Creative Studio & Contemporary Art Gallery
Catalog Artist · Gea Vision Gallery
Marco
Giangolini
Visual Artist · Bologna, Italy
Artist
Marco Giangolini
Residence
Bologna, Italy
Technique
Polaroid Photography, AI-generated Imagery, Mixed Media
Medium
Polaroid Film, Hand-painted Metallic Pigments, Red Thread Intervention
Certifications
Certificate of Authenticity signed by the artist
Active Series
— BTCC: Bitcoin Classic
— The Bitcoin Blockchain
Biography
Bolognese artist trained at the Academy of Fine Arts, Marco Giangolini works at the intersection of painting, photography, and emerging technologies. His pictorial research moves between figuration and abstraction, with a strong interest in natural light, urban spaces, and the ideology embedded in contemporary visual culture.
In recent years, Giangolini has developed a distinctive practice around the Polaroid medium — combining AI-generated imagery with hands-on physical interventions such as metallic pigment painting, positive–negative lift techniques, and red thread embroidery. Through this process, the analogue and the digital become inseparable, each enriching the other.
His ongoing series BTCC: Bitcoin Classic investigates the cultural and philosophical dimensions of Bitcoin and blockchain technology, positioning these systems as new frameworks for understanding value, identity, and human connection.
"BTCC questions how value, authenticity, and ownership are transformed when classical art forks into the blockchain era — inviting the viewer to witness the collision between tradition and digital rebellion."
Series
BTCC: Bitcoin Classic
BTC fork from traditional and classical paintings
BTCC is a Polaroid photo project that reimagines iconic masterpieces of art history through the disruptive lens of Bitcoin. Using AI-generated reinterpretations, it merges timeless works with the visual and ideological language of crypto culture. Printed on Polaroid film — a medium itself suspended between nostalgia and instant gratification — each image becomes a dialogue between permanence and volatility, heritage and innovation.
The project is articulated in 6 photographs, each a reinterpretation of a classical masterpiece.
Vincent Van Gold
To The Moon!
The familiar celestial swirl now orbits around a radiant Bitcoin symbol, replacing the moon and invoking the cryptocurrency mantra "To the Moon!" — a metaphor for aspiration, speculation, and transcendence.
Polaroid — reinterpretation of Van Gogh's The Starry Night
€ 150
CaroViaggio
Boy with a Basket of Fruit and Bitcoin
The familiar chiaroscuro composition is disrupted by the discreet presence of a Bitcoin coin nestled among the fruit — transforming a still life of abundance into a meditation on value, desire, and exchange in the age of virtual economies.
Polaroid — reinterpretation of Caravaggio's Boy with a Basket of Fruit
€ 150
Jan VerMoon
Girl with a Bitcoin Earring
The delicate pearl is replaced by the Bitcoin emblem — an emblem of a new form of wealth and belief. This subtle alteration transforms a study of light and intimacy into a meditation on how notions of beauty, value, and currency evolve across time.
Polaroid — reinterpretation of Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring
€ 150
Leonardo La Vinsi
La Moneta
The enigmatic sitter now holds a Bitcoin coin — transforming her subtle smile into an allegory of modern wealth, trust, and transformation. Captured in Polaroid format, the work bridges Renaissance humanism with the ethos of decentralization.
Polaroid — reinterpretation of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa
€ 150
Salvador DeFì
The Persistence of Coin
The melting clocks remain distorted, yet the Bitcoin coin stands intact, resisting decay. This contrast evokes the enduring nature of trustless, transparent systems in an age of constant transformation.
Polaroid — reinterpretation of Dalí's The Persistence of Memory
€ 150
Edvard Moon
The UTXO
The figure now holds a Bitcoin coin before an open mouth — transforming terror into astonishment. The gesture shifts from despair to revelation, suggesting the awe provoked by decentralized value.
Polaroid — reinterpretation of Edvard Munch's The Scream
€ 150
Series
The Bitcoin Blockchain
BTC fork from principles to perception
The Bitcoin Blockchain is a Polaroid-based visual triptych that explores the three fundamental principles of Bitcoin and blockchain culture: anonymity, transparency, and decentralization. Created through a fusion of analog manipulation and digital techniques, each photograph becomes a coded reflection — a tangible image shaped by the logic of immaterial networks. The Polaroid medium, with its fragile chemistry and unique imperfection, mirrors the paradoxes of blockchain: permanence built upon volatility, visibility entwined with anonymity. In The Bitcoin Blockchain, image and concept merge into a layered narrative where traditional photography meets digital ideology. The result is both intimate and systemic — a meditation on trust, control, and freedom in the era of distributed realities.
Special price for the triptych: € 500
Marco Giangolini
Anonymization
Anonymization — The Bitcoin Blockchain explores the tension between identity and invisibility within the decentralized systems that define our digital era. The human figure, whose face is replaced by a Bitcoin coin, becomes both a symbol and a cipher—an embodiment of the anonymous yet traceable nature of blockchain existence. Rendered through artificial intelligence and later transformed by hand with metallic pigments, the work merges the algorithmic and the tactile, infusing a sense of mysticism and cosmic energy. The interplay of reflective color and photographic stillness evokes the duality of the blockchain: an infinite, impersonal network grounded in human imagination and belief.
Polaroid photo with hand-painted metallic pigments over AI-generated image
€ 200
Marco Giangolini
Transparency
Transparency — The Bitcoin Blockchain examines the paradox of visibility within the architecture of digital trust. The human figure, its face replaced by a Bitcoin coin, becomes both revealed and obscured—embodying the balance between privacy and openness at the core of blockchain systems. Realized through an AI-generated image and later transformed via the physical separation of Polaroid positive and negative layers, the work materializes transparency itself. The delicate, almost spectral surface evokes the permeability of technological structures and the fragility of truth in the age of distributed information.
Polaroid photo created from AI-generated image using Polaroid positive–negative lift technique
€ 250
Marco Giangolini
Decentralization
Decentralization — The Bitcoin Blockchain visualizes the distributed architecture of the Bitcoin network as a metaphor for collective yet anonymous identity. The central figure—its face obscured by a Bitcoin coin—anchors a constellation of interconnected portraits, each linked by red thread. These human "peers," diverse in age and gender, embody individuality within a system that dissolves hierarchy. The red thread, stitched directly onto the Polaroid surface, materializes the invisible connections of blockchain consensus, while the partially veiled faces reflect the tension between anonymity and belonging. The work transforms a digital abstraction into a tactile, humanized vision of decentralized trust.
Polaroid photo with red thread intervention over AI-generated image
€ 200