David Cash: Hello everybody, welcome back NFTS.WTF. My name is David Cash editor in Chief and we’re here today with another one of my favourite artists, Mr. Wes Henry. Thank you so much for joining us live in your current hometown of Denver. 

 

 

Wes Henry: That’s right. 

 

DC: Appreciate you being here. I mean, you’re always here right now. But well, if you’re not in LA, but yeah, how are you enjoying seeing a million people drop down on your hometown right now. 

 

WH: I mean,  I think it’s this. It’s pretty insane out there with all the food trucks and stuff. But it unfortunately for everyone that came, we got dumped on with snow like 2 days ago the temperature dropped so, It’s normally nicer than this believe it or not, in the winter it’s I mean Denver is like I’m from Chicago. It’s very cold there and very not sunny for like half the year and it is sunny almost every day in Denver which that’s why I moved here. 

 

DC: I mean, it’s still pretty nice out, I will say even with some snow on the ground it goes. 

 

WH: the sun goes down and you need to coat if you’re not from the cold climate you need a coat.  

 

DC: Yeah, I mean I’m still wearing a coat, I’m Canadian also for reference. But yeah, it’s not so bad, it’s pretty chill here. Yeah, but yeah, it’s really cool to see so many people descending on this space. You know this event is been going on for I think five years now, but you know a lot of the people who’ve gone before are saying, you know, it’s really interesting this year because this is the year that you know the NFT crowd is kind of come, you know, come into their own and and join this space you know, as like a legitimate you know space so. 

 

WH: Right. 

 

DC: You know you’re obviously an NFT artist and you’re also based in Denver. How have you found the space growing over the past? You know a little while and maybe you wanna talk about how you initially got into it. 

 

WH: Sure, so I’m I don’t need you could. You call me like an OG in this space or brand new, depending on. How you think right? Because? 

 

DC: Your metrics, yeah. 

 

WH: So I essentially started, so I’ll give you kind of my back story. Then I’ll answer that where I was, so I lived in Chicago, was born and raised. But then I went off to college, came back, got a job, and built a career. I was going to be a philosopher. I majored in philosophy in college, which is a surprise to a lot of people, but I was going to be a professor and I thought you know what I think I’m gonna have a lot more fun and make a lot more money if I stay in art, so commercial art was the name of the game Adobe was you know, like, I don’t want to say just starting out, but just starting to dominate like computer art was obviously a big deal, so I learned the Adobe suite, the creative suite like Photoshop, Illustrator and all that got a job in the industry was like an art direct like a designer art director. And then all the way up to the creative director and it was a creative director for a while and. It’s a cool job for a nine-to-five job, but COVID hit. I was just not living a healthy lifestyle. It’s very stressful because it’s like that show Mad Men. 

I mean, it’s I couldn’t even watch that show because it was like give me like anxiety. 

 

DC: PTSD.

 

WH: Yeah, because it’s like you know, like alright we gotta come up with a $4 million idea and you got till Friday and it was like oh my god, like my heart palpitations that’s what the creative director. Does is you have to do that and then  I’m standing in a room with a bunch of suits that don’t know me and I’m pitching some. You know, they have to put so much money into it for it to work, but so it’s a pressure cooker so everyone blows off steam afterwards. So everyone is like sort of an alcoholic, has drug problems like creative departments are insane. That was like the running joke is like if you want to get rid of them, just do one drug test and everyone’s fired. So it’s like. It’s a crazy place. It’s fun, but it is. I think in most places, toxic, so and you don’t really know that until you leave it and it like kind of washes or like gets out of you and you wash clean of it. 

 

DC: Oh wait, that’s not normal behaviour, actually. 

 

WH: Right and so once COVID hit and you kind of like, I think the world like reassessed what is important and at the beginning of it, I was just like I don’t want to do this anymore and I looked at like the top people in the industry. I’m like I don’t want to end up like that, so I just quit. I was like I have a freelance business I can make a pretty good living just on my own and I’m like I don’t care if I have to eat beans and rice. I’m going to try to make it on my own. And then I got sober, stopped drinking, smoking everything and like got fit and I was like I’m going to go back and start doing art again. So I hadn’t done art in my life since high school, essentially. Where I was an artist my whole life..

 

DC: Like art art.

 

WH: yeah like creating because I want to, not ’cause the client. Is paying me to. 

 

DC: Not off a brief

 

WH: Exactly yeah so I started doing art again in procreate on an iPad and I had just had the little iPad and I would post to Instagram and see if people liked it and then Instagram just went, like way up and I opened a print shop and I was like man. Wouldn’t it be amazing if I could sell like one print a day for like 150 bucks? Wouldn’t that be an amazing life? There’s still like, you know like that’s the dream, but I had to you know just to stay afloat and pay bills and everything, do like branding projects and website design. 

 

DC: Some freelance.

 

WH: Right exactly so I had a full client roster. But then, out of the blue. So I’m also a boxer, there’s a gym in Chicago that I belong to and I redid their branding this guy trained me for free for like a year and It was amazing like that’s the perfect trade deal. So I did a lot of boxing art and then I was working with the guys like we should try to do this NFT thing and I was like I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about this was like over a year ago. This was like last. A year before last November, and so I did one test which Rarible was like where it was at at the time. 

 

DC: yeah

 

WH: OpenC was just like a shitshow so we like, can I swear on here I don’t know?

 

DC: Yeah, yeah, it’s called what the fuck

 

 

WH: so I did I minted it on rarible and it like I had like two of my like best friends were like bidding and it was like they weren’t going over like 200 bucks like this is ridiculous. Randomly, I don’t know how random it is logan Paul dm’d me on Instagram and was like hey man, I got this fight coming up with Floyd Mayweather who like I’m a giant boxing fan so I know I’ve watched every Floyd Mayweather fight where whether you love him or you hate him I’m like a giant fan of his and I’m like holy shit and he’s like I want you to do the art for the fight and do a piece and we’re going to drop an NFT. And I’m like oh my god like so like Nifty Gateway, I’m like we gotta get into this NFT thing and nifty gateway at the time was like starting to get like, explode and be like this huge platform where people were making a lot of money and I got an exclusive drop on that platform for three days which was going to be like historic. Beause it was like Logan Paul, Wes Henry. Collaboration for the Mayweather fight and the Mayweather fight was on February 20th, so they were giving us 18th, 19th and 20th to drop stuff and I was like I’ll make 3 pieces. I made them for Logan we’re like face timing like all the time and he’s like those are so fucking awesome, this is going to do so well and I’m like. This is gonna make history and I’m gonna make millions of dollars. Covid’s like nope, boom, the fight gets rescheduled and then it was like Ah OK, I have to cancel everything with. 

 

DC: Nifty, we’ll cancel anything if they have any reason to boom, like yeah. 

 

WH: Right, so that’s gone and I’m like, Oh my God so then I’m like alright it’s in June it’s alright it’s gonna happen. Didn’t happen again. So COVID well the fight happened, but it was still like weird. And because of all the weirdness, Logan was just like dude, I’m not going to do the drop now like. 

Like a few days before I was like, oh my god Yeah, like such like I’m like damn man that ’cause that’s such a huge opportunity. So that didn’t happen. But I’m like whatever, like on to the next one like I’m just a natural-born hustler, failure is a part of my life.

 

DC: You live in the entertainment industry. You know one day down the next day up.

 

WH: Yeah, especially anyone that has like a celebrity. It’s like you do not hold your breath, no matter what, even if it’s. 

 

DC: Right, yeah, they’re probably gonna disappoint you. 

 

WH: They’ll break contracts and call lawyers. It’s like, so it’s a crazy world. And I was like I have to like get some drops on these platforms and get this NFT thing going ’cause I think there’s something to it and I was seeing all that like the guys that got the spots that I had for those three exclusive drops right broke records. Like Mad Dog Jones I think got either February like one of those dates… 

 

DC: Was it February 2021? 

 

WH: Yes.

 

DC: Yes, tons of crazy drops were coming out then February, March was like the heyday. 

 

WH: It was insane, so on that same day Mad Dog Jones had a job and he did an open edition for like 7 minutes or something and made like $4 million, yeah. 

 

DC: Of like the yeah. 

 

WH: And I was like, Oh my God, like I would have made so much money ’cause like Logan Paul’s happens to also be like a big name in NFTS Like love him or hate him, he’s like a. 

 

DC: YouTube guy, And he has a crazy audience anybody will like they’ll buy his stuff right so.

 

WH: Anyways, none of that happened. He’s still a friend of mine, but we never ended up dropping anything, so I still have like 3 in the Chamber. That’ll be sweet. One day, maybe you’ll fight with like Mike Tyson, it didn’t or something it has like have Mayweather on it so it’s just him and it’s still like viable so who the hell knows? But anyway, I’m like I got. I need to do this so I called a couple of my buddies. I’m like you gotta help me. One of my buddies. Hero machine who runs nomad, his name is Danny. He was helping me out. And he got me a job with Known Origin.  I was like we have to figure it out. What NFTs are and within a week he was like alright I’m gonna figure it out and got me a call with the CEO of known origin. It was like, 

 

DC: David?

 

WH: Yeah, David, who’s like a really nice cool guy, talked with him and they’re like they fully supported me. I dropped six pieces. They blew me up on all their social media. It was fantastic and I was like this is great. But I dropped way too many like they had a limit and I was like can I push it and I went well over it? And it was like, yeah?

 

DC: Because you saw the nifty, you know? Yeah, the nifty effect. 

 

 

WH: Exactly and I just feel like apples and apples. Like no, it wasn’t the same. It went well, but it wasn’t great and I was like, on to the next one, right? That was still a success, but it wasn’t right. 

 

DC: You did the drop this time, Yeah like OK you got the taste. 

 

WH: I did a job it did well it and it was like great money and all this stuff and im like I need to do more so then Danny was like dude, why don’t you just start calling someone to like big names in the industry and I know Ali Sabit who’s like. I think the top earner on open C for an individual artist at this point

 

DC: He does really, really well on open C. 

