artist interview - 79Au

The Art of Craft: Imagining Natural Worlds with Lapin Mignon

Born in the French countryside, Lapin Mignon (“Cute Rabbit”) had an idyllic childhood of imagination and simple pleasures. Today, she adopts a charming alias to distinguish her creative digital life from her corporate day job. Like two sides of her personality, she has managed to carve out a space for pure creativity as Lapin Mignon, where she can be free to dream up detailed watercolor worlds populated with whimsical, beady-eyed creatures. Drawing influence from nature and the great adventure stories of Jules Verne and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Lapin loves being able to make art however she pleases, without worrying about how the market will react. She’s found a way to be true to herself and have total creative control, while also being a full-time working mom. Impressive is an understatement.

Art

We are the Revolution: an Introspective on Street Art, Crypto Art, and Our Place in History with Mr Richi

What is crypto art? Everyone has their own definition. Which is funny, because there are some who say that crypto art is whatever the f*ck you want it to be. Not unlike street art–and here I’m including everyone from the teenagers in the Bronx in the 1970s to the Mexican muralists of the early 20th century to the degens who leave their names in bar bathrooms with Sharpie–it is an alternative to the way things “should” be done. With gatekeepers, refinery, and fancy napkins, I mean.

If you spend as much time on crypto twitter as I do (you’re reading this, so I assume you do), then you have no doubt encountered beautiful, historical masterpieces tagged up and born anew by the hand of Mr Richi. His iconic street art style combines vibrant colors, cheeky social commentary, and never ending layers of stories embedded in each corner of his art. With one hand, he reaches back into the past to help us reimagine the creations of the great masters. With his other hand, he pushes us forward into the future, each step immortalized on the Ethereum blockchain.

But taking a moment to enjoy the now, Mr Richi spent some time talking to 79Au about his work, his vision, and his optimism for the crypto art space, and beyond.

Virginia Valenzuela: Your work has a lot of imagery packed within it. Any artwork feels more like a collage of many individual artworks sewn together into a tapestry that one can stare at forever and still find little surprises. Can you tell me a bit about your signature style and how it came to be?

Mr Richi: It’s a bit difficult for me to define my style precisely because of the various influences. It is essentially a fusion of things I love and things that have made a strong impact on me and my art – a splash of street art, a dash of punk, pop art aesthetic, all wrapped up in the spirit of crypto art. Simple stories do not exist, you can find as many layers as you like in a story if you are willing to dig deep enough and interpret them to your liking, and that is what I am trying to show through each artwork and the use of numerous elements.

Fun fact is that some people actually do think that I use collage as a technique and are honestly surprised when I explain to them that it’s not my creative process.

Virginia Valenzuela: I can tell from your art that you love color. What is your relationship with color and what draws you to use the vivid colors that illuminate so many of your works?

Mr Richi: Thank you for noticing that, love. I did a lot of graphic design prior to my blockchain era and learned to appreciate the importance of colors. Picking up a right color combination has the power to transform creation in most extraordinary ways. Bold, vivid colors somehow work best with the messages I want to tell and in my vision crypto art should be exactly that, a strong, raw, vivid art message that you can’t ignore. The choice also probably has to do something with personality as well, as I am not exactly what you would call the calmest person in the room.

"Today people don’t want to go to the streets so we are bringing art to the screens to which all of us are attached so digital art can no longer be ignored."

Virginia Valenzuela: You have described yourself as an artist who brings street art to the blockchain. There are many obvious ways in which your art hearkens to street art, including the pop culture references, the combination of imagery and text in classic graffiti fonts, and the layers of pen marks and stickers that one might see on an advertisement. What are some of the not so obvious relationships between street art and digital art in the NFT world that you aim to explore through your art?

Mr Richi: Really glad you asked that. Street art and digital art on blockchain have a much stronger connection than people think. They both, in their nature, disrupt the traditional art paradigms and old ways. Being open and essentially limitless in ways you can share your art with the world, they are a challenge to traditional exclusivity. They represent empowerment of the artists and redefine how we perceive art today. I like to play with that rebellious aspect that both have and put it to the spotlight through my artworks.

People didn’t want to go to museums so artists brought art to streets where it couldn’t be avoided or ignored. Today people don’t want to go to the streets so we are bringing art to the screens to which all of us are attached so digital art can no longer be ignored.

Virginia Valenzuela: Much of your art draws on famous paintings from centuries past, like the “Mona Lisa” or “Venus on the Half-Shell.” What about historical paintings interests you, and what is your main aim in recreating them in your iconic street art style?

Mr Richi: I have always been fascinated by the mastery and depth in those pieces as they are as close to the craft perfection as it gets and represent imagery and symbols that you have seen so many times that they are imprinted somewhere deep in your brain. Art and this world constantly evolve so it’s like a playful challenge for me to take something that is created with such excellence and transform it into a rebellious artwork, imagery of today, a message that will entertain you and make you think about reconsidering traditional concepts about art and life.

Virginia Valenzuela: Something I love about your work is your ability to create unique standalone pieces as well as series. I’m thinking of “The Gamblers” series on SuperRare or the “All-Star Supper” on Async. Can you tell me about how you come up with ideas for projects and what gets you excited to create?

Mr Richi: I spend a lot of my time with our beautiful and weird crypto art community so the inspiration comes from the struggles, wins and events we experience on this crazy journey. “Money Laundering” and “The Gamblers” were references to the well-known stereotypes about NFTs – that they are nothing but money laundering and gambling. “All-Star Supper” was a hat tip to important figures in the space.

The collection that I will be dropping this October, “Venus de Crypto: Defender of the Metaverse” is a comic book-style collection of 120 different art stories inspired by the crypto art world and NFTs and is something I am really excited for because it will also include a way for the collectors to take the stories further through inscriptions. I jokingly like to say that I chose 120 as the number of artworks because that is how many people are left here and each of them deserves to have a personal story turned into art.

Virginia Valenzuela: Finally, I’d love to hear about your piece that you are exhibiting with us in “The Golden Age” at Superchief. We gave you permission to try something totally different from what you usually create, to ignore the demands of collectors and to listen to your heart. What did you end up doing and what choices are you most proud of in creating this piece?

