Bitcoin Series

Untitled #18 from Bitcoin Series

Oil & mixed media on canvas, 300×400mm, 2014

This is an article Gill published in 2014 explaining his thoughts behind the series BITCOIN.

Bitcoin = money of the future= enter Bitart

Chris Gill 李云飞

July 8, 2014

Electronic currencies are already gaining ground, and within a human generation 'hard currency' is likely to be a distant folk memory. I beleive it is more likely electronic currencies will be adapted faster in Africa and Asia than the in the more sedentary developed world.

Electronic currencies will democratise societies in ways we have yet to fully understand. In the global banking system the next big wave will be the entry of the Chinese Yuan （人民币). Until now, this currency has not been traded internationally, but the Chinese government has indicated it will soon allow trading. Over the past decades of economic reform China has built up massive reserves of foreign currencies. It will without a doubt be a huge historically important event when the Yuan is traded globally. Bankers from London to Singapore are touting for the trade. But the global swing to the Yuan will arguably not be a force for democratic change. It will though certainly be a powerful wave of change to be felt around the world, and make China a more powerful entity.

Electronic currencies, on the other hand, will not be within the control of any central authority, and operate mostly outside of the traditional banking sector. It will become an option. It is hard to predict how the currencies of the future will operate- people will be buying and selling with Yuan, Euros, Bitcoins....likely with some kind of wireless devices. But how that will emerge it is still too early to say.

So as an artist, how do you react to this kind of trend? A few weeks ago I ran a stall in a small town flea market. A young girl around 10 years old picked up a walkman I was selling, and looked at it like it was an alien artifact. She had no idea what it did. In the same way, I beleive hard currency will pass out of use within a decade or so. So I have been collecting coins from around the world and turning them into paintings. It is kind of a prophesy- these things will become relics of the past, so in passing, I collected some and turned them into art. They served us well, passing through countless hands. I hope the currencies of the future will serve us as well.

Blue Monday from the Bitcoin Series, Oil and mixed media on cavas, 80×100cm, 2014