 

WH: He’s an animal, so I reached out to him and I was like, hey man. Do you have time to talk? I would love to just pick your brain and he was like yes, saw my artwork. He’s like, dude, I’m going to take you under my wing and show you how all this shit works and I was like ah, he’s like your talent is like undeniable and I know that you’re going to be successful and I was like finally like here we go. So he’s like, here’s how you like mint and open c and taught me like all of the things that I teach other artists now and I’m bringing them up to all came from that dude’s brain and Gabe Weiss he introduced me to. There’s also like a close friend of mine who was the other person in my ear who was like giving me advice on how to do drops so I started dropping in. I think July is like early July. I think on open c and it is from the first piece I dropped. It was just a sell-out city for like 3 months. I think my account did like $2.5 million in like 3 months. It was absolutely insane and like so in August I moved to Denver from Chicago. Like I said and that day, I did a collaboration with Sabot or it was dropping that day. So we did these three skulls that he like did his thing over, and if you collect all three of them then you get this 4th gold one and there were ten of each of those who were like 30 total. Plus you can win like the ten of that, that sold out on the drive like when I’m arriving in Denver, sold out so all of his big whale collectors and he had a lot of them, were like a feeding frenzy on my stuff. So now my account is just churning. It’s like you gotta get stuff ready to drop and I’ve been doing art since the beginning of covid so I just had a stockpile of art.

 

DC: Like OK? 

 

WH: I was like I check this shit out! check this shit out! Like every and people were like this is amazing. And then I mean there was one day. The activity on my account were a bunch of whales came in and just bought a bunch of stuff. I think there were like I don’t know my it was like over 100 Eth in like 24 hours. 

 

DC: Jesus Christ

 

WH: I get 10% of all of this like holy shit, And it’s right when I arrived in Denver and Denver. I’m like I’m a very outdoorsy person, so I’m like I’m going 5 fishing, I’m going mountain biking. And I had to buy all this new shit right? And I’m like I need to get this big like SV to go up in the mountains and do sweet shit, and that’s just I’m like now I don’t have to worry about money anymore like I’m good and now I dropped all my clients. I was like Nope, I’m not saying. 

 

DC: Sorry guys. 

 

WH: Yeah, like sorry like that’s great like and I will do branding only for select clients if they were to come, and if they’re nice and there’s no stress. And it’s not like crazy, you know. If anyone stresses me…

 

DC: You could do it on your schedule 

 

WH: Yeah right, if anyone stressed me out like. Good luck, you know like hang up, that’s a luxury. That I have now, but now I get to be a full-time artist which is like my dream in life and it happened and it was all because of open C and this entire NFT thing. And it’s like, I’m every day I wake up like a child on Christmas, Christian child. I got I’m like Oh my God like this is awesome. I got to like make some cool shit and drop it and people love it and I get feedback and there are haters but like haters are you got that you? Know that you really made it yeah.

 

DC: People are taking time another day to talk shit

 

WH: Right, it should be. Yeah, but then the first that would like to bug me but Is like. Now it’s just like a block to. Leave like it’s just like yeah like leave it but it’s been holy shit been a ride and it’s still going and it’s insane and I have so much more shit coming out and I have even in the last two days. Booked more things. More collaborations. The collaborations have been like I mean I did Busta Rhymes NFT like that’s his Twitter profile picture right now. Like met him in New York and we like it. Partied all night. It was amazing like I’m a 90s kid and like I’m a hip hop head. 

 

DC: So hanging out with Buster is hilarious

 

WH: That’s right. Oh my God. It was like so that. Was like, you know, a life moment and meeting him and his son and his crew and all those people and we still keep in touch is. I’m sure I’ll Be talking to his son soon, ’cause he’s trying to get like big into the NFT world and then Snoop came along and there people wanted to meet me ’cause well Buster was doing and then I did a collaboration with Snoop Dogg and then randomly Gabe’s wife sent me like a Deepak Chopra’s charity wants to do something so I did 

 

DC: like OK. 

 

WH: Deepak Chopra’s charity that’s like I love that dude we like meditated in Miami and then, like had sushi on a rooftop, I was like this is just a dream, so it’s like things are going well. They’re still going well and I will not, I will not like so you could ride that wave until it kind of fades. It’s just not how I operate, so like any collectors or you know fans of my work. I’m honest that this is still just the beginning and I’m just keeping momentum and keeping exposure going to get bigger and bigger and I will not stop until I’m dead like I’m not gonna let the wave go away for the rest of my life. 

 

DC: That’s beautiful and I’m so happy for you man. I’m so happy this all worked out. And I mean you’re doing your work is amazing. You know that and like you’ve been doing it for so long, and I feel like you know, we’ve talked about this with a few of the artists that we’ve you know, talked to today. You know, people like Frankie Nines and you know a lot of people come from, you know, creative industry background, you know, like corporate, either the creative director or like a game designer or something like this. Somebody who’s like really grinded through the process done everything for like 5-10 years and then they have the, you know, the wherewithal to like just do it on their own because they’ve done everything and I feel like you’ve definitely done all of that. 

 

WH: That is an important point because I think a lot of people were like, oh, I’ve been an artist or been creative there. You wouldn’t believe how many artists people I talked to and they’re like. I just don’t.  I’m not into the whole selling thing and I’m like, well, they should pick a side, do you wanna feed yourself with the art? 

 

DC: You’re a professional artist. I mean you sell your work. 

 

WH: Yeah, like look, you have to. It’s not a sacrilege to talk about selling things and making money. Like do you want to be a starving artist or would you like to live well and do this time? 

 

DC: And the fact that we can even ask ourselves that question and that NFTS can facilitate allowing ourselves. It’s huge, yeah. 

 

WH: It’s insane like if you and then with your collectors, like if you don’t think about business, you’re neglecting everyone that buys a piece.Not that everyone is just trying to flip, but it’s like keep they spent hard-earned money to buy your stuff like don’t let it all just fall away and run away. 

 

DC: That’s a really important point actually. ’cause like some of the conversations we’ve had today. You know, we love considering the collectors like, especially with artists ’cause there’s a big difference between you know, like marketing, uh, PFP project. Just like the brand, that’s branding. You know, that’s just like brand awareness versus marketing. You know, one of one art or limited edition art. 

It’s really way more about actually having that connection to the people who buy it, or at least. Perpetuating your narrative enough so that they can get that from your social media. 

From your profile, from the people you work with and why and how you work with them. 

So yeah, I mean like obviously collaboration has been a big way that you kind of got into some of those collective networks. But do you have any? I don’t, I don’t know, maybe tips is the wrong word, but you have any. You know things that you do that you would say that you want to see more of in the space in terms of you know people taking care of their collectors and. Like you said, like treating it like a business long term. 

 

 

WH: Well, I guess my overall advice would be before they get to the collectors, ’cause there’s a lot of young artists that they don’t have collectors yet, so that’s like a next-level problem, which is a lovely problem to have, but the first level is. I mean and I use this example. I’ve used this before. 

I got a question from a guy one time that said, you know, I really want to make it in this NFT art industry. 

Do you have any tips for me and like how do I do it? And I was like, let me see your work. 

He said I haven’t made anything yet. 

 

DC: So like ciao like. You already shot yourself in the foot. Before you could even begin. 

 

WH: I’m like what the fuck Are we talking about? Like how am i supposed to? 

 

DC: Hypothetical-like concept like. 

 

 

WH: How do you sell this product and you? And you don’t even have a product?

 

 Doesn’t exist!

 

WH: it was like it blew my mind but. 

 

 

DC: That’s like that happens a lot, yeah? 

 

 

WH: All the time and you gotta like. That’s the other thing I realized is. Like in this NFT world. 

It’s such the Wild West. You got like I’ve been in the game. For a long time. And ive been at high level. 

pressure situations producing dealing with millions. 

 

 

DC: So that when Snoop Dogg hits you up and says hey, can you make this? And you have a week or. Something you could do it, yeah. 

 

WH: I can close it. I can take it to the finish line and it will and it will look well and I will make sure

 

 

DC: You’re confident that you have that ability so you can…

 

 

WH: Yeah it will not be a flop like I won’t flop. Anything, yeah, but there’s these. Like some of these kids are just like this,I just Woke up like I don’t know what. The hell like they. Don’t know anything about anything like maybe have. Barely held a job down there. You have no idea where someone’s background is. So like one thing is the hype train in this industry can be really, I think, toxic were part of what people get off on is just talking about what they’re going to do or what this is going to. 

 

DC: Gonna do doesn’t help anybody. Like what are you doing?

 

 

WH: Like what did you do right, yeah? How did you get here? So there’s so much that where I just discouraged like talking, in general, like show what you did, not tell what you’re going to do. 

But a lot of those artists is like, focus on the work like that and I know in the. 

 

DC: And they focus a lot on. I feel like you know there are all these words like a utility. Oh, we want to add up a metaverse component. We wanna add a play turn game, it’s like, well what’s the actual product? 

To begin with, is it art? Is it like what is it? 

 

 

WH: That’s and that’s the thing with PFPs, though it gets a little messy because like I’m about to drop a project with Jonathan Little, the poker player who I learned the other days written like. 

15 Best selling poker books I was like. 

 

 

DC: like OK? 

 

WH: So I just finished the art like 3 days ago, but that project truly likes a lot of these PFPs. 

It’s pure utility. I mean, we’re going to do it’s going. To blow everyone’s minds. 

 

DC: Because it’s a utility token, though it makes sense it’s what it is 

 

 

WH: The art is almost irrelevant. Yeah, but I also made it look super dope because so it’s like a custom deck of cards that you’ll like get with it and It’s gonna be insane. 

 

DC: Yeah, it’s utilitarian, it’s a deck of cards exactly, so it’s like. 

 

 

WH: And and we may or may not ’cause legally there are all kinds of red tape on the on. 

 

DC: The record right? 

 

 

WH: That like. Before tournaments, he may or may not can’t promise shit is going to like on camera. On Twitter. Pull a card out and be like, oh, look at that. That’s a eight of clubs. 

