Losing It All

I aimed to showcase a few of my paintings on an NFT platform, and this particular piece was created with that intention in mind. The central figure in this painting is a recently retired individual, depicted checking his phone for updated financial news. The inspiration for this piece stemmed from the real-life story of Bill Hwang, a billionaire and private capital Wall Street investor who experienced a significant loss of $20 billion within a mere two days.

Through this image, my intention was to shed light on the detrimental effects of greed, the role of private banks, and the inherent volatility of deregulated big firms and entrepreneurial capitalism. I drew inspiration from “The Scream,” an iconic artwork by Edward Munch, to depict the protagonist with dramatic features that convey a sense of turmoil and unease. The choice of a late-night setting serves as a symbolic representation of the clandestine nature of dark money within our economy.