Artist Statement
With an MA in Fine Art (Drawing & Painting and Art History) from Edinburgh College of Art and the University of Edinburgh, my practice combines time-honoured craft with emerging technologies, grounded in a deep understanding of Western art history. I merge painting with tools such as augmented reality, AI, and blockchain, exploring what painting can become when it stretches beyond its physical frame.
My work draws inspiration from the great masters of the Renaissance through to the 20th century, reframing their ideas through a contemporary lens. Themes of technology, innovation, cryptocurrency, spirituality, and politics are woven together in layered narratives that shift between canvas, code, and screen. Many projects begin with a single oil painting, from which animations, music, NFTs, sculpture, writing, and events emerge, each element expanding the story world and inviting audiences into new dimensions of the work.
We are living in an age of wonders, where breakthroughs redefine our relationship to art almost daily. My latest project, EXPOS3D, brings together years of experimentation with painting, new technologies and immersive installation. It is both a culmination and a new beginning: a fully realised environment where past and future, analogue and digital, converge into a single, expansive experience.
The Bitcoin Angel
Artist bio
Born in Canada, Trevor Jones left in his mid-twenties with a backpack and a hunger for adventure. After travelling the world, he settled in Scotland, where he completed his Foundation year at Leith School of Art. He then enrolled in the unique 5 year MA (Hons) Fine Art programme jointly delivered by Edinburgh College of Art and the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 2008 with First Class Honours. He went on to serve as Executive Director of Art in Healthcare while teaching at Leith School of Art, before devoting himself fully to his own practice.
Trevor’s career has been defined by a fascination with the fusion of painting and technology. In 2012, he created large QR code oil paintings linking to digital galleries and a worldwide community of artists, followed in 2013 when he became an early pioneer of augmented reality (AR) works that animated his canvases. By 2017, he had turned to cryptocurrency as both subject and inspiration, painting iconic figures of, and themes within, the blockchain movement. The discovery of NFTs in 2019 opened a new chapter, allowing him to merge painting with animation, music, and storytelling in a digital format authenticated by blockchain provenance.
His breakout came in 2021 with The Bitcoin Angel, which sold 4,158 editions in seven minutes and generated over $3.2 million, establishing one of the defining moments of the NFT era. Other milestones include The Angel’s Share, a landmark collaboration with Metacask and a 1991 Macallan that set a $2.3 million world record for the sale of a whisky cask; high-profile partnerships with Pak, José Delbo, and Alotta Money; and his acclaimed MAN VS MACHINE series, four large portraits of Ice Cube that merged painting, animation, AI, and original music that Cube himself produced. Alongside these works, Trevor founded the Castle Party, a philanthropic Web3 gathering that has raised more than $175,000 for Maggie’s cancer charity.
In recent years, Trevor has expanded his worldbuilding through ventures such as CryptoAngels and The Engine, blending painting, philosophy, animation, and even a video game (Dante’s Pixel Inferno). In 2025, his most ambitious project to date, EXPOS3D, brings these threads together in a groundbreaking immersive exhibition. Combining painting, sculpture, stained glass, AR, AI, sound, and performance within an interactive environment, EXPOS3D not only unites the diverse strands of his practice but also marks a bold step toward the future of participatory and immersive art.