Mr Richi: I was genuinely excited when we started talking about it, thank you for gathering this amazing lineup of artists. Every artist loves and needs freedom in creation, we thrive on that. I wanted to go with something iconic and make it extra raw and trashy, give it a true voice of crypto art as I see it.

The piece is called “Just Hodl It” and it’s a sort of an electric battle cry in the fight for an open metaverse and crypto art’s place in it, a big, sincere and vivid message to keep us going where we are headed to.

We are here, we are the revolution and nothing can stop this.

Art

2 years ago Art by : Chris Kokiousis

The Future is Rubbish: Elevating the Refuse with Empress Trash

Trash is treasure, creativity is abundant, and Empress Trash, the self-proclaimed Matriarch of Mistakes, clearly seems ecstatic doing the work as a full-time artist. After toiling for years as a barista and in a warehouse moving art, while also painting canvases in her spare time, the mixed media artist is grateful to have AI as another creative outlet to express herself while finally giving her body time to heal. Her work often incorporates trash, glitch, AI, illustration, and animation all at once, with a punk spirit and a political streak that cuts gleefully through power structures. A journey of self-discovery on surging waves of DIY technology. No rules, just pure expression.

She speaks with me from Mexico City, where she currently lives with her rottweiler Glitch. In this conversation, she shares her foraging trash art origins, how blockchains and money are forms of energy, and how being prolific is better than forcing a scarcity mindset.

Chris Kokiousis: Hey Empress, how’s life going in Mexico City?

Empress Trash: It’s awesome! For the last few weeks, I haven’t been doing much of anything. But I love it here because it’s cheap, and I have friends here, but they’re all weird introverts too. But it’s fine because we still hang out sometimes. It’s the fifth biggest city in the world. It’s massive, but I wake up in the morning and I hear birds. Everyone is super nice and I feel mostly safe, and more safe than I did in any American city or any place in America that I’ve been…Yeah, there’s so many layers of history here. There’s ancient Aztec all the way to the conquistador stuff and then even modern art.

Chris Kokiousis: What’s the art community like there right now? I know that there’s a big crypto scene.

Empress Trash: Yeah, there’s just art everywhere. So, the huge cultural difference that I’ve found out coming to Mexico is artists are treated very differently here. Just on a societal level, like on a day-to-day level. Very rarely do I say “I’m an artist” and then people are like, but what do you really do…like what’s your day job?… Here, Frida Kahlo is on their money, Diego Rivera is on their money. Artists are considered leaders of the people, and they’re really revered here by a lot of people. And so, being an artist and trying to do that is actually very fondly looked upon here. And I can feel that.

Chris Kokiousis: Yeah that’s amazing. That makes such a difference that they value artists and revere them and it’s just core to society.

Empress Trash: And it’s not saying everyone is like that. It’s not as dismissed, if that makes sense. And when I’m out at parties, even if I’m talking to non-artists, they get it.

Chris Kokiousis: Can you tell me the origin story of Empress Trash? Was it related to discovering the trash art scene or is it an entirely separate thing?

Empress Trash: Totally separate thing. I came up with the name pre-crypto, because I lived in a house in West Oakland and we would have art shows in it and stuff. And previous to that I had the concept of Empress Trash, but I didn’t call myself it. It took me a while to take it on as my name, and it was in the house in Oakland that I really took it on because we would have these huge art parties. And then I lived in Oakland right near the interchange of I-80 and 580, which is a huge major interchange at the base of the Bay Bridge. But I lived right off an exit on that, and people would come and just dump their trash and then take off. And so, there was constantly piles of trash on the street…And what I would do is go pick through the trash and try to find things to make art with. I’d make art installations and incorporate it into mixed media paintings and I would find stuff for friends. I just would pick through the trash all the time.

At the same time I was kind of the life of the party but it’s like, I’m literally living in trash. And so, I just think I just became Empress Trash. Like I did a huge installation where I made my throne, but it had nails on the seat sticking up and barbed wire, and broken glass and it was just a statement against power structures and stuff like that. But I was like “Oh that’s my throne.”

How I came to be Empress Trash was outside of how the trash art movement was developed. It was just convergence at some point. And also, people misinterpreted me calling myself Empress, in thinking that it was me saying I was ruling over trash, when my name is a play on power dynamics. How people have these titles and how I’m giving myself the title. Therefore giving myself my own power and giving myself autonomy. It has nothing to do with wanting to boss other people around. But that’s how other people perceive it because that’s how we perceive these titles.

But then I just think trash art as a whole is antagonistic.

Chris Kokiousis: Yeah, it’s punk.

Empress Trash: It is, and not all punks like each other. And I’ve been in the punk scene a long time. There’s different facets of punk. Also it’s like I’m coming in and some people are perceiving me antagonistically to the OG trash art movement. And then all the posh collectors, who already don’t like trash art, they view me as being antagonistic to them. So for the first year I was in this weird [gestures in a small space], pushed on both sides.

So the original people who were in [the trash art movement], I’m never gonna dismiss everything that they did. I appreciate it. But there’s also people who’ve been doing trash art outside of crypto and there’s a way that we can all live together. And then on top of it, us coming in in 2021, the few of us trash artists that did, we lended energy to the movement that made it grow even more. And you can’t dismiss that. Me inherently calling myself Empress Trash — every accomplishment that I’ve done, it validates trash art. When I was in TED talks, it validates trash art. When I was in Sotheby’s, it validates trash art on a systematic level. And that’s what my thing is…I want to elevate trash but then also bring down the power structures.

Chris Kokiousis: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I kind of want to go back to what you’ve said about not seeing yourself as a money person, but seeing the value in NFTs, even though it’s so tied to financialization. And it’s a reason that a lot of people don’t participate in this space, because they’re like “that’s not for me.” From the perspective of trying to get more artists involved and to see the value in what this technology can do, how would you approach it?

Empress Trash: How I came to understand it, and I think how a lot of us artists understand it, it’s like, the blockchain is energy. It’s just a massive interconnected network of energy. So, when you create something, you’re putting intention and energy into the world. And when you mint something on the blockchain, inherently it’s amplifying that energy, because you’re putting it on this vast network of energy. And that energy is also tied to money.

