Crypto’s ‘pro-rioter’ glitch artist stirs controversy — Patrick Amadon, NFT Creator – Cointelegraph Magazine
Patrick Amadon blends a passion for art with activism and clearly articulates how he intends to make an impact with his work.
The Los Angeles-based glitch artist, a self-proclaimed “digital disobedient,” is no stranger to controversy, having made international headlines for his “No Rioters” digital billboard that he unveiled at Hong Kong Art Week in March. It was eventually removed due to its political overtones.
He also made headlines when he pulled out of Sotheby’s first glitchy show, objecting to a lineup of artists that included no women or non-binary artists.
(For those unfamiliar, glitch The art intentionally contains numerical or analogical errors. )
Like many other artists, Beeple’s historic $69 million NFT auction in March 2021 caught Amadon’s attention. He had been making digital art for over a decade but couldn’t put a value on it.
“When I saw all the news about the Beeple auction, I kind of ignored the $69 million figure, which wasn’t that interesting to me, but I do remember thinking, ‘Wait, someone’s selling digital art. , how does this work,'” Amadon said.
“I’ve been doing this for ten years, but I’m stuck in no man’s land. I do physical work, but I prefer to do digital work. My audience prefers digital work, but there’s really nothing you can do with it in the art world . ”
Numbers disobey
Amadon is a profound thinker who works incredibly hard to make his art purposeful. He also embraces much of the cryptocurrency ethos and believes that those who follow the crowd are somewhat digitally disobedient.
“I mean, if you get into crypto, it’s because you’re rejecting something. You’re rejecting something in the financial world, you embrace sovereignty, you embrace self-custody, self-reliance. There’s something social that you reject. The elements that got you here to begin with.”
“I think we’re really destroying a lot of the existing structures. We’re creating hell for a lot of gatekeepers. We’re opening the door for a lot of artists. We don’t have anyone here who’s adhering to what we’re supposed to be doing.”
“I feel like we’ve all really embraced disobedience in a lot of ways, because no one in the traditional finance world wants you to think cryptocurrencies are valid. No one in the art world wants you to think cryptocurrencies are valid. Since we’re here, if You look at what society considers normal and acceptable, and we all disobey.”
Amadon sees art as a medium to express his passion for activism and because it can point to social issues he cares about. He worked incredibly hard to give his art a purpose.
“I like to do things with a purpose. Often, I like to use art as a conduit to comment on certain socioeconomic or political conditions. Or cultural nuances, or just something that makes the space feel more confrontational,” A Ma Dong said.
“I think narrative storytelling is art, and I think aesthetics is really the voice you tell it in. That’s why I think concept is the most critical element in a work of art. It has to say something that a lot of us can say the same thing. I What it means is that aesthetics becomes its voice again.”
“No thugs” exist Hong Kong Art Week
Embracing his digital rebellion and desire to use art beyond aesthetics, Amadon shamelessly owns his work “no thugs” show on Giant digital advertising billboard Above the Sogo Department Store Causeway Bay store during Hong Kong Art Week.
The glitch art centers on a monitor swinging from side to side, but the main provocation is to display the names and prion terms of pro-democracy activists from 2019.
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“This is a block-sized billboard in the middle of the government-sponsored Hong Kong Arts Week. Let’s just be a little bit disobedient, I thought. I followed the Hong Kong protests in 2019 very closely. I’ve been in the news since the dawn of the internet Hawks, so I wanted to post something to honor the protesters,” Amaton said.
“I put a giant security camera in there, and then every 10 frames or so it would flash the names of the protesters, their sentences, and examples of the government beating protesters and throwing them in jail. Under Hong Kong’s national security law, public These are illegal and I put it on the biggest billboard in Hong Kong for three days in a row during Art Week, which was great.”
As the names flashed in real time throughout the artwork, imperceptibly and unnoticed, the billboard remained on for 72 hours before Art Innovation Gallery (the gallery Amadon had collaborated with to display the piece) notified him. The owner of Sogo department store worried about the hidden political content behind the work.
“Hong Kong’s free media found out about it, so they wrote an article about it, and then the next day, the BBC and global media reported on it, and the Chinese media pushed back, saying I support Riot – that’s what I said.” Love, because I’m definitely rooting for the rioters. “
“So it was banned by the government, and I joined Winnie the Pooh on the list of banned free speech.”
janitor out
Amadon believes the Web3/cryptocurrency space still has a long way to go, but he is equally optimistic about the technology’s potential to democratize the art industry for artists and collectors.
