When I first started making art on the blockchain, I was contacted by the curator of the Mansudae Art Studio.
I was initially scared to death, and blocked the message sender.
I've been scared, obsessed and painting Kim Jong Un's portrait for many years.
According to Wikipedia:
The Mansudae Art Studio is an art studio in Pyeongcheon District, Pyongyang, North Korea.
The studio has produced many of North Korea's most important monuments, such as the Monument to the Founding of the Korean Workers Party,[5] the Chollima Statue, and the Mansu Hill Grand Monument.[6][7] Its foreign commercial division is known as the Mansudae Overseas Project Group of Companies, which as of 2014 has created monuments for 18 African and Asian nations.[7] All images of the Kim family are produced by the Mansudae Art Studio.[5] Before his death, the Mansudae Art Studio was under the guidance of Kim Jong Il.[3][8] Since 2009, the studio has had its own space also in the 798 Art District in Beijing, China, known as the Mansudae Art Museum.[1]
Ties with Italy
The Mansudae Art Studio's affiliation with Italy began in 2005 with Pier Luigi Cecioni, whose position as president of an orchestra in Florence, Italy, allowed him to come into contact with the studio. Cecioni's orchestra was invited to perform at the Spring Friendship Festival held in Pyongyang. While in Pyongyang, Cecioni inquired as to whether North Korea had "any art center or gallery to show [him],"[3] and was taken to Mansudae Art Studio which at the time was little known outside of North Korea.[3] Cecioni offered to help the studio "do something in the West,"[3] and in January 2006 he returned to Pyongyang with his brother, an artist, Director of the Florence Fine Arts Academy in Florence, and director of an exhibition center near Florence. The Cecioni brothers selected several Mansudae works to bring back to Europe[3] and signed an agreement of exclusivity,[1] which established Pier Luigi Cecioni as a liaison[5] between Mansudae and the West.[3] A provision of this agreement was that Cecioni would organize exhibitions of artwork from Mansudae in the West.
Around the same time as the first of these exhibitions was organized, Cecioni began building the official web site of the Mansudae Art Studio.[3] Cecioni facilitates the studio's international sales of small pieces of artwork, such as paintings,[5] through this website, which offers a brief history of the studio, information about Mansudae exhibitions outside North Korea, a directory of Mansudae artists, and listings of paintings for sale.[1]
Some artists from Mansudae have been periodically sent abroad, including to Italy. In 2012, Cecioni accompanied some Mansudae artists to the Uffizi Gallery and the Vatican Museums, which he said the North Korean artists appreciated and recognized from their university studies.[3]
In crypto:
North Korean Crypto Hackers Have Stolen $3B Since 2017, Says UN Security Council: Report
A UN Security Council panel is investigating 17 crypto heists in 2023, for which North Korea may have been responsible, which were valued at more than $750 million Source: United Nations
Kim may be in fact, Satoshi Nakamoto?
