I like people that don’t fit neatly into any tribe. Even more than that, I like people that don’t fit into any tribe at all. So it was that I found myself interested in the work of one Fullmetal Magdalene: crypto anarchist, gnostic seeker, free thinker, and artist.
Her art combines crypto currency, the occult, esoterica, spirituality, comic book/manga culture, Gnostic Christianity, music, sex, and other things that I can’t name because I can’t identify. The sexual aspect is important to her work and is part of her personal artist statement.
The sexuality in her art is shameless, philosophical, exploitative, purposeful, egregious, and thoughtful— all at the same time.
She admittedly uses sex to sell her art while also openly pursuing God and her divine purpose, all without any friction or fear of contradiction. She’s a seeker, not a pretender, and willing to go wherever her philosophical/spiritual journey takes her.
Many people will have problems with the way her ideas intersect, but she’s not asking anyone to agree with her. She’s just being Fullmetal Magdalene, and that’s why I dig her work and want to share it with my fellow Scavengers.
[I’m not going to share her more risqué work here because it goes against Medium’s guidelines, but those of you interested can check out the link below.]
Bitcoin Babe
Fullmetal Magdalene is also a self-described “Bitcoin babe.” She’s into crypto currency — like, really into crypto currency. She sees it as a means to achieve liberation from old models of authoritarian government control.
I’m not here to endorse or contradict her views on cryptocurrency or anything else (I’m also unqualified to say anything about crypto one way or the other). I myself am skeptical of utopian views on crypto, just as I strongly dislike weed (which is another common feature in Magadlene’s work), but that’s all cool with me.
As head honcho of Scavenger, I’m looking for unique people making interesting art — not for people who see everything eye-to-eye with me. I find Magdalene’s artwork and ideas to be beautiful, strange, and fascinating, and Scavenger exists to bring all those things to its readers.
I contacted Magdalene and asked if she’d be interested in answering a few questions. She graciously agreed. Her responses were as thought-provoking and interesting as I’d predicted they’d be.
Interview with Fullmetal Magdalene
- Why did you adopt the name Fullmetal Magdalene.
The love the storyline of the anime Fullmetal Alchemist because it relates to my beliefs in the purpose of death and how God and free will works.
A couple years ago I was going back to church because I was feeling spiritually empty, and I was getting frustrated because I wasn’t feeling connected to God there, either. The church I was checking out was set up as a patriarchal hierarchy, so I felt that my search for God was being discredited in that setting because of my gender.
After the last service I attended I went home and decided to look into Mary Magdalene (I don’t remember exactly what inspired me to do so) and I stumbled upon The Gospel of Mary Magdalene from the Gnostic Gospels. In it was the text, “Become content at heart, while also remaining discontent and disobedient; indeed become contented and agreeable (only) in the presence of that other Image of nature.”
Which spoke to me as God telling me to be content with my knowledge of God as God has made itself known to me in my heart and to feel confident in my rejection of anyone else’s attempt at defining what God is or what my relationship to God should be.
My direction in life is to do as God wills me, and my art pseudonym is a reminder to myself of that.
2. Can you explain cryptoart and NFT to the unitiated?
I make art to promote crypto because I believe that crypto and tokenomics is the market’s evolution past the dichotomy of Capitalism versus Communism, as well as an opportunity to redistribute wealth in a time when those controlling the financial monopolies are coming in on us for the kill.
That’s why I call myself a “crypto artist” and why I refer to those pieces as cryptoart, but I don’t know what the official definition of crypto art is.
An NFT is a non fungible token that cannot be duplicated and is the digital representation of a specific thing. You can literally NFT anything. It’s a new way to create authenticity for digital assets but can also be utilized for physical assets as well.
3. How did you get into those art forms?
I started making cryptoart pieces as soon as I started learning about crypto. When COVID hit, I started uploading my artwork on social media and, after doing so for a few months, fellow crypto artist @HodlrDotRocks on Twitter reached out and encouraged me to apply to different NFT art platforms.
I was initially rejected from the platforms I applied to because, at the time, all of my work was in physical mediums rather than digital ones.
I started creating in digital format in order to get involved and eventually got invited to mint on Blockchain Art Exchange. Now I know I can NFT my paintings, so I’m planning on returning to physical mediums with some of my future projects.
4. You once posted an image of a van and said it had been your home. Can you expand a bit on that story arc?
She was named Fullmetal, too.
I ended up in the van after my roommate had told me that he wanted the house back to himself and his family. I have terrible credit and was barely making enough paycheck to paycheck as it was, and I was watching a lot of van life videos on YouTube.
I have lived out of my car a number of times before, so I figured it was a good plan. I got her for $1000 on Offer Up and then put new tires on her and got her checked out by a mechanic. It was the middle of August in Las Vegas when I needed to move out, and I was ready for a new adventure so I took off to Denver.
Three weeks after I got to Colorado, the power steering fell out. I got it fixed, but it was just the beginning of my car issues. Eventually she broke down next to a park, and I had to live out of her like that through the winter months.
I found a waitressing job two miles away and worked there until I put together enough money to move into a spot I found. I’m grateful that she broke down because I ended up moving into an apartment just weeks before the COVID lockdowns, and I would have been fucked had I still been living out of my van.
I started trying to get work as an artist once COVID lockdowns happened because I had already been making moves in that direction, and I also had a feeling that waitressing wasn’t going to be a lucrative option for work in the future.
5. You’ve also incorporated some Tarot into your work. How do you see reality? Metaphysics? Etc.?
I designed my first tarot card as a submission to illustrate Jordan Peterson’s follow-up book to 12 Rules for Life. I did one more, but I’m not sure if I will complete the full deck or not.
How do I see reality…. I believe that God is ultimately in control of my life, and my character is the only thing within my control. I don’t need to sweat anything greater than that.
Coinsmart. Beste Bitcoin-Börse in Europa
Source: https://medium.com/yawp/crypto-nonfungible-tokens-occultism-sex-and-gnostic-gospels-the-ballad-of-fullmetal-magdalene-80ccf20e9f4a?source=rss——-8—————–cryptocurrency
