I think we all acquired some weirdness during the 2020 lockdowns. I became obsessed with old coins. As the dollar wobbled, I got to thinking about the link between money and value. Soon I discovered “junk” silver and gold – the circulating coins which people once used to mediate trade. I found in them a universe of art, hiding in plain sight. The artwork on these coins transmitted claims about national identity, about God, about nature, men, women, and magic. After a long period of disinterest in painting, I suddenly found I wanted to paint again: portraits of coins, on circular canvases.

Daniel Maidman is best known for his vivid depiction of the figure. Maidman’s drawings and paintings are included in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress, the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, the Long Beach Museum of Art, the Bozeman Art Museum, and the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art. His work is included in numerous private collections, including those of Brooke Shields, China Miéville, and Jerry Saltz. His art and writing on art have been featured in The Huffington Post, Poets/Artists, ARTnews, Forbes, W, and many others. His drawings, paintings, and writing are included in the Lunar Codex, the first digital archive of art stored on the surface of the Moon. His books, Daniel Maidman: Nudes and Theseus: Vincent Desiderio on Art, are available from Griffith Moon Publishing. His novel The Exile of Zanzibar will be published by Tower Books in early 2023. He works in Brooklyn, New York. His current work can be found on Instagram at @danielmaidman.