If you have this card I’m going to give you 10% of what I want in this tournament if I win. 

So now you’re sweating along with him like. Oh my God, I just want $5,000,000 now you’re getting cut of that down and. So there’s going. To be there’s game. 

 

DC: A gamified kind of unlockable. 

 

 

WH: Right, and that’s like 1 aspect. Then it’ll be like you know, we’ll just be like you got 3 Queens you know, and then you’re eligible to this. Then I’m gonna pull two cards and like if you got these two to bring the numbers down ’cause it’ll be, you know there’s 52 cards in the deck and I’m going to. 

We’re in the two jokers which will act when there’s not multiple card combinations you can use those as fillers, you know, as a wild.and then I’ll be like if you have these two cards. You get a free NFT from me. 

because they’re not. 

 

DC: Thats dope 

 

WH: As long as the number of people is like under 10. So essentially when we first mint, if you get one of every card, then you win every week in a weekly you win something for a year. 

 

DC: Yeah, thats sick. 

 

WH: And so the we’re going to give back like 65-70% of what we make back onto people. 

So like it’s going to be so much utility, it’s going to blow people’s minds and we’re hoping that we’re not going to take a big cut because we’re both already established. 

 

DC: That’s super cool. 

 

 

DC: Its for your people

 

WH: its for our fans 

 

DC: Right, it’s and for doing something like. You know important and cool

 

WH: Right? Yeah, and so I think it’s going to be a massive hit. 

 

DC: Thats exciting

 

WH: And there’s 50 of each. They’ll be 2700 pieces total, so we’re announcing it next week and. 

We like the websites almost done. And then we’ll be like, alright, you’ll be like you know one of those like random hints where you don’t know what it’s going to be. 

 

DC: Right. 

 

WH: And then there’ll be like an unveiled day. And then it’ll all go. To secondary and open c it’ll all be running the ethereum block chain

 

 

DC: And just for reference, telling when you’re when you’re watching this. This is the 18th off February, so yeah. You know, if if we’re we’re seeing this. 

 

WH: It’s already going and yeah, I mean so anyways, that’s one of the things that’s in the works, but I guess my example long winded was that is pure utility, right? The artist less. 

 

DC: But that’s that’s very intentional,

 

WH: Right exactly so its..

 

DC: And like you know, like like I don’t know, there’s like Mega key and all these things like those are utility tokens like. It’s a type of specific, but like it’s an art piece. You know utility is great and adding air drops and you know add it like added value are great, but you know, I think like we’re on. The same page, you know a lot of people focus on 

 

 

WH: And If I was a betting man, I would say. The PFP will be old and dusty sometime. 

I think it’s going to happen this year and. It’s not that it’s a stupid model, it’s that the NFT industry is like. 

Time compressed, so anything that like feels older gets old in the real world. It happens in the hyper sequence and so I think there’s no way this can sustain ’cause the amount of garbage that is out there. 

That’s like collect this table NFT like. 

 

DC: And we’ll send you a table. 

 

WH: Any Table color you want! It’s just like we’re making a community. Which is just a fucking discord channel. 

 

DC: Out of people who love table yeah. 

 

WH: Yeah, like table, join the table and like you. 

 

DC: Table gang. 

 

WH: Can take it into the metaverse and you can carry around the table. 

 

DC: It’s and pc game or iPhone app 

 

WH: Jump. On the table. jump off whenever you want. So like I think. A lot of that stuff is going to. 

Go to bed. And like all the big projects will remain like bored APE yacht club is not fucking  going anywhere like a lot of those will sustain, but I think I think the focus is going to go back on create creativity like true good creativity like when like art. Photography like hot like almost like not highbrow, but well done things that you can tell you just when. 

 

DC: The lens of fine art has expanded ’cause now we have. All these different generative you know exactly. 

 

WH: Generating animation like all these. 

 

 

DC: They are VR so. 

 

WH: Amazing everything yeah and and and I think. Part of this, I think, the impetus for a lot of this is when physical pieces in the home become like right now to get like a super dope framed thing. 

That’s like adaptive to  the pro of whatever it is you’re putting in. It is very expensive and it’s like you know you gotta wire it up and all this. So like someone’s gonna make a lot of progress on that. ’cause every single person in the industry would like to have this. 

 

DC: Right? 

 

WH: And it’s going to happen eventually. Then there’s little are ones that like infinite particles, or like infinite objects, like somewhat like there’s little ones that, like you can put on dust and stuff, but…

 

DC: Infinite objects, yeah. 

 

WH: Once It becomes a more, you know. Thing that you can put in your house and it’s like a piece of fine art and there’s like certificate about the fication QR code situation that links to the blockchain. Like look I own this shit I think it’s gonna sink into like the average people and even the people in industry and you’re gonna you’re not gonna want some stupidass like cartoon thing that you like maybe board of Yacht Club exception there’s some exceptions but for the most part like that’s not the art you want on your wall. What are you like a little kid or something like that? It doesn’t make sense. 

 

DC: Maybe in your kids bedroom. 

 

WH: Right, sure, but. It’s like you’re gonna want. Maybe there’s like 3 on a cycle that. 

Lasts for a few hours over the day. 

 

DC: Exactly, and the fact that you can even do that Is already a huge elevation, right?

 

WH: And I think it’s going to go back to that like true like fine art. And that’s what I do. 

I’m a digital fine artist and I think a lot of that and I’m finding it is slightly rare, like there’s not that many people that do that in 3D is like a whole other game and I haven’t gotten into animation or 3D at all, which, I probably will this year, but like like painting literally. Also, I do like charcoal works. I do like Zen style works on my avid meditators, so I’ll do like you know, koi fish or whatnot like and it’ll be like black ink on like it’ll emulate like Sumi E paintings type of thing that are very elegant, yeah, but. 

 

DC: But you do it in procreate.

 

WH: It’s all done like sitting on my couch with an iPad, yeah at like midnight, right? 

So it’s like it’s it’s a lovely luxury, but even assuming you think that’s the beauty of digital is I can replicate. I mean, if I told you that it was real, you would believe me, right like? but that perfect stroke, most people do. 

 

DC: I honestly thought some of your work was, you know. And and and yeah. 

 

WH: Most people do, but that one perfect stroke in, like the Zen world like I am cheating because in the Zen world that’s part of it is like your yes your mind is clear and you’re like in the moment. And that’s the perfect. Circle like for an answer, but it’s like me. I’m like bitch I get 2000 trys like. 

 

DC: You’re like undo. 

 

WH: Nope, Nope, like. Sure, yeah, the the beauty of that is I can get it to be visually like transcendent where you’re like, this gorgeous and like. And that’s the other thing is my style is all over the place, but i’m evolving everyday ’cause I practice. I learn like I, I’m a beginner mind mentality. Until I die again so it’s like I’m always learning. I’ll never be the expert of anything but i’m going to put in alot of hours and I’m I mean. Ultimately that’s my goal is I would like to be the best digital artist in the world like what that means in actuality. I don’t know, but getting there is the best part like that’s the dream that I’m already in. 

 

DC: It’s if you’re gonna set a goal. I mean, why not? 

 

WH: Why not? Like i exude confidence? And that’s because I learned early on. 

 

DC: Because you are confident in your work creative confidence is something that like you can’t really even teach. That has to be developed, yes. 

 

 

WH: And a lot of artists are not and also, I learned early on no one else knows what they’re doing, either like it was like a Ricky Gervais quote or something. It’s like when you, when you let that sink in, I mean, as a philosophy major, it was like very Socratic method of. 

 

DC: Where you’re like? OK, sure, but that’s one opinion. 

 

WH: Right? Like with the line of questioning you can find out like even the smartest person. 

You’ve ever met, like at the base doesn’t know anything. 

 

DC: Doesnt know anything, yeah? 

 

WH: Like what they’re talking about. Sort of like disappears, yeah, so like don’t take anything too fucking seriously and be confident. Like bet on yourself if you’re not betting on yourself who the fuck  is gonna bet on you when you truly know no one knows anything and ultimately, at the bottom of whatever stance they’re taking on any subject is based on, like assumption. 

 

DC: Their lived experience yeah, yeah. 

 

WH: There’s right, even like physics based on like axioms of like that’s just the way 

the world works like it’s like, wait. Right? A minute what? Like when you really understand that, like. OK, so you’re kind of in charge of your own story so bet on yourself. Go all in

 

DC: Do your thing.

 

 

WH: Do your thing be the best at it. Like I there’s a lot of things I could do, but I know you know you ask yourself like why should someone like anyone that wants to start their own business. ’cause I think quit your fucking nine to five. Become an entrepreneur. In some sense, it doesn’t mean like. 

Be a lazy piece of shit cause I think that that’s what happens a lot of times. Like I’m an entrepreneur like no, you’re not doing anything he’s like. 

 

DC: You just go on a laptop, right? 

 

WH: Like getting out of that world, you really it opens your eyes to all these other people that are hustling that are not in the 9 to 5. 

 

DC: And doing really, yeah. 

 

WH: And doing very well because and the first question that I like ask people. If they aspire to do that is like why should I pay you $1.00? Why would I pay you $1.00 to do or say or perform or whatever it is something and start there like why should one person give you one fucking dollar? 

 

DC: Or even agree to let you work with them. I don’t know when you’re when you’re brand new like yeah.

 

WH: But if you can get there and say like you know what? I have a skill or something I can do where I think someone could easily give me a dollar? Well, now I bet you can find 2 people to give you a dollar and so on and so forth. 

 

DC: Right go from there. 

 

WH: Now you’re making a business

 

DC: And if you’re six years old $2.00. I mean, that’s pretty dope. 

 

WH: a piece of candy for em’.

 

DC: One more thing I wanted to ask you about. I really appreciate all these answers today. 

Just one more tie in from like  your old work in the creative industry to what you’re doing now. 

I think one thing you were talking about when you were talking about the poker project, which I saw you getting excited about, which is really interesting is about, you know, doing some of this, you know creative strategy and you know creating the body of the project and how are we going to roll this out? 

