The Great Fall

The Great Fall of Fiat inspired by The Fall of Phaeton by the Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens. Those who recognize Satoshi’s saving hand do not fall.

The Fall of Phaethon is an ancient myth that serves as a warning against hubris, overconfidence, and the dangers of excess. Phaethon, the son of the sun god Helios, demanded too much and, when allowed to drive the chariot of the sun, nearly burned the world until Zeus struck him down with a thunderbolt.

In my interpretation, the creation of value out of nothing through fiat money represents a form of human hubris, one that may (hopefully) find a more hopeful ending through Satoshi’s Bitcoin. A few years ago, I watched Steve Cutts’ video “Happiness” and recalling it later became an additional source of inspiration for this artwork.

"The Great Fall"

Finnished with block 931555

Signature TxId

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Rat poison

Warren Buffett once said that Bitcoin was “rat poison.”
Ironically, in a certain sense, that’s true because Bitcoin is poison for those who have profited from the fiat system for decades.
Above all, it threatens misguided, ideological state and state-adjacent structures - the real rats of our society.

The biggest winners of a Bitcoin standard, however, will be ordinary people like us.

Watch the Making Of

Rough outlines

For this artwork, I took my time with the first sketch. Normally, I create a rough outline using a hard pencil to minimize stress on the paper, as any marks can become visible later when working with a ballpoint pen. In most cases, I develop the precise details directly with the pen rather than in the initial sketch.

Rats in suits

I love drawing animals or mythical creatures. Rats in suits are, in my opinion, a very symbolic image of our society today.

I also love drawing movement, which is why in many of my pictures you can see at least one motion or action.

Macro Vignette

The challenge with ballpoint pen drawings is when you want to give the artwork a large macro vignette, because that isn’t as easy or quick to do as, for example, with pencil, graphite, charcoal, or paint. Large areas can only be darkened very, very slowly if you want to create a smooth overlay.

Blocktrainer terminal

I always add the time/block height to my artworks when I finish them - as I did with this piece. I also make a Bitcoin on-chain transaction using the OP_RETURN method and write something about the artwork - that transaction corresponds to this piece. Recently, I’ve been using the Blocktrainer Terminal to quickly see my block times.

Final artwork

I left this artwork entirely in black and white - without the additional cadmium orange that I usually use in most of my pieces. I felt the artwork looked better this way, and I didn’t have an idea of how to best integrate the color into this piece.