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ArtistIn the foreground a man with a face like a 40 year-old Jonathan Banks is seated facing forward at a wooden table on which rest a small pile of silver coins next to a single 9mm bullet cartridge placed upright. The man looks at these two objects with a facial expression that is both serious and slightly weary. He is dressed in a plain black leather jacket over gray button down shirt and is wearing a silver and blue Philadelphia Police Department badge on a chain around his neck. Dim light shines down on the man and the table but the background is dark and lacking detail except for a few tendrils of cigarette smoke.
"Plata o plomo," which means "silver or lead," is an expression arising from within narcoculture that effectively means "take the money or die." It was supposedly the standard threat used by Pablo Escobar's men to intimidate and corrupt Columbian law enforcement. The concept and image were both largely inspired by the character of Mike Ehrmantraut, played by Jonathan Banks, from the shows Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul--a corrupt former cop haunted by regret even as he works for monsters. The image depicts the moment of choice--whether to accept or stand up to corruption. I initially was displeased with the oversized but then I realized that both bullet and coins are constructs, existing only as metaphor. Silver is a symbol for bribery (I'm reasonably sure drug dealers aren't bribing cops with silver dollars these days) while the bullet represents the unavoidable threat of violence.