There is a level of you know still marketing and business and all these things to it. 

 

WH: 100%. 

 

DC: And that’s a lot of what I do as well. But you know, I can see that you love that process and that’s part of your creative process as well. How do you? How do you work that into your day? And what do you think about that? 

 

WH: So that’s another great point that I think this same kind of you know, the level of polish that you need to like close and work big deals and work with you know, partnerships with fancy people and fancy meetings and confidences. Understanding of business 101 like business one. 101 I said 

101.

 

DC: Were used to 101’s

 

 

WH: Yeah marketing as well like that. OK,  it’s all OK. They got your supply and demand. 

OK, so you need your demand to be a little higher than your supply and then you want both those things to continue to grow. That’s how you grow a business now how do I get the word out? I got all 

this stockpile of shit whether you’re like an inventory based product thing or services where I need to tell other people what I’m doing. That’s what marketing is like you like. Everyone should just. If you don’t know something there. Even in the NFT industry like come up with acronyms like every fucking day, we’re like no one knows what it is, but no one is going to ask and then slowly you learn it and now you incorporate it into every sentence.

 

DC: Right 

 

WH :so it’s like just. Like learn learning is so important, just start at the base base level of whatever it is like. What is simple business strategy? What is simple marketing strategy? 

And when you learn those things, you can build up and I have been in the game for a long time with these big clients and you and even there wouldn’t start at like a basis. It was always like. 

 

DC: Right? 

 

WH: High level crazy shit but when you like, boil that down. That’s where you get the fundamental understandings to build like solid brick after brick. To build a really nice foundation and get higher up, but anyone that you know, wants to learn about that. I think with marketing is, start small like, 

test your products with an individual. If you’re an artist and you got like everyday. I test my girlfriend sitting next to me. On the couch and I’m. Like you know, kind of. 

 

DC: What do you do this

 

WH: She’s awake like ’cause. I usually finish it that night and then I put finishing touches in the morning ’cause I like to give myself a good rest to come back and look at it fresh because it’s your baby. You’re too close to it. You can’t tell if it’s good or not. 

 

DC: Right? 

 

WH: But in 2 weeks, you’ll know. 

 

DC: Oh yeah. 

 

WH: But if you’re about to drop it, you need another opinion, so I’ll just be like are you ready? And I’ll flip around my iPad and she’ll be like. Oh okay that cool, that’s when I’m like fuck I… 

Didn’t get, you know like..

 

DC: You know it’s not good. 

 

WH: But then there’s there was one time I’m getting off track, but I this is my one of my favorite parts about creating art is I did as zen scape, which I put on makers place and it was like a circle and there was kind of like this world and this bond side that’s inside of it that I will do more and put them on open c. But I flipped this around and I was like. OK, ready we’re like, I don’t know  what time of the day it was, but it was like night time whenever and  I flip it around and she goes…And she started crying. 

 

DC: Just like right off the bat?

 

WH: And she’s not. Like, uh, cry or she’s not like. You know crying everything shit And I was like, oh. She’s like I don’t know why it just like. That like just touched me and I was like holy shit!

 

DC: like I did it. 

 

WH: Yeah,im on the iPad. And I could spin it around and make this thoughtful, intelligent, beautiful woman weep. Tears coming out of her face, it was like one of the greatest moments of my life. 

That has nothing to do with marketing, but like…

 

DC: Shows how you’re finding the balance

 

WH: like this is going to hit like there’s my product testing or my user testing of like. 

 

DC: It’s it’s it’s, you know we’re making stuff for humans. It sounds it’s at the very simplest aspect of it, right? 

 

WH: And it’s like. 

 

DC: People have to be able to relate to it. 

 

WH: And if one person is like super excited about it, that’s a great sign. If everyone is pretty lukewarm. That’s cool, but if you get a couple spikes where someone like that, I don’t know what it is, but I love that so much and that’s the tripiest thing about art too is I’ll make like a fish and someone like I don’t even like fish, but that’s the coolest Fish I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m like I know like and I want to be like a lot of times I make something and I’m I’m like a driver and a passenger when I’m creating like being in the flow state is my favorite. Yeah, peak of like life existence is being in that moment where like thoughts are gone. I’m just in this like Creative mode and I’m going just off of instinctive. I should take a left, take a right login like choosing colors and whatnot, and then when I get done, I’m like, you know, I’m like it’s like a time warp. I’m like Jesus, the sun’s coming like. 

 

DC: Where are we? 

 

WH: I gotta go to bed and I’m like I look at it and I’m like holy shit and there’s honestly times where I’m like I’m so excited about what’s here I’m like and I understand why I’m not a religious person anyway but people that are religious about stuff like this because I get it where you’re like something. 

Just came through me like I didn’t. 

 

DC: Like i cant justify…

 

WH: Here yeah, and it’s like and it’s I think like athletes have that same thing where they’re like the best like swim performance of their life or theyre like Michael Phelps. They like broke record. 

Sometimes they can’t remember it like the details of it because they were so in the moment. 

That it was like instinctual. Because if you’re like thinking too much in your head, too much that like you know, as soon as you would think about being in the flow state, you jump out. And you’re not. In the flow state anymore, like but being in that state and being that passenger driver relationship is like the most fun thing and I don’t know where I was going. That other than. If that is the same for you, or you’re wondering what I’m talking about as an artist like. Just do more, practice more every single day you should be working towards this. I mean that I meet people in life and they’re like Oh my job sucks. 

My life sucks and I don’t know what to do. I’m like, OK, well, let’s work on step one and they have no clue what step one is to to make a change in their life, but they’ve been bitching about it for a decade.

 

DC: A year 

 

WH: I’m like what the fuck? But then you are just OK and like that’s a cathartic experience to bitch about and be like doing my job. Sucking like this sucks and home life sucks. It’s like you are scared to honestly change. 

 

 

DC: Like who created that? 

 

WH: Like just put yourself in this boat and now, but that I think the vast majority of people that’s part of it as well. And I think I heard something on this movie called Waking Life. That’s super trippy which was like rotoscope that I watched in college and I was like too into psychedelics and all that shit is in there he said like the most two… So there’s all these different like scenes and philosophers, and different artists paints over the cells of each one, and one of the scenes. This guy said the two most universal human characteristics are fear and laziness. And that’s stuck with me because it’s very cynical, right? It’s like you want to give the, but it’s like that is so fucking true and I see it in all walks of life and every I try to go away from that. Because if you just fall into ruts and that’s what happens. That’s why it’s the most universal, because when you’re scared of. Growing or scared of doing a new thing? That’s when  you’re not going to make changes and then it’s very easy to just be like fuck it. 

 

DC: With the pandemic yeah

 

WH: Especially nowadays it was like I got like within streaming services, so they’re updating like weekly like there’s unlimited entertainment that some of it is very high quality. And now metaverse and like. Wait till like Apple comes out with VR AR shit It’s over like going outside like, it’s going to start going away, so it’s like. You know, get out there, get. I don’t know get the fucking blood moving. That’s another side note is like a thing that I learned that is not talked about enough ’cause I know with COVID. 

A lot of people like were hurt like mental health wise with like anxiety and depression things is that again to repeat fitness is more effective daily fitness regimen, whatever it is getting your heart going for like 30 minutes and I’m not a doctor. OK disclaimer, but ask any doctor this. It’s more effective than antidepressants and anti anxiety medicines. But because of fear and laziness, entire country of America. 

I mean, this is the world. It’s not just America. I think most people are like nah give me the pill and 

It’s like. Yo get outside like it if you have cardiovascular fitness. Do you like? Bring down your susceptible illnesses. Disease body like 5 acts. I think it is that you can like live longer and survive whatever ailment might come your way. Your probability of having problems and. You cannot have positive mental health without physical health, and I talk about that a lot and it comes out of left field. But ultimately, the point I’m just trying to make is I know there’s and I hear this in like Twitter spaces, clubhouse, whatever I mean with COVID and and even the NFT space like it brings together communities online and like there’s IRL. Like super used for like actual life like that’s hilarious, but it’s also. I think a lot of people are suffering. 

Whether they’re saying it or not, and the alienation that COVID brought where you can’t leave your house. And now like it’s slowly, some people are wary like wait. How do I like interact again? And even with there’s a lot of computer phone focus things that we’ve been doing for three years and I just gotta reiterate like you cannot have sound mental health without some level of physical health. Those things completely go together and I think physical health is is at the base of that. So not some like yeah, get out there and lift weights like trying to be douchy in that way. But just like please don’t neglect yourself. 

Anybody out there that’s hurting or have depression, anxiety or feeling you know, down for whatever reason like. Put your phone down, put the NFTs down for a second go, get some exercise, take a fucking walk. Take a hike. Whatever and then. see what happens. See how your problems change after that. 

 

DC: Awesome, I mean like, you know, if you’re watching this, you should send this to anybody who’s like trying to get in as an artist ’cause we got some amazing advice here how to start out, 

Wes’s story, and yeah, I think that’s a great note to end this on. I think everybody watching this, you know, take a breath, open a window, go outside for a second, yeah. And if you happen to live in denver it’s super sunny in the winter, you’re set.. 

 

WH: Hell yeah.

 

I love it well I so appreciate you taking the time to join us today. Yeah, this has been awesome. 

It’s great to be in your hometown for a bit hanging out. And yeah again, thank you so much for doing this. 

 

WH: Thanks, David, thank you. 

 

DC: It’s a pleasure, pleasure and thank you also to everybody for watching. Once again, this is NFTS.WTF hanging out with one of my favorite NFT artists Wes Henry and we will see you all in the next episode. Thanks so much for watching. 

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cryptAngeles community gathering at Hangar 8 hosted by Kyle Schember and B Creative 

[photo: skidrowcrypto]

 

There’s a web3 social movement happening in Los Angeles, and if you haven’t observed — it’s not just about connecting your wallet; it’s about connecting people in search of belonging.

