The Bitcoin Muse

This week on the world’s premier Bitcoin art podcast I speak with Gus Grillasca whose multi-year efforts as a Bitcoin artist have led him down many paths, To some, his rebellious, fun-loving spirit may be triggering but since he found his way to Bitcoin art through pepes, he seems quite comfortable being a potential thorn in your side and to keep your mind pried more open than it might otherwise be. I think Gus makes some reasonable arguments that a more stubborn person, even someone like me, can be persuaded or at least entertain the idea that we haven’t figured it all out. And part of me, even though I like a slim and slender chain, and recognize the true value of scarce block space, there is a window here where artists are at the forefront and one man’s bloat is another man’s expression. The more I do this podcast, the more I realize the answers don’t lie in the present. What we have here is record for historians, decades or maybe centuries from now to evaluate the nascent and profoundly important role bitcoin is playing in the history of art. Remember to rate share and subscribe to The Bitcoin Muse and at the very least tell someone creative in your life about what I’m doing here. Alas, I hope you enjoy this conversation with Gus as his time in service to bitcoin combined with his aesthetic judgment is worth contemplating and perhaps make some room for the novel ideas and artistic exploration he embodies.

"I'm trying to find different ways to talk about bitcoin without using too much contemporary visual language." — Jure Kastelic This week on the world’s premier Bitcoin art podcast I’m joined by painter Jure Kastelic. whose recent, large paintings evoke mythological themes of old melded with the emerging themes that Bitcoin inspires. He's got a great experiences inside the oft-maligned contemporary art world and a family history directly affected by hyperinflation. He's a photographer who found paint was a better medium for exploring bitcoin's unfolding effects on humanity. With some work measuring as large as two meters wide and equally tall, Jure's work is figurative, textured, colorful and somewhat surreal and mysterious. Obviously, I'd encourage everyone to visit his website or Instagram feed to see his work for yourself but if you're driving I can say his work reminds me of Gauguin in Tahiti and Degas mixed with Gustav Klimt and hints of the surrealist, Giorgio de Chirico. It's original and inviting that bears contemplation in its painterly subtleties. With titles like "Pleb with laptop," "Mrs Honey and the Badger" or "P2P" they are smile-inducing nods to Bitcoin and bitcoiners. Be sure to check them out at your leisure at jurekastelic.com or linked from thebitcoinmuse.com. As always, I'd love if you could take a minute to rate, review and share this podcast on your social feeds and with your real life friends. I'm still waiting for a review from someone other than my dad or wife. And if we're ever going to break the ad model of the 20th century I'd encourage you to listen on a podcasting 2.0 app like Fountain or Breeze. There, 10% of all streams and boosts go to OpenSats to help fund bitcoin and other free and open-source projects. And now, we join my conversation with Jure Kastelic as we were discussing the turning of the tables where he's the guest on a podcast rather than the guy listening them. He's not my first guest whose never previously been tapped by the legions of other Bitcoin podcasts but I'm going to put a feather in my cap for that and let you enjoy this episode of The Bitcoin Muse. Please remember to rate, review and most of all share this podcast with the world. Let's try and raise the profile of art and beauty in this world all to often dominated by macro doom & gloom and divisiveness. Let's instead share inspiration about bitcoin and those creating bitcoin art.

"When I hear people talk about Bitcoin it's like a movie trailer for the future." — Michael Gambino This week on the world’s premier Bitcoin art podcast I’m joined by my friend Michael Gambino, co-owner with his wife Lisa of an advertising agency, Kangbino, a college professor and a painter, illustrator, filmmaker and musician. We sat down together in my living room to bring his unique perspective on the matters of bitcoin art and creativity. While he's not a steeped in the bitcoin ethos as I am, I think his innate sense of curiosity and open-mindedness is a treat to explore and to bounce ideas off. We've been friends a long time and he's endured any number of my attempts to orange pill him and his wife. He's always asked interesting questions of me along the way and today's conversation was no exception. It's just us sitting in the same room, a first for this podcast, and letting the conversation drift naturally across the landscape of art and bitcoin. He's the kind of person who makes a good barometer of where we might be in the timeline of the emergent Renaissance 2.0 and I hope you agree. Before we get into it, I'd love if you could take a minute to rate, review and share this podcast on your social feeds and with your real life friends. And remember if you're listening on a podcasting 2.0 app like Fountain or Breez, 10% of those streams and boosts go to OpenSats to help fund bitcoin and other free and open-source projects. Also, a quick note. we recorded this podcast a few months ago and I was holding it in reserve. As a result I broke my streak of mentioning Pubkey somewhere in our chat. Instead, I just said it now so I'm gonna say that counts! Cheers to all of you listening to and sharing The Bitcoin Muse and enjoy the episode with Michael Gambino. Guest Links: Website: Kangbino.com Etsy: KangbinoGallery Vero: kangbinogallery Instagram: @kangbino_gallery Facebook: KangbinoGallery Mentioned in This Episode (sort of): Pubkey | Website