Money is just another energy in the world whether people want to accept it or not. And that is something I figured out through crypto too because it has inherently just changed my relationship with money. And not only that I make money from selling my art, but it’s giving me more financial literacy than I’ve probably ever had in my past, just by trying to understand everything going on and trying to stay relevant. And sometimes I get really pissy about it and sometimes I get really annoyed with it all, because the last thing I care about is learning about how coins work or anything like that. But at some point, if you’re open to it—it took me a while—but you learn why these are important and the inherent artistry in it and the inherent valuable impact that it will have on humanity as a whole, as long as people of good conscience are the ones continuing to propagate on it…

Chris Kokiousis: Right, 100%.

Empress Trash: So 2021 for my understanding was this weird shift of this overvaluation of 1/1s and scarcity in art. 1/1s are cool. I do a ton of 1/1s, don’t get me wrong. But we’re trying to manifest abundance here and not inherent scarcity, and forcing that is gonna artificially inflate prices for a while. And so an artist may seem more successful than they actually are, when it’s just they’re forcing scarcity. They’re not necessarily doing anything inherently different besides that.

And I’ve been saying this because I understand art sales and art business enough. Like I say I don’t get money, but I understand art business. That isn’t sustainable to me. If you are forcing some sort of scarcity that shouldn’t be there, eventually that’s gonna burst. That little bubble you’re creating is gonna burst and that’s kind of what we saw. And I’m over here, surviving the bear because throughout all that I was pumping out editions. There was a point in time I was putting out work daily during 2021 just to try to build up and survive and get my name out there. And by the time I got to the bear market, I had thousands of pieces minted between [Ethereum and Tezos]. I had 1000 to 2000 different collectors on both chains. And that keeps growing, instead of relying on one or two collectors. I mean, this is just basic, but if I rely on one or two collectors, what if I make one of them mad? What if we have a fallout? What if it’s a toxic situation?

I don’t want to rely on one or two people to be that, so I approached it like, how can I get as many collectors as possible? And it’s like, well I’m going to release low-priced editions and then keep putting them out there and keep proliferating. And it got to the point that by the time the bear hit, like I definitely took a financial hit with that. I’m not saying that. But I still kept selling work. Even after that. And like some 1/1s are still unsold. But I was still selling editions and still selling editions and still selling editions and it kept building on itself.

And then it’s to the point — I haven’t tweeted this or said it publicly — but this month, where so many people are struggling who were prescribing the scarcity mindset, I’ve made the most in art sales in my whole career in crypto art.

Chris Kokiousis: In the depths of a bear market.

Empress Trash: And it’s because I’ve been manifesting that abundance. I’ve been living in that abundance mindset. I’m gonna keep putting myself out there. Don’t give a fuck if someone gets mad at me, because they feel like I’m oversaturating the market. I’m just gonna keep doing it, and it got me to where I am now. And I did that, to go back to trash art, because of Rob [ROBNESS]. Because of the trash artists. Because they never subscribed to that scarcity. Rob became who he was because he constantly put work out there. And I believed in that. And I’m like, well you’re still here and you’ve been here five, six, seven years now. It’s like, obviously you have something figured out, so I’m gonna listen to you.

Chris Kokiousis: Yeah it’s more decentralized too, having a big collector base and not just selling art to rich people, you know?

Empress Trash: Yeah, and hopefully, the long game for me — and I can’t make promises on this because I have no idea how my art will be valued in the future — but all I can do is keep trying to be culturally relevant, keep trying to get my work exhibited, keep making connections with more wealthy people, and hopefully eventually all of my art just goes up inherently in value. And all these people who believe in me and threw five, ten bucks at me here and there every month, who got me through all of it, hopefully they have payouts from it…

And I’m hoping that it pays off in the end for them. And if it’s not for them, it’s for their kids. Because there’s a lot of people who buy my work and they actually are buying it for their daughters and putting it in their daughters’ wallets. Because they view my work as really important feminist work and they don’t necessarily see it in their lifetime, maybe being something that they want to sell, but it’s something that they want to support now. Because they will tell me I want a better future for my daughter and I want to support you and what you do and the gates that you bring down, and the things that you highlight and the things that you criticize. I want to support that now, but I want to give that to my daughter, so that’s why they literally are putting it in wallets for their daughter.

Art

3 years ago Art by : Virginia Valenzuela

Artists and the Ever Changing World

Art and science have always had a close relationship. Throughout the Enlightenment period, great thinkers and explorers recorded their findings through text and detailed illustrations. Artists of the time utilized depth, perspective, shadow, and even the golden ratio to bring the images in their minds to life.

Though art and STEM fields may seem to resonate with different parts of the brain, for artists in the computer age, they converge. It is something deeply human that invites us, no matter our background, to play with tools as they become available to us. Is it any wonder that one of the first uses of the computer was to make art? Or that the early internet was filled with bugs, glitches, and slow download speeds that artists transformed into found objects worth enjoying?

The Dawn of the Digital

Victor Acevedo’s career evolved alongside the storied trajectory of PCs and the Graphic User Interface, or GUI period. But his interest in the mystical and the metaphysical nature of art began in his analog period. Having read books like “The Tao of Physics” by Fritjof Capra and Wassily Kandinsky’s book, “Concerning the Spiritual in Art,” he was immediately drawn to the metaphors in Eastern thought that explored the tension between things that can feel simultaneously full and empty.

“In the book, [Capra] discusses among many things, a metaphor found in Eastern mysticism called the ‘void plenum’ or the ‘void matrix,’” Acevedo told 79Au. “This can be described as a kind of omni-dimensional substrate of reality; a vast ocean of ‘isness’ that is paradoxically completely empty (void) and simultaneously full and brimming over (my words) with physical and metaphysical potentiality (the matrix or plenum).”

According to Acevedo, this concept spawned his graphic visualization of the so-called ‘void matrix’ as a structural field. Then he read R. Buckminster Fuller’s book “Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking.” There he found the field-like geometrical structures that became a wellspring of inspiration for many of his works. In pieces like “4-Fold Rotational Wasp” or “Penance Untitled with IVM (isotropic vector matrix) overlay,” we see the lines and angles at times penetrating the subjects, and at other times fading into obscure forms.