“From a collecting perspective, from an experience art perspective, from an art making perspective, it’s huge. You no longer need a brother or sister or cousin to work at the company Gagosian Try selling physical objects and sit at the main table in the art world,” Amadon said.
“If you’re from a marginalized community or a third world country, it’s really difficult to participate in the art world. What we’re doing with this technology is we’re really flattening the space tremendously, and we’re allowing people like this Osinech and Shell number nine Meaningfully engage with an art world that was previously difficult to access. We are very approachable and very accommodating. “
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In May of this year, Amadon partnered with Transient Labs to launch a unique Doppelganger drop. As an artist fascinated by the fusion of art and technology, Doppelganger explores the feeling of linking irreplaceable tokens to a range of art rather than pointing to a single image.
“Because we were just starting to understand the possibilities of digital art, and what is possible when digital art is combined with smart contracts on the blockchain, I contacted Transient Labs and asked them to build a token that points to an array. Instead of Tokens that point to a single connection. Dual is built on that.”
The contract is owned by the artist and essentially allows multiple images to be included into a single NFT. The user can choose which artwork to point to, and the artist can add new artwork, but can never subtract from it.
“Essentially think of them as frozen metadata. They never change and only the collector can control what it points to. As a collector you get to choose the art you want to display. I think we have about 12- 13 different parts. I’m going to add another one soon. I’m just going to keep expanding it because I can keep adding to it, but I can never subtract from it,” he said.
Doppelgänger now has 13 artworks to choose from. There are plans to continue to develop this over the years. 🤝
— Patrick Amadon (@patrickamadon) October 30, 2023
Significant sales to date
Amadon’s first Ethereum mint is Zover His first mint on Tezos was RGB glitch 2013.
Notable sales include:
Quick Q&A
Influence
“I really love Edward Snowden and Banksy. I grew up with all the abstract artists, aesthetically speaking, so that’s how I first got into making art. I’m really into Love textures and abstract art. People like Judge (Gerhard)”.
“In the (Web3) field, there are many people like clone, Maximum capacity and children’s video camera. There was a community on Tumblr that was solving the problem that still exists, so it’s cool to see.all that I know parker Since 2013, the Twitter art community has turned to NFTs in many interesting ways. ”
personal artistic style
“Glitch. But my background is in street art. I photograph it, I contribute to it. I’ve always loved graffiti. Glitch merges with graffiti.”
“banksy He has always been the artist I respect the most in terms of how they approach the art world and how they convey messages from their art. ”
famous collector
“I have to say anonymous. Throughout the entire process, Anonymoux became like family. He picked up some of my 1 of 1. The relationship between collector and artist is very strong. The amount of support you get from them really makes it possible for you to do it at a higher level. Honestly, the outpouring of support I’ve received from Anonymoux over the past few years has truly been life-changing. “
Which popular NFT artist should we pay attention to?
“I would say one of the biggest initiatives I’m working on right now is 404 Directory. This is a quarterly exhibition where anyone can attend a work by each artist. For artists, it’s an opportunity to be stripped of any change, stripped of a platform. I just want to be completely agnostic and social media and presence don’t matter, what matters is the art and giving artists the opportunity to be seen just for their art. “
Favorite NFT in your wallet that is not your own
“Ana Maria Caballero1 of 1. I went to pick her up Ethereum genesis fragment. She is an incredible poet. We have become friends in the NFT field very early on.”
What do you listen to when making art:
“I work in complete silence. If there’s any noise, I put my headphones on noise-canceling mode. If something distracts me, I get distracted.”
“Having said that, in terms of music in my favorite areas, I would mention Mariana Makwaya, I think she’s an incredible musician, but also does some really interesting tech stuff in the space. She used a doppelgänger contract to produce her album. Each track has its own metadata, which I think is a great use of this technology. ”
link
website: patrickamadon.com
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Greg Oakford
Greg Oakford is the co-founder of the Australian NFT Fest. Greg is a former marketing and communications expert in the sports world who now focuses on running events, creating content and consulting in web3. He is an avid NFT collector and hosts a weekly podcast covering all things NFT.
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