Welcome to Weekly Artist Interviews! A Conversation with Adam Kadmon

A Short, Deep Interview with Featured Artist, Adam Kadmon

Which of your pieces do you feel most expresses your deepest feelings and/or insights about bitcoin, and why?

This would be my Bitcoin Religion series. Work on this panel began 1-2 years before I even had the opportunity to cut it out and test it. I had to put it all together in my head because any mistake would cost me money, as I didn't have my own machine at the time.

While developing this panel, I learned the basics of the technology, the most significant events that have happened over the years, I studied Satoshi's letters and did my own research on the latitude from which the letters were most likely sent based on the response times. I learned that there is nothing random in the mathematics behind it, and the interconnection between the numbers 3, 6, and 9 led me down a rabbit hole.

These were the things that captivated me, and the things I emphasize in everything I have done over the years. In many of the things I have created, I have embedded hidden symbolism that I have never even spoken about. Those who have eyes will see 🙂

What are you most looking forward to being different and improved when the world is fully hyperbitcoinized?

I expect the world to become much more honest. And I believe this will be one of the most important changes, which in turn will be fundamental for many other changes based on it. Regardless of what values we are talking about, regardless of how many institutions and NGOs we create, a world built on credit is a dishonest and doomed world. Dishonest, above all, to future generations.

Why do you make art, and specifically bitcoin art?

Throughout my life, I have felt that there is something very wrong with the world we live in. I used to think that the reason was the very existence of money, the banking system, etc. By studying Bitcoin and the history of money, I realized that money itself is not the problem, but rather that we have a misunderstanding of money. To this day, I don't see a better tool than Bitcoin for building a more honest world based on rules that are equal for everyone.

I would explain it to a child this way: a world in which a select group of people have access to the money printer cannot be honest. I just want to help this movement in the best way I can. I love to create, so my art is my contribution to the community. That is my main driving force.

What do you hope people see or understand when they look at your art?

I hope they ask themselves questions, haha. Why are there 36 rays, why is the panel made of 9 layers, what happened during the mining of these blocks? Is it a coincidence that there are 72 leaves? I see 33 separate sectors here, interesting. Why did he spend so much time on the back of the panel? After all, it is constantly facing the wall. You know… questions like that.

What was one of your biggest fears in life in general that you conquered, and how did you overcome it?

I can think of many difficult moments in my life, but I cannot describe them as fear. The only fear I can think of is the fear of death, and I hope to overcome it before it happens.

Speak about a "failure" in your Bitcoin art journey taught you the most and ultimately reshaped your practice?

Art is not perfect. These are incompatible words. I have learned that every mistake you make while creating is part of the process. Unpredictable and real. Your job as a creator is to make that "mistake" look like something planned and part of the whole. Call me lazy, but that's what I believe. And when AI takes over art, this will be the main thing that distinguishes human art from that of artificial intelligence. It cannot make a mistake unintentionally; every mistake it makes would be intentional. Many jobs will disappear, but art is safe.

Looking back, what single moment in your Bitcoin journey flipped your creative identity from “artist who uses Bitcoin” to “Bitcoin artist”?

This brings me back to a person with whom we are still in contact today. We could call him the OG in this field. He was the first person to ask me, "Why don't you make art that you can sell for Bitcoin?" The idea sounded very weak to me, as I couldn't imagine anyone parting with their precious sats to buy something I had created. Of course, I was thinking from my own perspective, not realizing that there were already multimillionaires with thousands of coins from the previous all-time high. I'm glad I listened to him.

I made a Bitcoin box, which I put up for sale on Open Bazaar. It was the only platform I knew of at the time. I sold the box a few days later, and those were my first sats from something I had created. I was so happy that I sent an encrypted letter to the buyer along with the box. I had no idea if it was legal, so I avoided words like Bitcoin and crypto. I explained to him, that this order changed my life. From that moment on, there was no turning back. I had never been more convinced that this was my path.

Is there anything else you would like to speak about?

I would like to thank to absolutely everyone who has seen value in what I create. The support of the community has given me a reason to continue doing what I do. That is also why I felt best during bear markets. The deep winters when Bitcoin was down 70% for a year of bleeding. That's when I was most productive, and I didn't think about the $. Selling something I had worked on for 2 months on break even didn't discourage me because my focus was elsewhere, I live by the Bitcoin standard.

I have turned down great offers for selling Bitcoin Religion for $. I sell in Bitcoin for Bitcoiners. There is always uncertainty, what if you are wrong while everyone else is telling you that this is the end of Bitcoin? I like to believe that my dedication has given faith to the people who have supported me. The fact that someone creates value, and spent so much time and energy when there is no light at the end of the tunnel, and the speculators are long gone.

I see it as a win-win situation, the community is the most important part of the movement. Not Bitcoin itself, but the idea that we can live in a more honest world. The idea that Bitcoin stands for is much more important than the technology itself.