In 1983, Acevedo began exploring the digital realm, taking his appreciation for the concrete and the abstract with him. In pieces like “Huichol Ghost” and his video work “Proxima Nova,” a musical collaboration with Igor Amokian, one looks into a prism, experiencing the vastness that stems from looking at a familiar subject with new eyes.

“The use of the geometrical overlay is a way to metaphor the spatial and energetic structures that create a matrix or context for the figurative ‘happenings’,” he said. “It is an aesthetic choice to convey a particular graphic metaphor. For me, it’s more like the human subjects need the geometry.” In his piece “@_The Edge of the Metaverse v03” Acevedo explores the virtual/physical hybrid that has become modern life. “Now almost every human on the planet has their reality altered, enhanced, or impacted by digital technologies,” he writes in the artwork description.

“For me, it’s more like the human subjects need the geometry.”

Victor Acevedo

Through geometrical overlay, Acevedo is able to represent the networks that connect all of our lives. Like lines connecting each of our devices, platforms, and versions of ourselves, the geometry reminds us of the invisible webs we weave throughout our lifetime. And with virtual and augmented reality, it is only going to get more convoluted.

Creativity in the Age of the Artificial

Erika Fujyama is a filmmaker whose freelance work led her to photography. But while looking through her many shots, she found herself more interested in the “bad” photos. “While curating still images, I would find that a few of them which don’t look technically good were interesting somehow. Then I started playing with them, using effects, overlays, filters,” and all of a sudden, what most would consider the scraps on the editing floor became the very materials of her digital art.

“What I like the most in this journey is that most of my digital artworks and NFTs are made of clips or photos that are ‘creatively reused’ or up-cycled raw materials converted into so-called artworks,” Fujyama told 79Au. “There’s something inside me that wants to transform the boring ordinary reality into something abstract, funny or provocative.”

While looking for webinars or communities that could help her learn how to use artificial intelligence in her work, she stumbled upon the world of web3. After finding AI, Fujyama’s eye, which was trained on film and photography, saw new ways of imagining the world around her.

“There’s something inside me that wants to transform the boring ordinary reality into something abstract, funny or provocative.”

Erika Fujyama

Left: “THINKER” by Erika Fujyama

In “THINKER,” she explored the idea of what artificial intelligence would consume if it were a living, breathing being that needed sustenance to survive. Using Midjourney, she tried different prompts along the lines of “if AI was a humanoid metallic sculpture, questioning his existence, reflecting if he could be considered an artwork.”

“My goal was to pick one good image of an AI being, and to make it process data as we humans process food,” she said. “Information and feeding have the same purpose and mechanism.” As Midjourney only generates still images, Fujyama then had to animate the piece. “I made a stop motion thing and gave some ‘life’ to it. Thinking is a never ending process that’s why it’s a loop.” Finally, Fujyama placed the artwork in front of the iconic New York Public Library on 5th Avenue.

“This world is made of vibrational patterns of thoughts, feelings, memories and experiences,” she writes in her artist statement. “Multiple layers of colors and dynamic shapes come around. I capture the potential of the outcomes and make them shine and coexist through art.” Placing a 3D sculpture in the middle of a busy building, where people may or may not see it, assuming they know it exists, captures this concept perfectly.

An AR rendition of “THINKER” placed in front of the NYPL, reproduced with permission from the artist

Existing In and Outside the Lines

As technology continues to expand far past what even the most far out science fiction creators can imagine, it will be artists who play, create, and ponder. In both Acevedo and Fujyama’s works, metaphor becomes the most precise means of communication. It’s difficult to grasp what is happening in today’s world, both because the technology changes so quickly, and because we may never truly know what lies behind the curtains.

Like with previous technologies, we see artists being the main users of both NFTs and artificial intelligence, and the exploration has only just begun.

Ready to get started as an artist or collector on Mint Gold Dust? Check out our Metamask start up guide to get started. Ready to start minting? Apply to talk with our curatorial team today.

Weekly Recap

3 years ago Weekly Recap by : Virginia Valenzuela

79Au | 6.22-28 Art is a Portal to the Immersive

In the world of NFTs, almost everything is cross-genre. Some pieces invoke the tension between the physical and the digital. Others combine multiple styles and mediums. Increasingly, more and more artists are using art as a portal, to bring together the visual, musical, literary, performance-based, technological, and beyond.

Artists have used NFTs to break down all kinds of philosophical and financial barriers. The artists in “Portal Realms” show multiple ways of straddling different worlds and disciplines. A coder can indeed take her seat at the artists’ table. And a DJ can build entire realities with the combined power of visual art and music.

The Transformative Nature of Immersive Experience

Iamnubio has felt the electricity of a crowd dancing and vibing in unison. He has created that electricity, using all the tools necessary to drop a participant in the middle of a memorable moment. As a DJ, he has always aimed to connect with the audience on a deeper level.

Working under the pseudonym of Iamnubio has helped him to explore different facets of sound. It has also allowed him to follow the spark of inspiration regardless of the medium. Furthermore, many of his artworks utilize original soundtracks, adding to the sensory experience of the work. “I’m exploring unique aesthetics, textures, and visual narratives,” he told 79Au. “These experiences have informed my music production, allowing me to experiment with different sounds, layering techniques, and musical elements to create a rich and immersive sonic experience.”

Any elongated musical experience aims to tell a story. Whether it be an album or a live set, the artist curates a journey to share with their listeners. But there’s also something to be said about the visual experience of it all: the way the artist performs, the backdrop to the stage, the lights. This is the spatial, multi-sensory approach that Iamnubio brings to his works.

“These experiences have informed my music production, allowing me to experiment with different sounds, layering techniques, and musical elements to create a rich and immersive sonic experience.”

“I believe that music has the power to evoke emotions and enhance the impact of visual art,” he said. “When I add music to artwork, I approach the visual elements with the intention of synchronizing them with the emotional essence of the music. The visuals are crafted to resonate with the mood, rhythm, and energy of the accompanying music, creating a powerful and immersive experience for the viewer.”

