Painting Allen Dulles - My First Hive NFT!

Today I made my first fine art NFT on Hive's NFT Showroom. I've experimented with Ethereum NFTs before but found them to be cost prohibitive. While WAX is more affordable, it isn't great for fine art. Although I have a collection of poetry NFTs on AtomicHub, I've been hesitant to mint tokens from my oil paintings on WAX. I'm glad I waited, because NFT Showroom seems like a better fit for my oil paintings. Check it out!

The Description:

This is a picture of a painting of me painting Allen Dulles. I painted it in oils on wood circa 2015. The physical artwork measures approximately 22 inches wide and 24 inches tall. It took about a month to complete using a reference photo. Notably, I used a portion of the panel itself as a palette, and preserved this palette in the corner of the final work, which now resides in a private collection.

Allen Dulles lived from 1893 to 1969. He worked for the CIA from 1951 to 1961, becoming the first civilian Director of Central Intelligence in 1952. As head of the CIA, Dulles oversaw MK ULTRA, one of the most most controversial programs in US government history. His brother John Foster Dulles was Secretary of State during the Eisenhower Administration. Together, the Dulles brothers wielded immense influence, shaping Cold War foreign policy and presiding over coups.

I chose Dulles for a subject as an exercise in humanizing tyranny. MK ULTRA involved human experimentation and crimes against humanity. The 1953 coup in Iran overthrew democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and set a staggering amount of conflict into motion. These things didn't happen by accident. They happened because people like Allen Dulles made them happen. Maybe Dulles was a great man. Maybe he was a despot. Regardless, he was a person. One that seems worth contemplating.

Here's the reference photo I used:

Next Steps:

Assuming this first Hive NFT goes well, I plan to release my whole series of historical portraits exclusively on NFT Showroom. I've also got some figures and other works that seem suitable for the platform. Special thanks to @kommienezuspadt for selling me on Hive NFTs and walking me through the process of getting started.