Artist spotlight — Tom ₿adley
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Designer, writer, artist and musician.
At the aged 13, Tom decided that Art was his purpose. By this time, he was hand-drawing banknotes, printing his own currency which he issued into the playground.
Tom did not have access to Adobe Photoshop, so he tailored his craft by drawing by hand on large pieces of paper, which he scaled and repeated into sheets at a local reprographics studio.
Tom has been a collector of foreign currency from an early age, this obsession has taken him on a remarkable journey no one could have predicted.
At 19 he was accepted at the London school of art. Tom couldn’t help but explore new avenues and learn new skills such as video editing, radio show production and presenting, brief experiments in journalism. In 2008 Tom graduated this was the peak of the finical crisis, and this changed everything. Not only did it re-awaken his interest in money, but he ‘woke up’ to everything that was happening in financial system.
Tom explored the concept of alternative currencies before bitcoin, before it was in vogue, collaborating with other on an alternative financial system that only they could trade with. Tom’s life was intertwined with art, banknote design, and adventures in finance.
This led to freelance projects, traveling around the world, and money-related jobs that ranged from menial to specialized; from working in a cash-only gambling arcade, to the antique banknote department of an auction house.
He also began to explore ability Blockchain technology and this tech can create digital scarcity. He saw a decentralized art world coming. A true Avant Garde!
Tom’s has create ‘The Deplorables’ a series of designs that honor popular figures who advocate principles of privacy, transparency, and truth.
These notes are denominated in the popular cryptocurrency Ethereum and have been specially produced as NFTs — Non-Fungible Tokens.
Republica De Los Deplorables
“I prefer hanging out in ‘money places’ — casinos, the viewing deck over a trading pit, money museums.”
During his time in various jobs researching the different global financial systems he found his way to bitcoin. His desire for an alternative currency was triggers once again and he began to investigate this new movement. He began to buy (and lost and re-bought) Bitcoin from early 2011. He felt like he understood it and he could see the massive potential.
You can find Tom’s first ever #Genesis artwork on KnownOrigin.io gallery.
Lucie Banknote
#Genesis Edition 1 of 1
21.0000 ETH ($4002.23)
“Like much of culture, the centralized Art World doesn’t have the tools to move beyond a narrow, politics-based system of exclusivity. Blockchain will burn this away.” — Tom Badley
Tom considers money to be a reflection of our self-perception. The story of cryptocurrency is the story of a redefining of Humanity’s self-perception and desire for novelty, borne out of necessity. His design methodology, his fascination with money, and the potential for self-expression can now be truly decentralized and converge on the blockchain.
Follow Tom Badley
https://twitter.com/CurrencyDesign
Buy Tom Badley artwork
https://dapp.knownorigin.io/artists/0x4F2E614e8290FEB7D302cFD4062E786211644BF2