Immersion is a prominent theme in Iamnubio’s works. In the piece “Inner Conquering,” we see someone viewing the world through the lens of a headset. The layers of color scheme, facial expressions, and body language hint at the subject’s perception of an alternate reality, one in which they are fully immersed. Though this piece does not feature music, it includes Iamnubio’s iconic dancing skeletons and invokes the energy of music.

For Iamnubio, as both an artist and as a DJ, immersion is the crux of the experience. “The concept of immersion allows individuals to transcend their physical surroundings and delve into alternative realities,” he said. “It opens up a realm of infinite possibilities, where boundaries between the real and the virtual blur, enabling new forms of expression and storytelling.” “Inner Conquering” highlights the power of technology to transport us to new dimensions, to provoke introspection, and to challenge our perceptions.

“Dreamscape” by Trish Gianakis

The (R)evolving World of Computer-Based Art

Trish Gianakis has been exploring the intersection of art and technology since the 1980s. A veteran of merging IRL art installations and emerging technologies, her work interrogates the very nature of our increasingly phygital experience.

Having studied computers and how they work, Gianakis brings thoughtful and creative logic to her works. “While earning my masters degree at SVA in 1999, I had to learn JavaScript, C++, and Unix,” she told 79Au. “I have a deep appreciation and understanding of what computers are capable of today, since I understand programming.” Perhaps it is the understanding of digital infrastructure that makes the presentation of her art so engaging.

Gianakis has created a large scope of works, from 3D sculpture to AR filters to glitch to something like digital watercolor. You can view them in the gallery she has built and curated herself. “I am enjoying using AI, creating worlds in Spatial,” she said. “I enjoy creating in VR with Gravity Sketch and then exporting it to other 3D programs such as Blender or Nomad. Mostly I enjoy exporting my art to AR to share with the world.”

“The abstract and freedom in creating in VR is reflected in this dreamlike space, no walls, or windows, but rather a free floating and playful environment.”

Having worked with AR for so many years, she has witnessed the changes in perception around the technology. However, a lot of people still don’t seem to understand the difference between AR and VR. This is part of why she continues to explore the medium, and to invite people to experience it.

With “Dreamscape,” she created a digital structure that could be experienced on its own or inside of a virtual world. “I wanted to create a space for people to be free and interact with my art,” she said. Using the mirror setting in TiltBrush, she created bug-like creatures that double as the architecture of the space. Depending on the angle you can see the insects, the structure, or both.

“The abstract and freedom in creating in VR is reflected in this dreamlike space, no walls, or windows, but rather a free floating and playful environment,” she said. In AR, the world can be enlarged and you can walk through it, or you can move it around. You can also view “Dreamscape” in Spatial where you can jump around as an avatar.

Gianakis has looked at her practice from many different angles. On one hand, she finds ways to incorporate technology into her physical sculptures. On the other hand, she finds ways to illuminate the physicality of her digital sculptures and AR objects. “AR is still a mystery to most people,” she said. It is a mystery that she does not intend to solve, but to explore.

Ready to get started as an artist or collector on Mint Gold Dust? Check out our Metamask start up guide to get started. Ready to start minting? Apply to talk with our curatorial team today.

Weekly Recap

3 years ago Weekly Recap by : Virginia Valenzuela

79Au | 5.18-24 At Home with the Supernatural

Art lovers have often revered their favorite works as a portal into the artist’s soul. Artists transform a subject in the act of recreating it. But the viewer also changes as they absorb the artist’s vision. Yet another theme racing through the artworks in “Portal Realms” is the supernatural forces of change.

Anything can be a portal: a memory, a daydream, a movie, a threshold. It can be physical or intangible, real or imaginary. Almost more important than the portal itself is the version of ourselves that meets us on the other side.

“The Occurrence: The Child #1” by Joyce Korotkin

Joyce Korotkin Looks Into the Light

Many of Joyce Korotkin’s artworks take root in the in-between places that populate our world. Some of her works live in a moment between the past and the future, a disquieted present. Others look at the world almost through a supernatural lens. “I’ve been fascinated by the lore of crystal balls since I first saw The Wizard of Oz as a young child,” Korotkin told 79 Au. “[Specifically] the scene where Dorothy gazed into the Witch’s ball at a world within the world.”

Many of Korotkin’s earliest memories involve her getting lost in a world of color. As a young girl, she drew a line with chalk along the bricks of her childhood home. “I stared at it as closely as my eyes could get, transfixed, for what seemed like hours,” she added. Then in Kindergarten, she dipped a brush into a pot of deep pink paint. “I couldn’t get enough of staring at it; I wanted to devour it,” she added.

Ever since, she has been fascinated by the power of the gaze. Or rather, how one can be transported into an alternate universe by the act of gazing.

In her work “The Occurrence: The Child #1,” she shows a child looking over a scene of destruction. Here, she taps into another recurring theme of her work, “that out of the blue of an otherwise perfectly ordinary day, something happens that transforms the world forever.”

“Digital art and the emergence of NFTs felt like the same quantum leap from the past into something completely new and disconnected. Here was an intangible art comprised of nothing but light.”

Even the evolution of Korotkin’s project shows the ways in which technology can change the world in an instant. The child featured in the artwork in the “Portal Realms” exhibition is the protagonist of “The Occurrence” series on Mint Gold Dust. The artwork was created using AI, procreate and animation. However, Korotkin created the other works in the series before she ever heard of AI art tools. “Suddenly, it’s here, and everything has changed.”

The overnight success of AI feels similar to the recent NFT bull market, though on a smaller scale. Each technology helped us recognize the hurrying pace of the future. “Digital art and the emergence of NFTs felt like the same quantum leap from the past into something completely new and disconnected,” Korotkin said. “Here was an intangible art comprised of nothing but light.”

“Light has always been the province of painters,” she pointed out. It is one of the main things everyone writes about when discussing a specific work. “Vermeer’s Light, Rembrandt’s light, Caravaggio’s light, Impressionist light. And here was a new art, distilled to art’s essence: Light itself.”

