My latest painting, Castle (v. Nardo)not only start on the canvas. It begins with whispers – an image is delivered digitally between anonymous hands, reposted, remixed, archived and mythical on the internet. Like many of my works, this piece is derived from historical fragments and symbols, which is based on memes that are not ephemeral – they are basic. They not only reflect culture, but also write about culture.
Last year, in 2024, I held a solo exhibition in Abu Dhabi, which is one of the first fast food restaurants to accept Bitcoin. That small historical detail becomes the seed of a larger concept inquiry: What does “consumption” mean in the speeding information age? These works explore the overlap between fast food, memes and digital attention. The exhibition is very tight in its structure, precise and profound.
castle From a similar place.
In 2013, now it is a “I am a future time traveler, please stop your work here” Appears online. The author claims to be 2025 – a warning about the future of Bitcoin-shaped, but not the way many people hope. This is not a utopia. It was a stratified society where those who were adopted early became rich and everyone else was left behind. Whether it is satirical, novel or real warning, this position is shocking. It spreads quickly. It became part of Bitcoin culture and imitation architecture.
Years later, another anonymous user gave the warning a visual form. Citadel v.1probably created on 4chan, a huge tower pieced together with borrowed images – most famously the background in the painting of Alexander Mikhalchyk Tower of Babel. Red – Overlapping with iconic internet figures like Pepe, Wojak and Bogdanoff twins. It’s confusing, funny, ominous. It caught fire. Versions are all over the forum. Monero, Ethereum, and other Bitcoin-based class hierarchies have been variants. The whole myth revolves around it.
I can’t stop thinking about that image. Symbolism. Verticality. warn. It’s not just a meme – it’s a map. The visual architecture of ability and belief is told in the language of the Internet. However, it has never been physically drawn. Never get the weight or permanent it deserves. At that time, I decided to create the first fully hand-painted version of the Bitcoin Castle meme.
Castle (v. Nardo) 7 feet wide, 5 feet tall, rendered completely in oil for six months. The tower in my painting is original – built by Bruegel’s reference to Babel’s description. Pepe’s superimposed depiction, monks, nobles, and even Jesus, are all intentionally nodding v.1 version, reimagined and integrated with painting care. Nothing is copied here. Every inch can feel the myth, huge, and the weight of the meme itself is real.
Like all my works, this is to evoke grandeur, dramatic and symbolic density. It means that it feels like a relic of the future – excavated from the ruins of digital civilization. My late professor once told me that the best art is Folk customs and provocations. That line will never leave me.
This is essentially an internet meme. They are modern folklore. They encode beliefs, identities, warnings, and wishes with compressed symbols. They may have started with jokes – but jokes have always been a delivery system for deeper truths. Memes not only survive online; they shape our expectations of reality.
Castle (v. Nardo) Will be sold at auction through scarcity and debut at the Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas. It’s more than just a painting. This is a response. One counts. remind. Because in the end, as I kept saying: You become your meme.
This is the guest post of X-Nardo’s opinion that is entirely their own and does not necessarily reflect BTC, Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
