# Kevin Abosch

> Irish conceptual artist in Paris whose photographs, neon sculptures, blockchain tokens and machine-learning works question identity and value.

- Page: https://www.gondi.xyz/artist/kevin-abosch
- Works on GONDI: 7,907
- Collectors: 1,432
- About page: https://www.gondi.xyz/artist/kevin-abosch/about

## About

Kevin Abosch is an Irish conceptual artist who lives in Paris and teaches at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. He works in photography, sculpture, installation, film, machine learning and blockchain, and his work keeps coming back to questions of identity and value.

He first became known for portraits lit against plain black backgrounds, a look he gave to objects as well as people. In 2013 the National Gallery of Ireland added three of his portraits, of Bob Geldof, Olwen Fouéré and Brian O'Driscoll, to its National Portrait Collection. *Potato #345*, a 2010 photograph of one unwashed potato, drew coverage around the world after he said a European businessman had bought it in 2015.

In 2018 he turned to Ethereum tokens. For *I AM A COIN* he issued 10 million tokens and stamped their contract address in his own blood on 100 sheets of paper. *Forever Rose* was a single token shared by ten collectors, with the proceeds going to the coding charity CoderDojo, and it has no visible form at all. *YELLOW LAMBO* turned another token's address into a yellow neon sculpture. With Ai Weiwei he made *PRICELESS*, which asks how we value human life.

[*1111*](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/1111-by-kevin-abosch.md) followed in March 2021: 1,111 generative works built from cryptographic strings and machine learning. [*SUN SIGNALS*](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/sunsignals.md) uses data on sun cycles and solar radiation. Museums that have shown his work include the State Hermitage Museum, ZKM, the Jeu de Paume, the National Museum of China, the Israel Museum and the National Gallery of Victoria. In 2025 the Pinacoteca di Brera showed *Parallax*, his generative video work, at Palazzo Citterio in Milan.

## At a glance

- Practice: Conceptual art in photography, sculpture, installation, film, AI and blockchain
- In museums: National Gallery of Ireland
- Based in: Paris

## Notable works

- 2010: [Potato #345](https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/potato-photo-million-euros/index.html)
- 2018: [YELLOW LAMBO](https://kevinabosch.com/yellow_lambo.html)
- 2021: [1111](https://www.gondi.xyz/collections/1111-by-kevin-abosch.md)
- 2015: [NOVEL ENCRYPTION](https://kevinabosch.com/novel_encryption.html)
- 2018: [I AM A COIN](https://www.siliconrepublic.com/enterprise/coderdojo-foreverrose-gifto-kevin-abosch-cryptocurrency)

## In museum collections

- 2013: [Three portraits for the National Portrait Collection: Bob Geldof (2012), Olwen Fouéré (2012) and Brian O'Driscoll (2011)](https://web.archive.org/web/20131216023828/http://www.nationalgallery.ie/aboutus/pressroom/Current_Press_Releases/New_Portraits.aspx), National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

## Top sales

- 2015: [Potato #345](https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/potato-photo-million-euros/index.html), Private sale, €1M (about $1.08M), as reported
- 2018: [YELLOW LAMBO](https://www.businessinsider.com/kevin-abosch-cryptocurrency-artwork-yellow-lambo-2018-4), If So, What? art fair, San Francisco, $400,000

## Exhibitions

- 2026: [The Machine's Eye In Human Hands, a group show](https://kevinabosch.com/show.html), Fotografiska, Stockholm
- 2026: [Young Folks: The World as an Aesthetic Membrane, a group show](https://kevinabosch.com/show.html), Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei (MoCA Taipei), Taipei
- 2025: [Parallax, solo show of a generative video work at Palazzo Citterio](https://www.ilgiornaledellarte.com/Mostre/Kevin-Abosch-Con-il-punto-di-vista-cambia-anche-il-senso-stesso-della-realta), Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
- 2023: [NGV Triennial 2023](https://kevinabosch.com/show.html), National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
- 2022: [Sun Over Jerusalem, solo show](https://kevinabosch.com/show.html), The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
- 2022: [DYOR (Do Your Own Research), a group show](https://kevinabosch.com/show.html), Kunsthalle Zürich, Zurich
- 2022: [The Times of the Chimera, Cameroon Pavilion](https://kevinabosch.com/show.html), La Biennale di Venezia, Venice
- 2020: [Le Supermarché des Images, a group show](https://kevinabosch.com/show.html), Jeu de Paume, Paris
- 2019: [Open Codes, a group show](https://kevinabosch.com/show.html), ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe
- 2019: [TASIES 2019, a group show](https://kevinabosch.com/show.html), National Museum of China, Beijing
- 2018: [Innovation as a Method, a group show](https://kevinabosch.com/show.html), State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
- 2016: [Impossible Promises, solo show of 100 painted oil barrels in Millennium Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Abosch), Bogotá Museum of Modern Art, Bogotá

