Tony Tafuro (b. 1989) is a multidisciplinary artist based in New York who works across photography, painting, hand-painted clothing and digital pieces inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain.,He first gained notice for hand-painted clothing.His early photographic work documented skate and underground metal culture, before he turned to painting.
A New York native, Tafuro graduated from Parsons in 2012.He produces one-of-one artist books, editions and apparel, and participated in Printed Matter's art book fairs with the press S U N from 2015 to 2018.His photographic series Barrier Kult depicts masked skaters, and his book Where Ya' At presents what he calls “analog captures of life and death through the real and digital world”.
In 2023, Tafuro created Ordinal Maxi Biz with the artist ZK Shark, a collection of hand-drawn heads inscribed as Bitcoin Ordinals.Holders could burn a CryptoPunk to receive an allowlist spot in the collection.,In April 2024, works from the series were featured in Christie's first online-only Ordinals auction.He has since held solo exhibitions in Tokyo and New York, including a show of paintings and hand-drawn garments at Domicile Tokyo in April 2022 and “Sword In Stone” at Palo Gallery, which opened in November of the same year.,
His paintings and drawings play with light and color, often carrying a post-impressionistic edge, and examine power, human interaction and the natural world.Other photographic series include Anonymous, which documents demonstrations by the hacktivist collective of the same name, and NYC Gassholes, made from rubbings of New York City sewer grates.
