Interview with the crypto artist Johnny Dollar, who uses art to remind viewers of the growing importance of protecting their privacy.
Johnny Dollar uses art to question the increasing interaction of humanity with technology, whether digital, mechanical, pharmaceutical or neuro-linguistic. With the help of the developer Chris Lumpkin, he created JohnnyDapp, a smart contract that features ERC-721 digital assets to make limited-edition digital prints of his paintings and physical drawings, treating them as digital lithographs. The tool proved so useful that they created an open source version, The Artist Liberation Front, available to all artists, galleries or anyone who wants to coin their own tokens.
Johnny Dollar, who is also a member of the crypto artists group created by Nino Arteiro in Telegram, has given us the following interview, where he comments how he left the majority social networks in search of greater privacy.
Who is Johnny?
I am a visual artist and a crypto-anarchist.
Why did you choose the masking-tape encrypted pseudonym Johnny Dollar?
Johnny Dollar is obviously not my real name. I sign my real name, then cover it with masking tape to encrypt it. If someone wanted to know my real identity, they could simply remove the masking tape and my name would be revealed. It is a metaphor for the false sense of privacy we have in the brave new digital world. I chose the name Johnny Dollar, because like the US Dollar it’s not real, a fake name for fake money.
«Madness of Crowds: the hype cycle» (Johnny Dollar).
Your art has been called Post-Pop Surrealism, cryptoanarchy and cypherpunk inspired art exploring themes of privacy, surveillance, copyright, hive-mind thinking, virtual-reality, and identity. What’s the role of art in all these topics?
We live in a rapidly changing world with man and technology becoming more intertwined every day. I use art to help me understand the new world paradigm.
What are your main influences?
Artistically speaking my influences are Caravaggio, the Surrealists and the German Expressionists, especially the film-makers like Fritz Lang. Authors: George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and Neal Stephenson.
What techniques do you use?
I am a painter by heart. I like to make marks with my hands, but I will use technology, computers, photography, etcetera to achieve the results required for the work to be realized to its fullest. In the end, I always go back to the basics: charcoal and acrylic paint.
You say that «privacy is not just about the past but it’s about the future». Can you explain this?
You may hear a phrase like «if you’ve done nothing wrong then you’ve nothing to hide», «honest people don’t need privacy» or, «if you can’t say it in public, don’t say it at all».
All that sounds very good and logical, but there’s more to it. In the digital age of constant surveillance and ever more powerful machine learning computer algorithms, privacy is no longer just about the past, if it ever really was. It’s about the future.
Big Data, as the industry is called, is constantly tracking you, where you surf on the web, how long you visit sites, with whom you communicate. Also where you go in the real world via many methods: GPS, credit card purchases, grocery store point plans, facial recognition software and countless surveillance cameras…
All this data is collected and analyzed by computers that not only know where you’ve been and what you did but, more importantly, what you will probably do and where you go and how you will react to stimuli, whether that is to get you to buy a product or vote for a candidate.
«Surveillance by the Riverfront» (Johnny Dollar).
Was it hard changing your habits in your quest for privacy? What were the main findings during this odyssey?
At first, it was difficult, I gave up convenience and lost contact with some people. Google, Facebook, and other data companies provide quick and easy solutions. After a while, I found open-source solutions for most of these needs.
How is the experience of living outside social media?
This was a double-edged sword. Quitting social media freed me from the emotional roller coaster of a social feed. The bizarre need to check if my post got «likes». Or getting upset about somebody's political post or the petty jealousy of seeing ex-girlfriends on vacation.
There was another downside. I sold a lot of art and got much of my business through Facebook and social media.
The JOHNNYDOLLAR art subscription token.
Is it possible to achieve total privacy?
Total privacy, no, not unless you want to live alone in the desert or jungle. But you can achieve a healthy level of privacy, by using open source software and privacy-focused tools.
Johnny Dollar devised a free and open source tool that teaches artists how to create and manage their own digital collectibles on the Ethereum network. Can you tell us what it is, how was it born and what is the acceptance it’s having?
It started when I asked a developer friend to help me make an ERC-721 contract to experiment with tokenized art. He is very talented and helped me make the contract and a simple web-based tool to mint tokens.
After it was finished, he asked me: «What are you going to do with it?». I said: «Open source it and share it!». He was kind of shocked, and then he got excited. He then put an additional 20-30 hours of his time into making it better. He takes pride in his work. He said: «If others are going to be looking at my code, it has to be excellent». He then showed it to some other developers to audit his code and check for bugs. They asked him what he was doing with it. When they heard he was giving it away as a free and open source, they got excited. That has been a common reaction when developers hear it is open source.
Artists like it too because it demystifies the process and allows them to experiment and make new kinds of art. At least that is my hope.
What cryptocurrencies do you use most and why?
Ethereum and Counterparty for smart contracts and digital asset creation. Monero for money when I need to make a purchase. It is currently the best for private digital money.
What projects are you working on nowadays?
I am interested in exploring new ways to make art using the blockchain.
How could crypto artists contribute to the education of the population in relation to blockchain and cryptocurrencies?
There are many things artists can do to help with crypto adoption. First thing would be to start using it, and accepting it as payment for art. Artists can also educate people not only in «how crypto works», but also why people should use it to help liberate themselves.
How do you see the future of crypto?
I see a future where we no longer talk about crypto. It will be everywhere. It will be something we just use without knowing it’s there, like the engine in an automobile. You don’t need to know what’s under the hood to drive it.
«Bank of Babel» painting by Johnny Dollar, tokenized digital print ERC-721 available at Rareart.io.