In anticipation of a solo exhibition by artist Nardo at Bitcoin Mena, in collaboration with AOTM Gallery, I sat down with him to discover the intersections of memes, mythologies, and digital tradition. Nardo’s work navigates the intriguing area between the tangible type of conventional portray and the fleeting nature of meme tradition—two seemingly contrasting mediums which are evolving in tandem with Bitcoin.
The title of your exhibition, Recent Influence, and the centerpiece portray, Sandwich Artist, each reference Subway-related memes. Notably, Subway turned the primary fast-food chain to just accept bitcoin in 2013—a second documented by Andrew Torba, who famously used bitcoin to purchase a $5 sub in Allentown, Pennsylvania (an ironic element, provided that Torba is now CEO of the social community Gab). This early mixture of Bitcoin and meme tradition sparked humorous reflections on “spending generational wealth” on footlongs and highlighted themes of forex worth over time, because the greenback’s buying energy wanes whereas bitcoin’s grows. How does this Subway meme resonate with you, and the way does it form your strategy to portray in an more and more digital age?
I believe there’s something to be mentioned about fast consumption in modern tradition—whether or not it’s quick meals footlong subs or web memes. The eye span of human senses has diminished to bursts of repeated dopamine, the place deciding on your kind of bread, meats, and toppings turns into essentially the most thrilling a part of your afternoon. Then comes the tireless effort of ending 12 inches of processed meals matter. You repeat this again and again as a result of it’s handy, and possibly subsequent time, you’ll excite your self by swapping cheddar for provolone.
Nevertheless, Subway has developed a scientific expertise that feels everlasting. Memes and web habits perform in an identical manner. The ephemeral consumption of entertaining or humorous memes acts because the dopamine hit—we share them with mates, they unfold at fast speeds, after which they usually die off, main us to maneuver on to the following. But, the success of memes additionally lies of their programs: cultural iconography, daring fonts superimposed onto fascinating imagery, hyper-sharpened visuals, deep-fried aesthetics, or low effort functions. Memes depend on visible and cultural layers—bread, meat, and toppings.
I believe, because it pertains to Bitcoin, we must always actually confront its experiential nature within the precise second of change. To have bought a footlong for $5 value of Bitcoin in 2013, solely to view it immediately in 2024 as ~$4,300, is each absurd and considerably painful—however the expertise is everlasting. The very act of utilizing digital web cash in change for bodily, consumable items feels nearly alchemical.
Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins coined the time period “memes” to explain models of cultural transmission, likening their unfold to gene replication. Memes additionally resemble viruses in how they propagate by way of social networks, blurring the strains between genes and viruses as each can combine into DNA and affect evolution. You and I’ve joked that memes—and memecoins—are akin to the quick meals of digital tradition, serving as cybernetic junk meals or avenue medicine. Do you take into account memes to be a low artwork type? Is the buildup of studio trash made well-known by painter Francis Bacon or the outlandish waste and detritus of Sprint Snow’s 2007 “hamster nest” set up by some means associated? What are your ideas on modern artists like Christine Wang, who replicates notable memes in her current portray exhibition, “Cryptofire Degen,” at The Gap in New York? What occurs when a digital meme turns into a bodily portray?
This all ties again to what I mentioned earlier—I’m fascinated with slowing down the method of consumption. To meticulously hand-paint a meme in oil and current it as such is usually a little jarring. Equally, contemplating trash as type or content material, quite than one thing to be discarded, fascinates me.
After the consumer has consumed their lunch and doom-scrolled by way of numerous memes on Twitter, what stays because the detritus of all that? The entire expertise can really feel like nullifying mind rot—a diminishing of construction and existence inside passive chaos. Maybe, although, that’s the liminal mindset essential to delivery essentially the most viral concepts.
My introduction to cybernetics got here from Japanese animation sequence like Ghost within the Shell (1995-2014), which discover cyberpunk themes akin to internet-connected minds, hackers, and cyber viruses, echoing Dawkins’ concepts about memes and cultural transmission. The sequence highlights ideas like “ghost-hacking” and “thought viruses,” which replicate throughout networks and affect societal habits, aligning with Dawkins’ notion of self-replicating cultural models. Given your current exploration of the “skibidi rest room” meme phenomenon, what insights have you ever gained about how this meme has propagated throughout social networks and formed the collective consciousness of youthful audiences?
The Ghost within the Shell connection isn’t far faraway from the world as we all know it now. Very like the premise of that “fiction,” our fleshy brains are nestled inside a cybernetic façade of digital personas and communications. We virtually reside vicariously by way of a digitized shadow-self—a projection of what we expect we might change into. This aligns with why I usually say, “You change into what you meme.”
I’m deeply intrigued by the phenomenon of American youth changing into obsessive about new memes that older generations are unable to compute, akin to Skibidi Rest room. I believe it’s on this fracturing of sensibility that new languages are born, whereas previous mythologies are repackaged in modern methods. Skibidi Rest room is the Iliad of the Web.
Past Ghost within the Shell’s exploration of cybernetics, the seminal anime sequence Neon Genesis Evangelion intersects with the Age of Aquarius idea by way of its themes of interconnectedness and collective consciousness. The sequence delves into the merging of particular person identities, echoing how “hive thoughts” behaviors in modern web tradition mirror the fast affect of shared info and memes. In your paintings Sandwich Artist, you spotlight the stress between particular person artistry and the pressures of representing a faceless model. How have you ever noticed this shift over time, and the way can artists interact with collective concepts whereas preserving their individuality in immediately’s digital tradition?
The Sandwich Artist piece makes use of a widely known meme template, but by way of numerous digital alterations—particularly the literal scribbling out of pre-existing textual content—it takes on the texture of graffiti and ultimately turns into my very own. I like this piece for the way it represents a person manifesto of my work and displays how I take into consideration my artistry as a complete. Positive, constant branding and aesthetics are nice for gross sales if performed proper, however I’m extra fascinated with how my work exists inside a protracted sufficient historic timeline. The hive thoughts needs a model to rally behind, but historical past yearns for particular person artistry.
We’ve mentioned the time period “subway” in relation to submarine sandwiches, however it additionally evokes the concept of underground transportation. Japan famously studied mycelial progress patterns to optimize its subway and prepare programs. Much like fungi, memes propagate and join people in an unlimited, decentralized community, evolving as they transfer from one “host” to a different. This fungal comparision highlights how memes adapt and unfold dynamically, mirroring pure programs of progress and communication. How do you assume artists can consciously navigate this memetic panorama of propagation, host vessels, and community dynamics?
The lifespan of most web memes strikes so quickly that it’s troublesome to know them earlier than they vanish right into a shallow grave. Among the many few that handle to clutch the collective consciousness, I discover it fascinating to research how they hook up with humanity’s previous on a metaphysical stage. Tendencies and symbols have remained constant all through human historical past; they merely resurface in several varieties as time passes.
Environment friendly memes depend on environment friendly programs for delivering info. As artists, we must always stay acutely aware of historical past and metaphysical symbolism, as this consciousness can assist us uncover our personal primordial self by way of the mirror of memes.