 

Among the many crypto communities forming across the globe, Los Angeles is best suited to become the most innovative, inspiring, and engaging of them all. This is because LA is arguably the most famous city in America that consistently attracts and retains the world’s top talent. With an abundance of sun, scenery, and nightlife, Los Angeles welcomes cultures, languages, and traditions from all over the world. Southern California is also home to some of the safest cities, and although California’s population is rising, its unemployment rate is falling. All of the state’s wealthiest communities are found in coastal areas where career opportunities abound, and almost half of the state’s billionaires come from tech.

 

 

Community development is essential to establish the foundation a city builds upon to improve the lives of those who show up, participate, and contribute. Community builders are working hard every day to introduce Angelenos to blockchain technology; its premise of sovereignty and empowerment, the potential to solve real-world problems, and the hope for equity and inclusion within its trustless code. Among the many influencers at the forefront of blockchain conversation both online and off, a growing number of web3 projects — onboarding initiatives, co-working, and co-living spaces, and social clubs, have been formed and founded for the purpose of uniting like minds to further indoctrinate, educate, and collaborate.

 

New Friendship Tech [photo: Preston Thalindroma]

 

According to Ben Spievak, co-founder of NEOREN.io, “Community is an organized group of people whose combined efforts build or achieve something great.” NEOREN (Neo-Renaissance) emphasizes health and wellness among its core values, which include higher consciousness and spirituality. “People in a community should genuinely care about each other as individuals to become friends, spend more time together, and help one another grow,” Spievak said. NEOREN carefully curates its members to assist artists and innovators by hosting exhibits and events that appeal to an audience of qualified collectors and investors. By hosting sober events in high-value locations like Beverly Hills and Malibu, NEOREN achieves a level of social sophistication that offers a much-needed alternative to the countless deejay-driven warehouse parties the crypto community is all-too-familiar with.

 

The biggest misunderstanding is what it takes to invest in a community; establish trust, and earn the trust of the people. The crypto community has experienced plenty of cash-grab projects and events by producers who would rather extract from the community than sustain its growth. Discerning the difference is remarkably intuitive; you can literally feel the disingenuous tone in the way such events are marketed; if the community feels adequately represented from the bottom up, and whether or not the cost of participation alienates the very people these events are supposed to benefit.

 

Eric ‘Motivate’ Spivak at New Friendship Tech [photo: Preston Thalindroma]

 

Relationships and rapport are everything,” says Eric ‘Motivate’ Spivak, co-founder of NFTs.tips. For more than a decade, Motivate has sharpened his instincts and honed his ability to allure Angelenos from the comfort of their homes, into their cars, and through daunting traffic to venues and stages across Southern California and beyond. Since 2010, his agency has produced over 500 events featuring thousands of performers in fashion, arts and music. Most recently, Motivate organized New Friendship Tech, a 3-day community alternative to NFT LA to welcome those who felt marginalized by happenings at the LA Convention Center. “I’ve always found myself dedicated to breaking down walls and shattering glass ceilings,” he said. Through participating sponsors like Harmony One, Giant Connect, ISA Group, Proof of Good DAO, and Nifter, Motivate eliminates economic barriers to entry and participation by making unique and original programming freely accessible for those who simply RSVP. Sponsorships make a big difference by adding value and reducing organizational costs; Urconduit leverages its ties to venues and its familiarity among vendors to form alliances that become the essential ingredients to facilitate successful events. “The opportunity to show people the way, or to expand their understanding and perspective, has always been extremely appealing to me,” Motivate said.

 

Gifdead [photo: skidrowcrypto]

 

When it comes to community building, Nifty Castle leads by example. Founded by multidisciplinary artists Gifdead and Woahboy, Nifty Castle is first and foremost a community of artists supporting each other. Having supported 1-of-1 artists like Henric Aryee over a year ago, to launching generative art collections like Deebies, and most recently the gender inclusive WitchyGF, the Nifty Castle community has exemplified consistent persistence and tireless tenacity. Gifdead and Woahboy never shy away from hard work; they rolled up their sleeves and got their hands dirty to build a durable and lasting community they’re both proud of. “Even though community is, by nature, a collective, it’s about establishing one-to-one relationships, and then scaling that, which doesn’t happen quickly,” Gifdead emphasized. In fact, it took 5 months for Deebies to sellout, and to the community’s benefit, the diligence required to convert passive observers into avid supporters one collector at a time built a zealous community and ecosystem that continues to grow and thrive. “Throwing good events is a lot of work,” he said. “It’s a grind, and it’s really taxing—especially when you have a small team like ours,” he added. Like Urconduit, Nifty Castle has been active and present in producing community-driven events parallel to major blockchain conferences in several cities. In addition to Gabe-A-Palooza in Los Angeles, Nifty Castle has hosted events around Art Basil Miami Beach, NFT NYC, and ETH Denver. “We’re out here doing this so the community has some cool spots where they can go hang out, meet each other, and create meaningful, memorable experiences,” Gifdead said.

 

Andreas Knüttel [photo: skidrowcrypto]

 

Vanity metrics will never supplant real community. There is strength in numbers, yet numbers often lie — ask anyone who develops and applies statistical and mathematical theories. Social ‘influence’ is often overemphasized when those who attempt to leverage it lack the contextual understanding of its portability to be effectively transferred. However, data can be analyzed and utilized to optimize communities, and organizers like Andreas Knüttel are utilizing its inherent value to inform groups and distribute shared resources. Known in cryptAngeles as a community overseer, Knüttel embodies Visa’s retired slogan, “…everywhere you want to be.” This is a fitting reference because, over the past 10 years, Knüttel has lived in Switzerland, California’s Sonoma Valley, Hawaii, and now cryptAngeles. His first blockchain experience was in 2016 when he earned $150 for posting to the social media/blogging platform Steemit. With more than a decade of experience managing data for social events, Knüttel is now uniquely positioned to direct local and international artists, collectors, web3 entrepreneurs, and investors with golden opportunities to dialogue among like minds.

 

Gabriel Paxton, CEO of NEOREN and Col. (Ret) Arnold V. Strong [photo credit: skidrowcrypto]

 

“People who view a growing community as a numbers game are making a mistake. It’s easy to run lead generation ads and grow the number of members in your Discord, but that’s useless. Community growth should happen naturally because the members truly love the experience they’re having and want to share it with their friends,” Ben Spievak said.

 

Both virtual and IRL communities require the same growth strategies to make them sustainable. “Like IRL events, virtual communities shouldn’t be perceived as a one-way marketing channel; it’s a space for community conversation. It’s a feedback loop and a symbiotic relationship,” says Gifdead. “To build the most valuable community, you’re not going to be relegated to online or IRL; you reach across as many different channels and venues as possible.”

 

Randy Levy, Gifdead and Kyle Schember [photo: skidrowcrypto]

 

“Online communities are very transactional — whereas real-world communities are more about the emotional and spiritual benefits,” Ben Spievak noted. “At NEOREN, we’re bridging the two by creating a token gated online community with real-world events and social gatherings, because, in web3, everyone can be friends. People get stuck in the idea that money is the goal. Happiness is the real goal,” he emphasized.

 

Welcome to cryptAngeles, where a web3 Neo-Renaissance is changing the way communities gather, interact and prosper. There’s a wealth of knowledge and an abundance of human capital to welcome your talents and embrace your ambition IRL.

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David Cash: Hello, everybody. Welcome back to NFTS.WTF, my name’s David Cash, your editor-in-chief, and we’re here live at NFC Lisbon. It’s been a great week and now we’re wrapping up our time here. But before we ended, we had to chat with Colleen Cash, potentially a long-lost relative of mine, who knows? But definitely one of the people leading things at Artnet and doing some amazing things in the NFT space and the traditional art space, helping bridge that gap. Thanks so much for taking the time here. Do you want to give people just a little bit of an idea of your background and why you’re at this NFC conference right now?

Colleen Cash: Thank you, David. So I come from the traditional brick-and-mortar auction space. I used to work at Christie’s. I joined Artnet in 2018 specifically to enter the online game, having no real idea that we would be in this universe, metaverse, whatever. So we do about $30 million a year in traditional fine art across prints, multiples, photographs and contemporary art. And we launched our fully on-chain crypto native NFT marketplace in December 2021.

 

DC: Ah, Congrats!

 

CC: Thank you. One is sort of looking at super OG historical NFTs, one with a deep dive into rare Pepes. It’s been an amazing experience. We are really just trying. I mean, everyone says we’re a bridge, but we really are. And our debt is in a unique position to provide context, whether it’s data or news or even just the opportunity to transact for those that otherwise might not be engaging with space.

 

DC: 100% There are so many things I want to dive into, but I think one thing that’s worth mentioning is, you know, our audience, is very crypto savvy, a lot of collectors. And when you look at the recent history of art Artnet and sites such as Artnet were really the secondary market for a long time, at least the online secondary market pretty much entirely for the last couple of decades and now in NFT space. I think this is something that’s already quite native to Artnet and your team. But how is that transition been and what was the moment that you collectively made that jump into, “Okay, we should actually start tokenizing this digital art.”

 

CC: Absolutely. So our Artnet is a 33-year-old company founded in 1989 with the Artnet price database. That’s sort of the core Premier product and it was a tough goal back then to convince people that we wanted transparency in the market. We wanted to know what things were trading for. So in a lot of ways, the blockchain, the main net, and the transparency spoke very much to our DNA. And we said it makes a lot of sense that we would be engaging in this both from a context perspective and from a data perspective. So now we’re putting NFTs on the price database. Creators, I think, have really found that meaningful because all of a sudden their auction records are alongside Picassos and Warhols and all of the greatest traditional artists. So what we’ve done is we’re being bold in expanding sort of the canon of art history to include NFT artists and creators. And likewise, as someone who works in the secondary market, I usually work with dead artists. So all of a sudden to be able to work with creators and realize their process, their project, sort of the creator as a market maker. Now, where before you had external people controlling the spigot of their market.

 

DC: It’s no longer an AMM, it’s like a manual market maker. I don’t know.

