Editorials: NFT: Is it Art?
DigitWork I - editorials
Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have gone viral in the media and the public's imagination. Along with this viral explosion has come a hype inflated environment that is, perhaps rightfully, open to cynicism from the established art world. The hyped up NFT field is clouded by thousands wanting to sell digital works (good, mediocre and bad), thousands wanting to make a quick ETH in the exploding speculative world of NFTs and crypto currencies, celebrities and sports figures who have entered the fray, 3D animators with substantial technical resources and skills selling realistic and sometimes chicane (chic) items, giving the illusions of something virtual that is real (value for your money), along with crypto punks and edgy street artist who have long been in the space.
However, NFTs do offer a technical solution to a problem that the world of collectors and artists have long faced, that is, how to sell digital art that can be copied exactly and easily reproduced. They also offer artist a way of selling their work directly to collectors and interacting with them. There are established and emerging artists who are now able to produce digital works of art and sell them via NFTs. And there is a need for groups of artists to come together in order to help define what quality digital art works are and can be, to provide some clarity and answers to any cynicism. This exhibit of select artists provides some landing lights, a model for serious art collectors in the foggy world of NFTs.
To that end we have asked eight artists in this exhibit some key questions. These include how their approach to making art has changed, if any, by using digital tools. What is their approach and what motivates them in the making of digital art. What is the nature of their interaction with digital tools and the results of using them. What has been the result of interacting directly with their collectors. What validates their artwork and any thoughts regarding the acceptance of digital art by the current institutional and evolving purveyors of art. Each editorial here provides an overview of the artist's background and art. Their answers to our pre arranged questions may surprise you. They will certainly inform you more about their art. From within the context of this exhibit's curatorial text, we are proud to present the following artists.
Link to the Sean Mick editorial
Sean Mick’s work has anything and everything to do with what we don't know about the universe, our place in it, and what we are. For him, if you think what you see, what you hear, and can touch is the limits of our experience... you're not even out of bed yet. Sean Mick’s studio is in Miami, Florida. Instagram: @_seanmick Twitter @_seanmick
Link to the Matt Kane editorial
Matt Kane designed his own custom software to leverage algorithms with his own human input. He builds paintings layer by layer, making design choices through how the algorithms he has written should interact. He communicates in colour and pattern in ways long understood but which were too complex or time consuming for his hand and materials to manifest physically, with traditional methods. Matt is interested in exploring historical aesthetics with code; trying to do with geometry what the great painters did with oils.
Link to the Daniel Ambrosi editorial
daniel.ambrosi@dreamscapes.ai is recognised as one of the founding creators of the emerging AI art movement and is noted for his thematic NFT collections (see http://dreamscapes.ai ). He combines computational photography with artificial intelligence to create exquisitely detailed artworks that move people visually, viscerally, and cognitively. His tokenised art collections offer tiered pricing and edition sizes, from unique centrepieces that unlock high value add-ons to small limited editions.
Link to the James Fox editorial
James Fox is a macro photographer who invites viewers into small, beautiful places with vivid and emotional abstract photography. James specializes in using flowing pigments to create intricate and atmospheric pieces that the viewer may immerse themselves in and reflect on the art and beauty of small things.
Link to the Nate Mohler editorial
As a media artist and designer, Mohler is intrigued with the fusion of conceptual art and technology with unconventional space and sound. His work focuses on eliciting action and question through digital mediums such as projection mapping, immersive installations, sculpture and video art. Mohler treats each project as an opportunity to evoke emotion, challenge thought, or support social change. His series on SuperRare explores the mind of the machine and Ai to create video paintings.
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Link to the burst_ editorials
@burst_ is an anonymous cryptoartist with an emphasis on post-neoexpressionism and digital art. He creates futuristic-hybrid-organic artworks in a digital as well as a physical form. These are mixed media artworks which are supported by video, animation, digital media and actual painting. He often plays with motives which are repeating themselves, as a sort of code. Transformative processes of the human psyche in a digital age constitute an important focal point of his work_
Link to the Anne Spalter editorial
Anne Spalter is a digital mixed media artist with work in the permanent collections of the V&A Museum, the Albright-Knox, the RISD Museum, The Progressive Collection, and others. With degrees in mathematics and painting, her influences are as diverse as Buddhist art, Jungian archetypes, and Surrealism. She is known for large-scale public works such as her MTA Arts 52-screen installation in the Fulton St subway in NYC in 2016. (tranquilitybase7 on Discord)
Link to the Richard Garet editorial
Richard Garet is an artist interested in the evolution and the experience of art that has integrated into the digital file, transposing the medium's own natural distinct and significant constructs while also imposing its own virtual experiential condition. This condition articulates a realm of aesthetics unequivocally glorifying the apprehension of the screen’s luminous emission, the sight through evolving technologies, and the ethereal surface of the screen ultimately merging all mediums.
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Link to the John Anderson gallery exhibition
Since his early academic days at ASU, John has always sought to bridge science with Art. In 2006 he began experimenting with various procedural algorithms and making generative art. In 2012 he published an electronic book, titled ‘Projected Moments’. While printing the ‘Projected Moments’ work on French water-colour paper, he has worked natively digital since 2006. His projected moments have an interesting abstract expressionism that embraces digital artefacts as brush strokes in a water-colour landscape. His generative work contains modernistic undertones along with, at times, an Escher like quality.