"If someone says they want to be dressed as Rambo riding a unicorn over a rainbow, I'm your guy. I'll make that happen." — World of Rusty This week on the world’s premier Bitcoin art podcast I’m joined by World of Rusty, a memetic engineer, a meme artist, a memer...It's hard to find the right term for this low-fi, brutalist form of messaging so he's our guide to the abundant world of bitcoin memes. As a member of the non-existent collective known as the Memefactory™, he's a passionate artist often consumed by a project for himself or any number of high-profile bitcoiners. Our conversation started in earnest with some kind words about my podcast and we were off to the races. Please rate, review and share this podcast with your circles. Ideally you're listening on a podcasting 2.0 app like Fountain or Breez so 10% of those streams can go to OpenSats to fund bitcoin and other free and open-source projects.

"I see Bitcoin as a counter-culture like Punk or Grunge." — Moozi This week on the world’s premier Bitcoin art podcast I’m joined by Moozi, a creative voice that only recently popped onto my radar. An avowed bitcoin maximalist who his training is own AI models to evoke what he sees in bitcoin. Weather it’s his Persian-inspired painterly swirls or glimpses of an emergent fashion, his work focuses on an ethos of liberation and sovereignty as a means of ushering in the bitcoin-based future.

"It's a message of emancipation... free ourselves, help each other to be free. That's the message of Bitcoin. That's the message of the art." — Marcus Connor Marcus Connor joins me to discuss his most famous creation, The Bitcoin Roller Coaster Guy as well as some of his latest work and ideas around design, artistic discipline and of course, bitcoin. With some time to reflect on my chat, I was reminded of a saying that "the muses have to find you working" and Marcus is a great example of just that, plus, he's a wonderful dose of optimism. Marcus' now iconic roller coaster guy is a perennial fixture on twitter and nostr and alike when bitcoin's volatility kicks in. One you've likely seen, it's an animated cartoon bitcoin, bright orange and smiling with stick-like arms held high while riding in a single red car of a roller coaster as it quickly rises and falls on a wooden track. It's a joyful looped gif that was created in 2013 and as you'll hear, took on a mimetic life of it's own. Today, Marcus continues to explore and express his understanding of bitcoin and his ongoing relationship with his roller coaster guy at bitcoincoaster.com. There you'll find illustrations, sculptures, animations, paintings and consumer products that tap emotions familiar to even the most fresh-faced bitcoiner. Marcus and I were discussing how artists aren't always the best marketers and I chose that as the best place to cut into our conversation. Because these rips don't offer the standard introductions and closing thoughts it's on me to remind you to check the show notes or to visit thebitcoinmuse.com to find links to all my guests, their respective websites and social streams. Please share this podcast on your feeds. Just a simple repost of the episode on Twitter, NOSTR or Vero, helps a ton. I'm 20 episodes in so new listeners have lots to explore. And if you're listening on a podcasting 2.0 app like Fountain or Breez, you should know that 10% of all those streams and boosts split to help @OpenSats fund bitcoin and other free and open-source projects. Sharing this pod helps everyone!