“Beyond the Threshold” The Portal” by Matt Menendez

Matt Menendez Explores Interstitial Space

Menendez’s piece “Beyond the Threshold: The Portal” features a figure edging closer to a gateway. The terrain flashes with seas of blue and white light. This work, like many others by Menendez, leans into themes of fantasy and science fiction. The ambiguity around the setting as well as the subject allow for the viewer to fill in the details.

“What excites me the most is that [fantasy and sci-fi] allow for unlimited possibilities of imagination and invention,” Menendez told 79 Au. “It’s their sense of wonder and escapism that always draws me in.”

Indeed, the portal taps into both the escapist nature of fiction and the shift from one reality to the next. Like in life, the future that will greet the subject in the artwork is still unknown. And it is that very quality of uncertainty that makes gazing into the flashing blue so exciting.

Menendez has a long career in architecture and design, which one can see readily in his work in “Portal Realms.” With an acute awareness of space, Menendez aimed to explore the idea of the in between. “Interstitial space is a common conversation in the architectural world,” he said. “But in the context of the metaverse it holds a different meaning.”

When we think of portals in metaverse spaces, we typically think of doorways to different worlds or spaces within a world. “You don’t really get to experience them,” he said. “They are more just a ‘quick’ teleportation to a different space.” It was this area of intrigue that inspired “Beyond the Threshold: The Portal.” What might the inner workings of a portal in virtual space look like if we took the time to look?

“Interstitial space is a common conversation in the architectural world. But in the context of the metaverse it holds a different meaning.”

“I wanted to explore this interstitial space as an atmospheric experience that spans x amount of time rather than a quick transition,” he said. “The notion that one can experience the space from one side of the portal to the other is fascinating to me, and I would hope for others too,” he added.

A Virtual Butterfly Effect

Both artists we spoke to this week were fascinated by the unlimited possibilities that exist in making even a single piece of art. When using AI art tools, word choice alters the output. When choosing colors, even a slight shift of shade could change the mood.

“What I use as a prompt for portals in Midjourney isn’t the same as, say, Kaiber, which is what I used to create ‘Beyond the Threshold,’” Menendez said. “I like to think of these different prompt syntaxes of language and how we look at different architectural styles.”

And for Korotkin, her love of color spills over into a perfectionist’s dilemma. “Just about every digital piece I make has several iterations, mostly based on different colors,” she said. “And sometimes I just mint them all and let collectors decide for themselves. ‘The Secret Life of Flowers’ is one such series.”

No matter the medium or style, each choice the artist makes affects the next. And it is in these strange and unsettling moments between start and finish where art truly thrives.

Ready to get started as an artist or collector on Mint Gold Dust? Check out our Metamask start up guide to get started. Ready to start minting? Apply to talk with our curatorial team today.

Weekly Recap

3 years ago Weekly Recap by : Virginia Valenzuela

79Au | 5.11-5.17 The Power of Community and Art

There are many reasons to feel like the world is different coming out of the COVID 19 pandemic. We understand the virility of trends in a new context. Globalization has taken on new meaning. But the one thing that hasn’t changed is how important connection and community are to us. Even when we were apart, art brings us together. In a time of social distance, it helped us bridge the physical gap between us.

One aspect of the NFT art revolution that is both a blessing and a curse is its global nature. On one hand, it brings people together who may not have ever met. On the other hand, it means that we experience our community through the lens of a screen. Pulling back the curtain (or the screensaver), we might find that connecting is the most tangible thing in the world, no matter the medium.

The artworks included in the Mint Gold Dust exhibition “Portal Realms” explore the theme of transformation in many ways. Today we can think about the power of community and how it transforms us into the best version of ourselves.

“A Creator’s Soul” by Lianna Adams

Lianna Adams on Community, Education, and Inclusion

The work of Lianna Adams is full of vibrant colors and natural imagery. Instead of shading and blending, she uses detailed imagery to create depth in each piece. Having spent the early days of her career in broadcasting, she has a unique ability to tell stories and to blend mediums.

“I spent my childhood and youth learning embroidery from my grandmother,” she told 79 Au. “That played a huge part in developing my love of art movements like art nouveau, aestheticism. Also my interest in symbolism and the arts and crafts movement.” Like embroidery, her work revels in the beauty of the natural world placed atop a simple surface. Using her unique aesthetic, Adams has worked with digital mediums and physical ones. She has paired her art with design to create unique items like bags, clothing, and pottery.

But one of the things that makes Adams a powerful force in the Web3 ecosystem is her ability to bring people together through art and to use art to spark conversations. “I am always looking for ways to step in and speak up for what is right,” she said. Then she added, “I use art as a way to create dialogue and to cultivate a humanity-first culture within different communities to hopefully build bridges that fosters understanding and compassion.”

“I use art as a way to create dialogue and to cultivate a humanity-first culture within different communities to hopefully build bridges that fosters understanding and compassion.”

Considering the technical nature of Web3, one of the biggest challenges to artists–to anyone–trying to get into the space is a lack of understanding of how it all works. Adams has made a concerted effort to lead people into Web3 and to create a space where people can feel comfortable to ask questions. In the same vein, she has created space for people to voice their struggles with mental health.

Chazz Gold on Connecting Time and Space

Chazz Gold joined me on a video call from a spaceship circling an orange planet. He had just finished working on a new piece of art. It was sort of a request for a piece with a new color palette from one of his collectors. He was so inspired by the idea that he woke up early to make it before hopping on our 8AM call.

“I went to bed and then I had a dream about, like, blending and making darker ones,” he told 79 Au. “I woke up and I went straight to the computer before I even had coffee.”

Chazz approaches everything this way: with unbridled excitement. Since launching his career as an NFT artist in 2021, he has sold over 1,000 pieces. If you look at his Twitter timeline, he is talking about art and AI all day long.

“Neural in Augmentation” by Chazz Gold

Many of his artworks are modern takes on portraiture, which makes sense because he began his career in photography. In one folder that he showed me, he had over 60,000 photographs. “So I can take those and put those through AI and then build on top of them,” he said. “It’s a lot of work, and it doesn’t always come out right. And in the early days using stable diffusion to get something dream-like, it was hard.” He began training his own models, running and re-running them. It took hours, even days or months, to get one good image.