 

CC: Exactly.

 

DC: Amazing. I’m really excited to see how you continue to progress in this space, especially through Artnet. And also I feel like there’s a two-prong kind of approach. And correct me if I’m wrong, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. There are onboarding artists into the NFT space. In your case, I’m sure many of them are already at least digitally conscious, if not digitally native. But then at the same time, what I’m really excited about, that you mentioned, is bringing the NFT crowd into the traditional art collector market and the fact that you’re championing Rare Pepes and OG NFT artists right off the bat. I think it’s super cool. So I’d love to hear how you pitched that to Artnet and what their first thoughts were when you were like, Rare Pepes, let’s go.

 

CC: It’s so funny. My first strategy with NFTs was to wait, right? January 2021. In spring 2021, everyone was getting involved–

 

DC: And really rushed.

 

CC: Rushed and not authentic. So I said until we can have an Onchain platform that’s in ETH that speaks to the community, I don’t want to do it because it wasn’t real.

 

DC: Thank you.

 

CC: Thank you for embracing us. Because we were honest and we went to the market to some real thought leaders and Mavericks, and we said, we know nothing in a very honest way. And we said, teach us, what should we do? What advice can you give? What would you like? What would be meaningful? Because we realize our position as a curated platform is in some ways understandably antithetical to DeFi, right? Why do we exist? We have fee structures. We’re gatekeepers. Yes. But we’re also context providers. And that’s what’s so interesting. So when we’re working with artists who are getting into the NFC space, or likewise people in the crypto world, coming into the traditional space, we have to remember this is a period of transformative wealth, unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Crypto billionaires have homes, too. They have big walls to fill in. And sure, put up an NFT on one wall. But why not engage in another way?

 

DC: You might want to Damian Hearst or a Worhall or something.

 

CC: Yeah, right. So for our Rare Pepes sale, we did something interesting where we had a brand new fake rare made exclusively for the sale. And we actually sold the original canvas as well. So we’re putting the two together and say, look at the conversation they have one begets the other.

 

CC: You said gatekeeper. But honestly, I don’t think it’s quite there for Artnet, at least, because I think that Artnet was also one of those places where, as you said, the secondary market artists could upload their own work. Is it a featured collection? Is it one of your curated drops? Not necessarily, but the egalitarian aspect that people can enter on their own. I feel like it’s already very native and true to this space.

 

CC: Absolutely. And to art that, I mean, really, our founders’ vision was to democratize the art world. He saw the high barriers to entry at Christie’s and Sotheby’s.

 

DC: I mean, I mentioned it a lot, but the fact that we use Botalaire 1800s reference points in our commerce today.

 

CC: Exactly, we’ve been disrupting, and everyone’s a disruptor, especially in the crypto world. But truly, in a previous time, you can only buy a print or a multiple, two times a year at a big house. We have them 24/7. So we’ve always been engaged in this idea of creating access, creating liquidity, and creating opportunity for artists, creators, collectors, and the trade alike.

 

DC: Super exciting. So what’s next, from your perspective? Are you really trying to push artists forward? Are you trying to bring more people onto the platform? Are you developing a new collector base? What’s kind of your like, I don’t want to say KPI, because we’re not going to be so corporate here. But what’s your vision right now as far as your goal in the space?

 

CC: Absolutely. It’s a good question. I am being open to the space, right. I’m really trying to engage in an open conversation. So I don’t know what our next sale will be, but I can tell you that conversion is really important to us. We want to help people get into the water. The water is fine. You just have to get comfortable with these operational ideas. Things like fiat onramps help and custodial wallets help. But really, we want to leverage the power of Artnet and sort of the gulf stream of eyeballs and context we have to help people jump into the pool because the water is pretty fun.

 

DC: That’s beautiful. The last thing I want to leave with, we talk a lot about contextualization. We talk about adding value to artists in the process. But I feel like really the value is coming for the collector. If you can take a process that’s really antiquated and very difficult and simplify that for somebody, build it and they will come. And I feel like that’s really what’s happening. So I love the fact that you’re stepping back and listening as your first response to the space, but even more so, I really love that. Now once you’ve already had a couple of successful collections, you’re still open and you’re still looking and you’re still looking forward because a lot of people, especially now they’ve gotten into the NFT space and they’re kind of like, okay, we did NFTs and now we have NFTs exactly. But the spaces. I talk about hypermodernity and the fact that we’re evolving so rapidly and everything changes every day. So I’m really excited to hear that that’s your perspective and I can’t wait to see what you keep doing.

 

CC: Constant evolution. That’s the name of the game. Look at how far the industry has come in 16 months. Who knows what the next 16 months will bring but excited to be in it together with you, David.

 

DC: Amazing just for anybody who is new to you and all the work you do. Work and they find you and Artnet’s NFT drops.

 

CC: You can find me at Colleen Cash on Twitter or you can find me at Artnet.com/auctions.

 

DC: Beautiful. Thank you so much for taking the time. Such a pleasure. We’re here at NFC Lisbon. Thank you so much for watching. This is NFTS.WTF, my name is David cash. Thank you again.

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The term “meme” comes from the Greek word “mimema,” meaning “imitated.” According to Encyclopedia Britannica, this term was initially introduced in 1976 by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his work The Selfish Gene. However, it was not until roughly 2014 when users in the /r9k/ channel of the popular site 4chan began referring to original illustrations and photoshops of Pepe the Frog as “Rare Pepes.” 4chan users would share allegedly “rare” images of Pepe as if they were trading cards, initially on sites like eBay and Craigslist, but eventually, via Counterparty, one of the earliest chains to run on top of Bitcoin, Rare pepes went from meme to movement via the trading of cards and adoption of PepeCash. What is most remarkable about this ecosystem is that it was initiated in 2016/2017, way before most others were at all aware, let alone interested in NFTs.

 

Fast forward to March of 2022, and Rare Pepes are, in my personal opinion, one of the most undervalued NFT classes on the market. While yes, there have been momentous sales of Nakamoto cards over the past year or so, a treasure trove of OG NFTs from 2016-2018 are currently sitting on opensea for the taking on the Emblem Vault Ethereum account at a floor price of 0.032 ETH. You may be asking, ‘since these were minted on a Bitcoin layer two (for lack of a better term), how can one buy them on Ethereum? 

 

 

Thanks to the incredible people at Emblem Vault– real counterparty NFTs from the early days of the space have been bridged over to Ethereum and Polygon, and are now accessible for us to buy on Opensea! According to Decrypt: “Emblem Vault is a tokenized multi-asset wallet [that] wraps crypto portfolios into a single NFT token.” So hodlers of OG counterparty NFTs are able to simply and safely bridge their NFTs, such as Rare Pepes, over to ETH, Polygon, and more!

 

How can you make sure that the NFT you’re buying is authentic? Since these are bridged over, and since we’re in the crypto space here, it’s up to us to do our own due diligence. So every time you buy any NFT from an Emblem Vault account, on Opensea for instance, it’s up to us to check the NFT’s emblem finance and XCP explorer links to ensure that the item we’re buying is a) an Original Rare Pepe (see example here) and b) via the XCP explorer link click on the asset, then click on “issuances” to see how many of a Rare Pepe NFT were originally minted. 

 

While you will notice that there is an abundance of Rare Pepes available on Opensea, not all Pepes are made equal. While I’m not here to give financial advice, it should be obvious to anyone with a background in crypto or NFTs that the most scarce and oldest editions of these NFTs are inherently the most ‘rare.’ With the appropriately named Rare Pepes, rarity varies quite a lot from NFT to NFT. Some pieces come in editions of several million, and if you check them via the XCP explorer, you’ll see that they’re only evaluated at pennies apiece, so in my opinion, not worth buying for even 0.032 ETH. 

 

 

However, there are NFTs available which are from incredible scarce mint batches of 5000, 3000, 1000, or even a few hundred. Since most of these were minted 5+ years ago on Bitcoin, and only some have been bridged over to ETH or Polygon, most of these collections are lost in a wallet somewhere, and many can’t be claimed. Owning a Rare Pepe from one of these small-batch collections today means that you likely own one of only a few hundred accessible NFTs, the scarcity of these Pepes making them, from my perspective, some of the rarest. 

 

So while you can’t currently get a Nakamoto card for less than 100 ETH as of today, you can still snag some pieces of early NFT history on Opensea that are, in my opinion, still incredibly undervalued. Again, while we don’t give financial advice here, we can delve into the history of NFTs and pinpoint specific projects which we deem important and Rare Pepes are–undoubtedly–one of them. The purpose of this new series is for me to delve into the background of some of the OG NFTs in my collection. In the next article in this series, coming soon, I’ll delve into why I’m currently hodling gen0 CryptoKitties. 

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Popular NFT brand, Bored Ape Yacht Club, is in talks with venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, to lead a funding round of about $5 billion to raise their valuation, according to the Financial Times. The deal is still a work in progress as no terms have been agreed upon but will surely be one to watch out for.

 

Although BAYC has yet to comment on the negotiations officially, they have previously said they plan to create a strong brand and hand it over to the community. Another source, NFTNick.eth, told his Twitter followers that this would likely be huge for the NFT industry as it will validate the NFT business model if this deal comes to life and the news gets out.

 

Crypto companies generally utilize funding to expand their businesses and scale their operations globally. For example, back in 2013, When Coinbase was valued at $143 million, it received about $20 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz. It is currently valued at $86 billion. Even successful brands like BAYC require external funding to grow faster than what investments from their own profits can achieve. BAYC receiving VC funding will allow the brand to expand its business, and you will expect its valuation to increase in the future as the demand for BAYC NFTs continues to grow.

 

Bored Ape Yacht Club, a collection of 10,000 uniquely generated cartoon images of ape NFTs, went viral in 2021 even before prominent celebrities like Eminem, Stephen Curry, and Jimmy Fallon, amongst others, bought them. The frenzy does not end with merely acquiring a Bored Ape NFT, as ownership connects you to many celebrities and popular influencers who are members of this club. The number of celebrities ‘aping in’ is increasing every week.