"I will not start producing art for fiat. I want to be a bitcoin artist for the bitcoin community, for bitcoin, nothing else. Fiat is not important to me." — Adam Kadmon This week, Adam Kadmon, a fine artist who is as accomplished with a pencil as he is running his laser cutter to make his incredibly detailed and mathematically precise sculptural art works. Those latter pieces, done in series and painstakingly designed, cut, painted and guided are mesmerizing to see in person. Reminiscent of ornamentation established from earliest antiquity, his Bitcoin Mandalas and Bitcoin Religions are layered high-relief totems evoking bitcoin's clock-like beauty, it's perennial mysteries and embody a notion we fully embrace here at the The Bitcoin Muse, that a Renaissance 2.0 is upon us. Reading some of his own words from his website, his unapologetic commitment to his artistic mission is clear. Through the process of exploring the [bitcoin] rabbit hole, He found his path as an artist. Due to his hatred of the banking system and censorship, and his predestination to create art, he fully dedicated his time and energy to working in that direction. He has never felt more confident in the path he is headed now; to contribute to the Bitcoin community in the best way possible - through his art. Be sure to visit this episode's dedicated webpage at thebitcoinmuse.com or the show notes for links to all Adam's online efforts and galleries of his work. I can't stress enough how important is to share this podcast with the world. I don't exactly do a ton of pushing my work on anyone so any amplification of my tweets go a long way to helping get the message out there. Reposting of the episode on Twitter, NOSTR or Vero, is appreciated. As always, if you're listening on a podcasting 2.0 app like Fountain or Breez, you should know that 10% of all those streams and boosts split to help @OpenSats fund bitcoin and other free and open-source projects. So, Adam and I took some time to chat before recording both to establish a bit of trust and to figure out the parameters of maintaining his anonymity. As is now de rigueur, I later found a spot to drop in where we were discussing the speed of technological advance and the Y2K phenomenon that many fretted at the turn of the millennium. Thanks to Adam Kadmon for sharing his time, energy and sincerity with The Bitcoin Muse.

"I don't understand why every musician isn't writing [music] about Bitcoin or Satoshi." — Roger 9000 This week, Roger 9000, a musician, chocolate-maker, podcaster and a deeply original, free thinking bitcoiner wanders with me on a conversational stroll across a metaphysical landscape of aspirations, dreams, speculations, memories, vexing paradoxes around the meaning of life and the role of bitcoin. I'd love to say I dove deep into Roger's music or chocolate making but as you'll hear, it ended up being more like a late night chat around a campfire where only Roger and I were awake, too immersed in philosophical profundities to notice everyone else had gone to bed. Seven time zones separated Roger and I on the day and the fact that we were being recorded would have seemed like a tertiary concern to both of us if it weren't for the glitchy internet connection and software problems that made a mangled mess of the audio and that I've attempted to recover in post. He's a good-natured and patient fellow and I hope I've done justice to this record of our time together. There are a couple slightly disjointed edits but as a whole, I think it's still a fun and heady rip. I can't stress enough how important is to share this podcast within your circles of creative folks. Even just a simple repost of the episode on Twitter, NOSTR or Vero, helps a ton. And if you're listening on a podcasting 2.0 app like Fountain or Breez, you should know that 10% of all those streams and boosts split to help @OpenSats fund bitcoin and other free and open-source projects. Thanks to Roger 9000 for sharing his time, energy and musical and mythical meanderings. Guest Links: Website: https://www.roger9000.com Website: Bit Choc Rocks Chocolate Making Workshop Twitter: @roger__9000 YouTube: @Roger9000 TikTok: @roger9k Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/roger9000 Instagram: @roger.9000 Podcast: Bitcoin is Love Mentioned in This Episode: The Long Road to Joy: A Guide to Walking Meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh Laurie Anderson | Website Katy Perry Sells Catalog RIghts | Variety Knut Svanholm | Twitter Stanley Kubrick | IMDB The Cosmic Serpent | Amazon Bitcoin Shooter | Episode Adam Back | Twitter Nozomi Hayase | Website Max Keiser | Twitter Oliver Anthony | Twitter Adam Meister | BitcoinMeister Alan Watts | Website Joseph Campbell | Website Ouroboros | Wikipedia