But as AI art tools have evolved, so too has Chazz’s style. Inspired by the duality of cyborgs as both machine and human, he explored the cybernetic. In recent years, he has gotten into the aesthetics of psychedelia. Throughout, his basic technique has remained the same. Beginning with live subjects, he has a photo shoot, and then transforms the human into something metahuman.

How Connections Change Lives

The life of an artist is difficult, especially when you add the stress of minting NFTs. The pressure of being an artist in such a fast-paced environment is apparent. However, until recently, most artists have not felt comfortable talking about burnout, anxiety, or any of the other challenges that they face trying to make it in this space. “When I started the Weekly Mental Health Check-Ins [on Clubhouse] in 2021, there weren’t that many rooms for people to just share how they are doing, really,” she said. A pioneer in helping NFT artists take care of their mental health, she continues to host weekly check-ins and to help others find their strength in community.

“If it wasn’t for the NFT community, I would not have been sober in the pandemic. Honestly, I wouldn’t have, I wouldn’t have made it. Because nobody would’ve known that I went out and used again.”

Right: “The Dark Starchild” by Chazz Gold

“If it wasn’t for the NFT community, I would not have been sober in the pandemic,” Chazz told me. “Honestly, I wouldn’t have, I wouldn’t have made it. Because nobody would’ve known that I went out and used again.” These stories, and so many others like them, show us the life-changing power of online communities. And the connections we have made virtually will only continue to prosper as we begin to meet out in the physical world.

We have created a global community the likes of which have never been seen. And if we can tap into that community, to share our successes as well as our failures, then we will thrive, together.

Ready to get started as an artist or collector on Mint Gold Dust? Check out our Metamask start up guide to get started. Ready to start minting? Apply to talk with our curatorial team today.

Art

3 years ago Art by : Virginia Valenzuela

79Au | 3.22-28

At Mint Gold Dust, we invite you to get a closer, more personal look into the thoughts and energies behind the artwork. We look for ways to bring artists and collectors together by appreciating creative vibrations in common.

We spoke with some of the artists from our platform and from our 79Au Interview Series and asked them to share thoughts about their process, how they got into digital art, and how they use NFTs as a form of expression.

Here are some of their insights.

In the beginning, LeLapin Mignon felt so out of place in the digital art world that she was hesitant to even use an iPad to create. When a friend from art school told her to look into NFTs and digital art, she thought it would be a difficult endeavor as a non-technical person. It ended up being wonderful, life-changing advice.

She soon realized she could reverse her usual color palette and turn up the vibrancy in ways that were unexplorable with traditional watercolor. This experimentation opened a whole new dimension of creation. This daringness was only possible with the help and support of the growing NFT community.

She now helps other artists create traditional works with embedded animation and music, exploring playful and creative digital possibilities.

“Anatomie d’Une Poussière d’Or is my very own interpretation of Gold Dust. It shines, it explodes with dreams and hopes, it sparkles with joy, while being delicate and ethereal.” Lapin is one of Mint Gold Dust’s eight Genesis artists who created digital art pieces centered around the theme of ‘gold dust’.

Listen to the full interview here: https://bit.ly/3TXXMSm

I grew up the only son of an artist and a single mother. Art was served up daily, and even though we lived in a New York apartment, we rented a basement studio on Perry Street in the west Village. I painted and made collages up to my first year of art school.

Since 2001 I began thinking of myself as a Digital Artist. One of my first shows at the Agora Gallery in New York was titled “Pixel Perfect.” Back then, I made collages out of my photographs by mixing painted elements and individual splices from my photography. My work was unique, and most people didn’t understand Digital Art.

NFT Art is just another extension of tech’s relationship with Art to create something new. The space is most exciting because it’s a level playing field. It brings well-deserved recognition to a new group of programmers and digital artists who the art world had yet to recognize in the past.

-VanDi

Read full interview: https://bit.ly/3jFzFKo

My future is precarious having terminal cancer, and after all of my paintings sold when the news was out, I was left with no inventory. NFTs were, in a way, a solution to a problem both in regards to my digital legacy and the future of my artwork.

I had an idea to delete any trace of me online after I am gone, with the exception of my website. But many people seemed to object to this. Instead, having a little ecosystem of collectors that carry my legacy in the digital space is a pretty cool concept. And my most recent work has all been digital, not oil paint.

The thing is, most people do not understand they are leaving behind a digital dossier of their life online, so why not make certain what happens to it?

-Arabella

Read full interview here: https://bit.ly/3wpbNgP

I’m working on a lot. I will likely start sharing more of my VR creations this year, just thinking of fun ways to bring it into the space.

Otherwise, I continue to work with the human figure, abstract portraiture and digital experimentation. I enjoy discovering ways to emulate the feel of my IRL pieces through texture, brushstrokes and layers.

-Rakkaus Art

Read full interview: https://bit.ly/3HawB21

As a digital artist I’ve always had art on the web. Once I learned how to actually upload and post, I added my art on multiple platforms. Especially when I was blogging heavily to promote myself and other people’s content.

So entering the Web3 realm was familiar to an extent. It was just learning the new rules of the land that was actually in my favor as a digital artist. I’m still learning though. Things change in a blink of an eye with time online so it always feels like I’m playing catch up.

Life is definitely a big book of inspiration, and how you see it and gain from it will reflect in the world you create. I just so happen to see it digitally with a lot of extra colors and thick lines. So it actually works hand and hand with doing NFTs. New world on familiar grounds.

-Goldie Gold

Read full interview here: https://bit.ly/3Y9uKQz

Check out last week’s 79Au, written by one of our long-standing staff members who volunteered with ETHDenver and offers an insider’s view of the recent event. Enjoy! https://bit.ly/42uvmn3

Ready to get started as an artist or collector on Mint Gold Dust? Check out our Metamask start up guide to get started. Ready to start minting? Apply to talk with our curatorial team today.