 

Bored Ape NFTs, which were minted on the Ethereum blockchain, has recorded more than 393,000 in trading volume and have at least 6300 owners on OpenSea, with the lowest priced Bored Apes selling for about 18.5 ETH at the time of writing. Yuga labs, the team behind BAYC, has remained committed to growing the BAYC brand even further, and this potential deal with Andreessen Horowitz is a testament to their resolve.

 

 

Who is Andreessen Horowitz?

 

Andreessen Horowitz is an investment company based in Silicon Valley, California, founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz in 2009, commonly known as A16z. The company has more than $28b in assets, with investments spanning from Crypto and Fintech to Healthcare.

 

A16z invests in companies across different stages of growth, from seed to startups, mid and late stages. They boast of a strong track record of having backed highbrow companies like Coinbase, Airbnb, Github, and Slack, transforming the then small businesses into giants.

 

A16z are not newcomers in the crypto space. In June 2021, the company announced a $2.2 billion fund to invest in crypto founders, teams, and networks. In addition, the Financial Times reported on plans by Andreessen Horowitz to raise more than $4.5 billion for crypto investments this year, doubling last year’s figures. A16z has been investing in crypto since 2013 and has shown interest in decentralized finance, Web3, creator funds, and the next-generation payment methods.

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Imagine accidentally selling an NFT worth over $1 million for only $26. That is precisely what has happened to Timothy McKimmy, who owned Bored Ape #3475 from OpenSea’s Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection.

 

Because of this, he is now suing OpenSea—whose legal identity is Ozone Networks—claiming they knew of a glitch that made the sale possible. So what does this mean for NFT buyers and sellers? Let’s take a look.

 

About the OpenSea Lawsuit

 

The claim being made by McKimmy is that OpenSea knew of a bug that allows people to purchase NFTs when they’re unlisted on their platform. De-listing an NFT from OpenSea’s platform with their “transfer” feature doesn’t necessarily remove listings on the blockchain’s back end, making it possible for hackers to purchase tokens for far less than their floor price.

 

Previous Victims

Others have fallen victim to this glitch already, and OpenSea has since added a feature that allows users to see their current listings, including those they may have believed were cancelled. From there, users can fully de-list their NFTs by paying Ethereum gas fees. However, those who have already fallen victim to the bug aren’t at all helped by this.

 

The Damages

McKimmy is demanding that OpenSea either return his Bored Ape NFT—which was shortly after resold for 99 ETH (about a quarter of a million dollars)—or pay him damages of over $1 million. He claims the Ape was worth $1.3 million, comparing it to one of lower rarity bought by Justin Bieber for a similar price.

 

Negligence Charges

McKimmy claims that OpenSea was negligent in that they knew about the vulnerabilities in their code but did nothing to fix it. Instead, they continued sales on their platform rather than pausing to rectify the problem despite knowing this.

 

 

Does McKimmy Have a Case?

 

The claims made do seem to have some weight. It’s true that OpenSea had been in communication with other victims of their platform’s exploit and had even made some settlements (though for less than the tokens in question may have been worth at the time), so it seems reasonable to believe that they were aware of the exploit and had done little to repair it.

 

On the other hand, OpenSea did recently add their “Listings” feature, allowing users to see their current listings, including those that they might have previously believed to have been de-listed. This may prevent future incidents but does not satisfy the damages against McKimmy and others in similar circumstances.

 

There seems to be a good chance that McKimmy’s negligence charges could secure a reward from OpenSea, even if his lawsuit, as it currently stands, has some errors (such as naming OpenSea as defendant instead of Ozone Networks, listing the incorrect address, etc.).

 

 

Lessons and Preventive Measures for NFT Holders

In terms of lessons that can be learned from this case, here are a few preventive measures NFT holders can put into place:

 

1. Know the Platform

It’s generally best to deal with platforms that already have a solid reputation in place. OpenSea has been at the center of multiple controversies in addition to this lawsuit, and that should be a warning to buyers to proceed with caution.

 

2. Keep an Eye on Listings

Just because you use a platform’s tool to de-list something doesn’t mean it’s completely gone. Rarible provides a tool where you can check on all current and previous listings, as does OpenSea with its new “Listings” tab, so it’s easy to keep an eye on what’s actually on the market. You may have to pay a fee to completely de-list your token, but that’s a small price compared to the value of a highly appreciated NFT.

 

3. Get Your Legal Stuff Right

The errors in McKimmy’s lawsuit may not altogether avert his efforts to recover damages, but they can still be an obstacle. Make sure you know which company you’re dealing with (not just the first name that pops up on their platform) and the jurisdiction in which they operate. Having some legal help on your side isn’t a bad idea either.

 

 

Lessons and Preventive Measures for NFT Sellers

 

There are some lessons to be gleaned for sellers as well. Even if you don’t lose a lawsuit, it’s still expensive to resolve it, making the following preventive measures invaluable.

 

1. Know Your Customer

While many value blockchain technology for its potential to protect anonymity, it’s still a good idea to know your customers. Doing so can help you avoid dealing with hackers and keep you more secure against liabilities that might result from exploits or illicit activity.

 

2. Review Your Code

To further shield yourself and your users against exploits, it can be worthwhile to review your code and platform activity every so often. Doing so can reveal potential bugs that could open you up to liability. If you find anything, correct it quickly. It may mean taking your system down, but expensive lawsuits can be far more costly.

 

3. Give Users Visibility

One of the issues with OpenSea appears to be the fact that users didn’t have much visibility over their listings. They used the platform’s “transfer” feature, believing that it would completely de-list their tokens when it, in fact, did not. If they had had more visibility, these errors might not have occurred (or at least wouldn’t have been OpenSea’s responsibility). As such, it’s worthwhile to implement functionality that gives your users plenty of visibility over their assets.

 

The Takeaway

 

It will be interesting to see what happens over the course of this lawsuit. The nature of blockchain technology and the various forces at work, in this case, could present some unique challenges when it comes to presenting the case to a jury, and the courtroom proceedings that follow could well shape the case law for future NFT-related suits. But, for now, it’s advisable to play things on the safe side.

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ArtVndngMchn NFT Wrapper (Courtesy: Joe Chiapetta)

 

Bundling NFTs, offering a group of NFTs for sale for one fixed price, can be a way to increase one’s sales while turning a drop into an event. If you have not explored releasing NFT bundles, such as bags or packs, you may be able to pick up some tips from the well-established art of ‘product bundling.’ And if bundling a product sounds like too much for one artist, this is a particularly good approach for groups, as we can see from the ArtVndngMchn project.

 

Product Bundling

 

Product bundling, essentially selling a group of individual items together, is a popular retail sales technique for a variety of products and services. For major retailers, mixed bundling, selling bundled items that are also available individually, is often done with a discount on the overall price if purchased separately. However, as one explores the more relevant world of bundling for smaller shops both on and off-line, one finds more examples of pure bundling, in which the items in a bundle are not available individually.

 

Most examples of bundling NFTs, of which I am aware, are pure bundles, typically filled with single examples of larger editions that are offered in some sort of container. This approach, considered broadly, potentially includes bundles, bags, sacks, packs, chests, lockers, vaults, and other concepts, based on a container filled with goodies. 

 

Before purchase, these containers may or may not reveal their contents. Sometimes making the exact contents of the bundle secret can be a way of heightening anticipation. In that case, revealing the artists and creating a sense of what’s in the bundle is key to drawing folks in. There’s a lot of psychology at play and checking out what other artists and NFT creators do and how their drops and secondary sales fare will teach you a lot.

 

In mixed bundling, discounts are often applied based on the overall cost of the individual items. In NFT Land, discounting may be appropriate for insiders, communities and whitelisted individuals in a presale or similar event. However, my opinion is that otherwise discounting editions of art, whether by well-known or emerging artists, may look like a sign of problems that one may have otherwise missed.

 

If you haven’t yet considered bundling a select group of your NFTs or the NFTs of a particular network of creators, ArtVndngMchn offers an excellent example of an individual artist bringing together a group of crypto artists for a successful series of drops. Keep in mind that, while there is lots of activity in this area, there is still room for artists typically focused on 1 of 1 art and limited editions, to make unique and compelling NFT bundles.

 

ArtVndngMchn: OGs and Emerging Artists

 

The title of this column promised ‘Fun,’ and so far I have failed to deliver. However, this piece was inspired by a discussion with Joe Chiappetta, an artist whose work and projects do have plenty of fun energy. 

 

Chiappetta was preparing for the latest ArtVndngMchn drop on Wax, coming February 26th. It will feature packs of 5 NFTs each by a group of “Cryptoart OGs (Joe Chiapetta, Marko Zubak, Fabi Yamada, Richard Yates) and emerging artists” listed on the Series 3 webpage.

 

I think this is a great example of niche bundling of NFTs. These names will be especially familiar to those active in crypto art before the NFT boom which also gives the emerging artists the OG cosign. Though it is appropriate to price art more modestly off the Ethereum blockchain, due to lower gas fees and less developed NFT ecosystems, this project seems low-priced at $20 per pack.

 

For those interested in utility, there are some really nice examples in the ArtVndngMchn project, which also goes beyond NFTs. Series 3-specific elements include raising money for the education of blind youth in Kiev, the ability to mix and upgrade select NFTs using NeftyBlocks, and a concurrent metaverse event.

 

The NFTs themselves are hidden till packs are open. The wrapper, shown above, is animated and plays a role in the unwrapping, according to Chiappetta:

 

“After a collector buys a pack, if they choose to open it, a special 3D animation of an art vending machine plays to give them an extra special visual treat, and then they see what pieces of rare digital art are in the package.”

 

ArtVndngMchn now has a successful track record of bundle drops and shows that the wrapper can also be a creative part of the project.

 

NFT Creator Bundles

 

While established artists can certainly choose to bundle work on their own, bundling as a group is a way for emerging artists to stand out. In the case of ArtVndngMchn, we have an example of established and emerging artists working together. So NFT bundling can also be a useful tool to build community while strengthening marketing effects. And as we have seen with so many bundling efforts, artistic creativity can be applied to both the bundle and the container.