"Most bitcoin artists...love bitcoin so much, they'll do whatever they can do to further its adoption. And creating art is the way they know to do it." — Chris Tramount This episode features Chris Tramount, co-founder of Scarce City, a marketplace to sell bitcoin-inspired art through auctions or directly by using bitcoin. He believes that bitcoin’s finest goods should be sold according to the network’s properties of pseudonymous, borderless, permissionless, trust minimized, and verifiable authenticity and supply. We wander across numerous topics, some triggering, but mostly optimistic around the role technology and artistic intention might play in forging our bitcoin world. This conversation has been a long time coming as his name has come up a few of my previously recorded rips. He spends his days working in behalf of the very creative people for whom I have made the focus of The Bitcoin Muse and I'm genuinely thankful for his efforts. Scarce.city too has become a magnet for artists inspired by bitcoin and I consider it booth a resource and a temptress for my precious sats. Be sure to check it out. Please share this podcast. Even if you just repost me on Twitter, NOSTR or Vero, any additional reach helps. And if you listen on a podcasting 2.0 app like Fountain or Breez, you should know that 10% of all those streams and boosts split to help @OpenSats fund bitcoin and other free and open-source projects. Guest Links: Website: https://scarce.city/ Twitter: @ctramount YouTube: @scarcecity6603 Mentioned In This Episode: Aryan Jabbari Chiefmonkey BTCPay Server House of Medici Music by Brandt Enos V4V on Fountain: https://fountain.fm/show/Auz9HAPsv8VRKBaiEXLw Clay's Links: Clay Enos Photography The Bitcoin Muse https://podcast.show/thebitcoinmuse/ Follow Clay Enos: Vero Twitter Nostr: npub1kl6j2296mvw05ng6m86n4ra34ytycxqxv8df2nx6hk9ytkr06amq3kg5ku

"I will do anything to make bitcoin a success. "For me, it's bitcoin or die." — Cyber This week, Cyber, a Barcelona-based bitcoiner, artist and the founder of Street Cyber, a group of artists whose mission it is to use street art to empower and educate people about bitcoin. Using murals, stickers and wheat-pasted posters, they've reached thousands with their message that bitcoin is a powerful tool for financial freedom. Cyber has a great story of shifting his proprieties and letting the muses direct his efforts, be it by liberally modifying the open-source work of Banksy or selling prints and stickers to fellow plebs ready to spread the word globally. I learned a lot about this relatively new medium of messaging and artistic expression that has me reevaluating my assumptions. For anyone without the time or inclination to click on links in the show notes, I'll take a second to describe the work Cyber is creating. It's the stuff of most urban landscapes if you tune your eye to it. It's the stickers that layer themselves on lamp posts and mailboxes, it's the rouge wheat-pasted posters that appear in marginal corners of construction sites, shadowed building facades or derelict phone booths. It may even be permissioned mural paintings under bridges or in a playground. It's made, displayed and left to the whims of neighborhoods and municipal authorities to last a night, a fortnight, or more. The Street Cyber aesthetic is that of Banksy. A bold and familiar stencil of something common or benign, a girl with balloons, a monkey wearing a sandwich board, or a Mario Brother, re-contextualized to serve a bitcoin message. Often but not elusively rendered in black and white with a deftly chosen splash of orange. These are arresting but not ugly. They're clever but not silly. They're pleasing to the eye with their familiar iconography but also deeply satisfying for the curious or savvy. Text is employed where appropriate but often just the bitcoin symbol is sufficient. It's bold stuff often made more so by context. I hope that helps and that my attempts at describing the art tempts you to visit streetcyber.art at your leisure. Please share this podcast. Even if you just repost me on Twitter, Vero or NOSTR, I'm grateful. And if you listen on a podcasting 2.0 app like Fountain or Breez, you should know that 10% of all those streams and boosts split to help @OpenSats fund bitcoin and other free and open-source projects. My conversation with Cyber begins by him asking me questions rather than the other way around. I could have edited it out but decided to leave it, Enjoy my rip with Cyber. Website: streetcyber.art Store: streetcyber.store Twitter Feed: @streetcyber_ Instagram: @streetcyber.art Geyser Fund Bitcoin: The Art of Revolution Exhibition NOSTR: npub1h5cmp8kys9dkzysv4wha3wuzruadalhtj82zyznscsx6fkw2efysje0yp0 Mentioned In This Episode Banksy Grokking Bitcoin Banksy: Elephant in the Room