Weekly Recap

3 years ago Weekly Recap by : Mint Gold Dust

79AU | 1.10-1.17

Featured Artworks of the Week

Mint Gold Dust Marketplace Update

We are happy to announce we are renovating the Mint Gold Dust marketplace for an exciting 2023. Firstly, we will be focusing on a more streamlined user experience with features such as:

Universal Profiles
Memoirs on Chain
Optimized Decentralized Metadata
Online Auctions
Tokengated Experieinces
ERC-721 Contract Implementation

A note about the update from our Head of Smart Contract Development & Auditing, Casmir Patterson: “We’re committed to bringing a more decentralized vision for Mint Gold Dust to unleash our community’s potential and creativity in the Web3 Space. Building an immersive metaverse user experience encompassing new technologies like Galleries that use advanced geo-location technology provided by our partners, to revamping our bespoke Curated Spaces, and giving more power to our artists is our ultimate goal.”

While this update is taking place, we have paused all minting on the platform through the month of January. During this time, all other marketplace features will still be available including memoir writing and collecting.

We are excited to share with you the renovations of Mint Gold Dust this Spring!

Interview with Rakkaus Art

Rakkaus Art is a multimedia artist focused on connection, creation, compassion, and storytelling. Today, she shares her thoughts on AI art, her inspirations, and what she’s working on right now.

What inspires you about storytelling?

Many of the stories that live inside us can only emerge through creative expression, whether you mean to or not. Oftentimes I don’t even realize I’m telling a story until it’s finished. Painting is very meditative and a kind of intimacy with your soul that only shows up when it’s ready. I love an audience and telling a good story, and the actor in me wants to make sure you experience it as I did… in my art, you get to be there from the end, then experience feeling…and decide the story for yourself.

How has experimenting with AI been for you?

I haven’t done much with the AI generators, but I’ve tried my work in some of the filters with added descriptions to see how it morphs. As a mixed media artist, I love finding new tools that might add something new to my work. I have a couple ideas up my sleeve as to how I could potentially incorporate it in the future.

What are you working on right now?

I’m working on a lot. I will likely start sharing more of my VR creations this year, just thinking of fun ways to bring it into the space. Otherwise, I continue to work with the human figure, abstract portraiture and digital experimentation. I enjoy discovering ways to emulate the feel of my IRL pieces through texture, brushstrokes and layers. I have started to introduce more elements of collage. I’m also very excited about launching my new fabric line and home decor designs this year.

Enjoy our interview with Rakkaus Art? Check out our artist interview from last week where we talk with Chazz Gold about all things AI/Gan art, his photo bashing process, and more here.

Ready to get started as an artist or collector on Mint Gold Dust? Check out our Metamask start up guide to get started. Ready to start minting? Apply to talk with our curatorial team today.

Weekly Recap

3 years ago Weekly Recap by : Mint Gold Dust

79AU | 1.3-1.10

Featured Artworks of the Week

Interview with Chazz Gold

Today, we’re chatting with AI/Gan artist and photographer Chazz Gold about his journey into Web3, the tools he uses to create his pieces, and the intersection of AI and Photography. Keep reading for an in-depth look into Chazz Gold’s artistic process.

How did your journey in Web3 begin?

My web journey started in Clubhouse rooms in early 2021. At the time, I was working on a coffee table book concept with a project called “Shapes of The Divine.” When I got into web3, I decided to take that project to another level.

That project consisted of collaborating with over 150 different psychedelic, visionary artists from around the world and using their art to project onto the female form.

Adding to the already psychedelic nature of art I was using as projection, I began to mask out my subjects and use them as backgrounds. Then, I’d mask them out again to animate the backgrounds and take still photographs, adding motion to them in a cinematographic style using applications like Motionleap and Plotagraph.

The “Shapes of The Divine” project still lives on OpenSea as a collection. I have been working on taking a few pieces at a time, moving what is not collected onto my own manifold contract, and putting them back on auction on the platform.

25% of the “Shapes of The Divine” project sales are donated to a local women’s shelter for survivors of domestic violence.

How did you make the transition from photographer to AI artist? Do you find that there are similarities between the tools?

I discovered GAN art through Clubhouse. Those were the days of Snowpixel and Night Café. Google Colorful existed back then, but a lot of us did not know about it yet. I actually released a whole project called “Portraits From the Parallel Universe” on OpenSea. That was all portraiture AI artwork that I had generated with Snowpixel. It wasn’t long after that I had heard of photo bashing, which is using photography and running AI text to create image prompts with the photograph as an initial starting point.

I do find that there are similarities between the practice in the tools. I still use a lot of Photoshop to change any parts of an image I think needs modification. I still use my Lightroom catalog as a place to store, organize and keep track of all of my AI-generated images, and keep the original photographs for comparison.

Can you walk us through your process of Photo Bashing?

These days I use Google Collab folders, made by pharmapsychotic and his models. I have a heavy interest in cyborg, cybernetic beings, and the divine feminine; the mixture of those things inspire me to make art and helps me envision what the future looks like. I find it interesting that I’m using AI to create images that are very futuristic.

As for photo bashing, I use the initial image by uploading photographs onto Google Drive or Google photos and then use the web address of that image and put it in the Google collab folder too. I’ll play around with the different levels of strength. You can use a percentage of every initial image by using a decimal point system and providing the level of strength of the initial image as part of your final image.

Many of my initial photographs are pulled from my database of the “Shapes of The Divine” project or portraiture that I have done with models and friends. Being that many of my photos already have a professional look (and with the case of the “Shapes of The Divine” project, a colorful and psychedelic nature) the female form stands out prominently. They’re easy to use as an initial image or a basic shape of what I want the subject to look like.

I also create my own sacred geometry Mandela art using many different apps on my iPad, and sometimes I use those as initial images for my work. Everything that is minted on Mint Gold Dust was created with that process, rather than using base photographs of an actual person. I also involve very complex AI prompts to generate the images that I make, which I affectionately call prompt craft.

Have you read the last 79Au post on our New Year’s curation? It’s all about rebirth and renewal. View our latest article here.

Ready to get started as an artist or collector on Mint Gold Dust? Check out our Metamask start up guide to get started. Ready to start minting? Apply to talk with our curatorial team today.