A bonfire of the vanities (falò delle vanità) is a burning of objects condemned by religious authorities as occasions of sin.

In the public square of Florence, Italy in 1497 Dominican friar Savonarola collected and burned thousands of vanity objects such as mirrors, cosmetics, fine dresses, playing cards, musical instruments, books, songs, art, paintings, sculpture, wigs, even fake teeth. Even Botticelli burned his own paintings in this famous bonfire.

My modern interpretation of the Bonfire of the Vanities forces the viewer to consider the following questions:

Why are more books being banned now than in the recent past?
Can humanism become a dominant force for good?
Is AI going to help or hurt human society?
Can AI be both good and bad at the same time?
Who controls the future of AI?
Who gets to decide what kind of art is censored?
Will the metaverse be open or closed?
What can we learn from the visionaries of the past?
How will the Medici legacy be reinvented for modern times?
Will women continue to be oppressed?
Who gets to decide what art is good?
What’s the role of collectors in the new world of cryptoart?
What can we learn from the original cypherpunks?

This art was created in a collaborative spirit with Michael Stark: “The artist and collector work as a pair to ask questions bigger than themselves together. It is in the unwavering support to the questions being asked, that the art seeks to answer. Those questions touch on things like identity, censorship, vanity, ego and rebirth.”