a stack of meticulously rendered, crumpled international currencies seemingly overflowing from a classic Coca-Cola cup. Utilizing his signature thermoforming technique, Rousso transforms these everyday materials into a permanent, three-dimensional form that is both visually arresting and conceptually rich. The piece creates a witty juxtaposition between a ubiquitous global beverage brand and the diverse currencies of the world, prompting viewers to consider the interconnectedness of commerce, consumerism, and financial systems on a global scale. It's a vibrant commentary on modern materialism, presented with Rousso's characteristic hyperrealistic precision.

About the artist

American artist Paul Rousso transforms the fleeting into the monumental. Renowned for his hyperreal, oversized sculptures of crumpled currency, candy wrappers, newspapers, and glossy magazine pages, Rousso interrogates our relationship with media, materialism, and memory. His works playfully immortalize what is typically tossed aside—objects meant to be consumed and forgotten—elevating them into timeless icons of contemporary culture. Rousso’s practice draws from a diverse background in scenic design, digital manipulation, and commercial art direction, all of which converge in his meticulously crafted sculptures.

Through a proprietary process of heat infusion on plexiglass and other materials, he sculpts paper-thin forms that mimic real-life textures with startling accuracy. The result is artwork that is both technically impressive and conceptually resonant—wrinkled banknotes and discarded ads become touchpoints for nostalgia, identity, and cultural commentary. Influenced by Pop Art masters like Lichtenstein and Warhol, as well as the fantastical stylings of Dr. Seuss, Rousso infuses his work with wit, color, and scale. But beneath the playful surface lies a quiet urgency: a meditation on the impermanence of media in a world where physical print is vanishing.

By preserving these ephemeral artifacts in larger-than-life form, he invites viewers to pause, reflect, and consider what we value—and what we throw away.