## Collaborations

- 2026: [New Truth, made with R. Pleuger, shown at NEORT++](https://kevinabosch.com/show.html), Tokyo
- 2018: [PRICELESS, made with Ai Weiwei: two tokens and 12 paper works printed with wallet addresses](https://www.vice.com/en/article/qvmm9m/ai-weiwei-kevin-abosch-blockchain-art-priceless)
- 2018: [Forever Rose, a joint project of his I AM A COIN platform and Andy Tian's Gifto, its proceeds given to CoderDojo](https://www.siliconrepublic.com/enterprise/coderdojo-foreverrose-gifto-kevin-abosch-cryptocurrency)
- 2013: [Cassandra: Fragments of a Playscript, made with Olwen Fouéré, text by Anne Enright](https://kevinabosch.com/show.html), Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin

## Press & resources

- 2025: [Kevin Abosch: «Con il punto di vista cambia anche il senso stesso della realtà»](https://www.ilgiornaledellarte.com/Mostre/Kevin-Abosch-Con-il-punto-di-vista-cambia-anche-il-senso-stesso-della-realta), Il Giornale dell'Arte
- 2023: [Kevin Abosch e l'arte all'epoca dell'intelligenza artificiale: "Siamo di fronte a un rinascimento della fotografia"](https://www.wired.it/article/kevin-abosch-intervista-milan-s06b-dynamic-art-museum/), Wired Italia
- 2022: [TOP 10 NFTs of 2022](https://www.designboom.com/art/top-10-nfts-of-2022-12-17-2022/), designboom
- 2021: [Censorship resistance: Hong Kong's Apple Daily archives preserved by artist Kevin Abosch](https://cointelegraph.com/news/censorship-resistance-hong-kong-s-apple-daily-archives-preserved-by-artist-kevin-abosch), Cointelegraph
- 2018: [Artists Ai Weiwei and Kevin Abosch Are Using the Blockchain to Make Us Question What's 'PRICELESS'](https://www.vice.com/en/article/qvmm9m/ai-weiwei-kevin-abosch-blockchain-art-priceless), VICE
- 2018: [When Crypto Meets Conceptual Art, Things Get Weird](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/arts/design/cryptocurrency-blockchain-art-kevin-abosch.html), The New York Times
- 2018: [Kevin Abosch's Forever Rose donates $1m in crypto coin to CoderDojo](https://www.siliconrepublic.com/enterprise/coderdojo-foreverrose-gifto-kevin-abosch-cryptocurrency), Silicon Republic
- 2016: [Is this the world's most photogenic potato? Photo sells for $1.08m](https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/potato-photo-million-euros/index.html), CNN

## Milestones

- 2010: [Solo show Portraits at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina](https://kevinabosch.com/show.html), Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, Novi Sad
- 2011: [Faces of Ireland, his large portraits, goes on show at Dublin Airport Terminal 2 until 2015](https://kevinabosch.com/show.html), Dublin
- 2013: [The National Gallery of Ireland acquires three of his portraits](https://www.meer.com/en/6701-new-portraits), National Gallery of Ireland
- 2018: [Issues I AM A COIN: 10 million tokens, their address stamped in his blood on 100 works on paper](https://www.houldsworth.co.uk/press/128-kevin-abosch-when-crypto-meets-conceptual-art-things/)
- 2018: [Ten collectors buy Forever Rose, a single token, on Valentine's Day](https://hypebeast.com/2018/2/forever-rose-worlds-most-valuable-crypto-artwork)
- 2018: [YELLOW LAMBO, a neon sculpture of a token address, sells at the If So, What? fair](https://www.businessinsider.com/kevin-abosch-cryptocurrency-artwork-yellow-lambo-2018-4), San Francisco, CA
- 2018: [Releases PRICELESS with Ai Weiwei](https://www.vice.com/en/article/qvmm9m/ai-weiwei-kevin-abosch-blockchain-art-priceless)
- 2021: [Releases 1111, 1,111 generative works, from 23 March](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Abosch)
- 2024: [His film Am I? premieres at the Helsinki International Film Festival](https://kevinabosch.com/show.html), Helsinki
- 2025: [The Pinacoteca di Brera shows Parallax at Palazzo Citterio](https://www.ilgiornaledellarte.com/Mostre/Kevin-Abosch-Con-il-punto-di-vista-cambia-anche-il-senso-stesso-della-realta), Pinacoteca di Brera

## Links

- [kevinabosch.com](https://kevinabosch.com)
- [X](https://x.com/kevinabosch)
- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Abosch)

Data from GONDI (https://www.gondi.xyz), Oct 28, 2026.