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Aluna (of AlunaGeorge) is releasing her first NFT this week, launching her first Digital Wearable, and performing in her first Digital Music Festival held by Decentraland this past October 23rd, 2021.  After debuting her first solo album Renaissance this summer, she quickly became a huge success, Aluna just announced her first US/ Canadian Diskotek Tour starting in December.  And she’s got a new song coming out in January, which fans will get exclusive access to via the purchase of her newly designed Digital Headphone NFT.  How did this all come about?  Let’s dive in!  

 

Aluna immersed herself in the world of NFT’s a little over 6 months ago: 

 

“The learning curve into the NFT space is steep but at the top you have the thrill of your first NFT drop. My collab with Decentral Games was kicked off with me performing at Decentraland’s Metaverse Festival where people who bought my digital headphone NFT could dance to the set and then enter a VIP Experience area to listen to my new single planned for release in January. If I wasn’t hooked before, I am now!  I already have my next drop planned! I’m looking forward to creating more beautiful collections and supporting others in the space who want diversity to thrive,” – Aluna 

 

   Feeling the welcoming embrace of the NFT / Metaverse community and discovering all the possibilities while creating her own NFT creates a lot of excitement thinking of all the possibilities for her fans and for supporting fellow black female music artists. 

On the wearables side, Aluna has always designed her own clothing for her performances, so diving into creating digital wearables has been a natural next step for her..  

 

To create her exclusive NFT, Aluna collaborated with artist Arnj Joe, a 3D animation specialist who has worked on several major motion pictures like Harry Potter, Looper, and Men in Black.  The beautifully crafted pair of digital headphones come complete with Aluna’s poodle logo, gold accents, and are set inside a custom museum quality glass case, a signature piece by Arnj Joe.  If you look closely there are fine details worked into the piece, like fingerprints on the glass case.  The headphones are placed carefully inside, and the whole work spins in 3D so the collector can enjoy all sides of the gorgeous headphones.  The design alone would make anyone want to order a real pair, but for now, the NFT is for sale on Rarible.  But that’s not the only thing you get when you purchase Aluna’s Poodle Squad Headphones!  (Yes, Aluna loves poodles)  You also get exclusive access to Aluna’s new track coming out in January, and early access to all future releases.  The collector also receives access to a VIP channel in Aluna’s discord  where fans can chat directly with Aluna, as well as a Digital Wearable version of the headphones that Joe also created specifically for Decentraland.   

 

Making a Digital Wearable for the Metaverse was an experience, learning what could and couldn’t quite yet be done.  Creating specific utility for holders of the headphones was important to Aluna in really creating a way to connect with her fans further.  Working with Banquet and Decentral Games, Aluna was able to craft a unique experience for her fans, giving holders of her NFT exclusive access to Amnesia in Decentraland to go listen to her song with other Poodle-Squad NFT holders.  

 

While performing at Festivals is definitely not a first (Aluna has collaborated with DJ Snake, Skrillex, and Diplo to name a few) this is certainly the first Metaverse Festival at this scale.   And she already sees the possibilities of how she can support other Black female and LGBTQ+ dance music artists using both NFTs and the Metaverse.  “You will see a lot more black women making dance music as people invest in them, and that is why the NFT space is so exciting,” says Aluna.  Aluna eventually would like to create a space in the Metaverse where other Black Female Dance Music artists can perform and collaborate.  Aluna Headlined the Main Evolution Stage at Metaverse Festival 2021 alongside fellow musical icons Deadmau5, 3Lau, and Paris Hilton.  

More info via the links below: 

Aluna’s Discord:  https://discord.gg/HghvEh64

Aluna’s NFT website with all her drops:  AlunasNFTS.com 

Listen to Twitter Spaces with Aluna and Latasha and Zora this Friday Oct 29 at 2pm!

  

Photo Credits:  Murphjestic of Decentral Games

Aluna’s Performance on the Evolution Stage in Decentraland right before Deadmau5

 

Photo credits: Astrid Pilla of NFT Creator Tours

Photo credits: Astrid Pilla of NFT Creator Tours

 

Close-up of the artwork on the Digital Wearable Headphones created by Arnj Joe:

Photo credits: Astrid Pilla of NFT Creator Tours

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A modern-day zen garden opened this past Friday, October 1st, at the Fort York Historic Site in Toronto, Canada. Contemporary artist Krista Kim brings her vision of wellness to the world via CONTINUUM: a meditative 20-minute generated animation aimed at improving mental health through active self-care participation.

A freestanding 100-foot video wall will showcase the magnificent video installation that was part of an exhibit curated by Steve Aoki; and sold through Sotheby’s auction house the night before its debut as an NFT for $113,400 USD. The large-scale piece is a collaboration between Kim, Efren Mur, and American rock musician and guitarist for the Smashing Pumpkins Jeff Schroeder. Shroeder brought the art to life with soothing, melodic acoustics, and also performed live intermittently throughout the 4-day exhibition. 

 

The project was born in 2017 as a result of Kim’s three-year Japanese sojourn. According to Kim:

 

“I would visit a Ryōan-ji temple garden in Kyoto three or four times a year because this is the place where I had my artistic epiphany. In this space I learned that art and the environment become a mirror of the mind. What you see becomes a part of you. It was beautifully manicured, very minimalist with lots of negative space between the stones and so you realize that the negative space imbues consciousness into the viewer. And I knew, in that moment, that I wanted to create zen consciousness through my art.”

 

Kim, who practices meditation herself and says she is, “sensitive to matters of mental health and wellness,” admits it’s a natural extension of her practice. In this way it was always her vision to bring this concept to individuals and their communities at large through a movement she has coined “techism”- promoting the confluence of art and technology as a medium to further the development of digital humanism during this unique period of technological innovation, adaptation, and disruption. 

 

According to Kim:, “I wrote the manifesto because I was feeling my attention span dissipate. I was always distracted by my digital devices and social media. And if I was experiencing this constant disruption of focus and energy, then billions of people around the world must be feeling the same way. I thought it was important for art and philosophy to enter the realm of technology in order to create balance and make it more humane.”

 

 

With her Digital Consciousness series, Kim gathers massive walls of LED lights to digitally paint and manifest her artworks. The immersive experience sets out to facilitate the feeling of meditativeness by producing an effect of decompression and calm through colour and sound. Kim says she was stunned and surprised by the outpouring of support for the project, “People spent hours in our space because they were given permission to be vulnerable and to heal. They would actually say to me, ‘I needed this.’”

 

As to the role NFTs played with the project and the future of the rapidly evolving space, Kim is quick to point out that they can provide a much greater benefit than most people realize. She references the fact that in our modern-day society we have very little connection to community: 

 

“The functionality NFTs provide in terms of giving the control and dominion back to the artists will be a game-changer because we will see artists start to reinvest back into the communities that they are a part of. This project is a wonderful example of how we can start a movement through that power. I’d like to demonstrate and showcase to the world that NFTs can actually lift humanity up in this way.”

 

This is just the start of what Kim hopes to accomplish. Even though someone now owns the celebrated video as an NFT, as the artist she owns the copyright and says she never sells the usage rights for her works. The exhibit returns to Aranya China on October 15th, then on to Art Basel in Miami, Florida in December. Then who knows… She is planning a world tour of zen.

 

For more information or to view livestream, visit:

https://www.continuumtour.com/

 

The piece was live in Toronto, Canada, at the Fort York Historic Site, located at 250 Fort York Blvd., from October 1st to 4th, 2021.

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The Blockchain Games Conference (CGC) hosted its 9th virtual conferencing platform, Pine, from September 23rd to 24th. It is the blockchain equivalent of the annual Games Developers Conference (GDC), and their sponsors included key players, including DappRadar, Epik, Polygon, and many more. The CGC invites luminaries in the space to share their projects, debate the most up-to-date developments in the industry, and network with like-minded individuals on all things related to DeFi, NFTs, and blockchain games.

 

 

There was a golden thread of discussion that ran through the various panels and presentations of the two-day conference. NFT-based ownership of virtual assets in games is giving rise to social and economic growth in an open metaverse. It is evident that the community of blockchain gamers holds a purist view that a truly “open” metaverse must be decentralized and built on a Web3 foundation where true ownership is possible.

 

 

NFTs and blockchain games 

The conference was largely covering how these two titans of technomancy – blockchain and NFTs – dovetail as defining factors for the future of the metaverse. In Part 1 we explore how NFTs act as catalysts for creating communities that populate the metaverse. Part 2 considers how NFTs are shaping metaverse economies that are increasingly impacting the overall gaming industry. 

 

 

 

“NFTs are the keys to the metaverse,” says Amartya Pilaka, NFT lead at Polygon and Polygon Studios: the $100 million investment arm started by Polygon to bring games from Web2 to Web3 and help grow the NFT world in general.  “NFTs are revolutionary for gaming and the metaverse because of how closely they are tied together. The lines between these concepts are starting to blur and [are] translating into real money.” 

 

Apart from the renaissance in digital art caused by NFTs in 2021, blockchain games such as Axie Infinity and Gods Unchained have used NFTs to create a new genre of game design known as “play-to-earn.” While this model has been implemented in traditional video games, the concept of ownership of in-game assets as NFTs on a blockchain ledger that allows players to generate value that is transferable and immutable is revolutionary. Ownership does not vest in the users of traditional video games and value invested by a player such as time and/or money remains tied to a specific game or gaming platform. 

 

In Diablo 2, for example, this type of trading community was only achievable through third-party websites like d2jsp.org that use forum gold to facilitate trading. Unfortunately, these trading sites are legal grey areas and often require intermediaries to avoid scams. Blockchains allow users to have a distributed peer-to-peer network where non-trusting members can verifiably interact with each other without the need for a trusted authority. It’s all done through smart contracts in a trustless way. This model has proven successful for Axie Infinity, with secondary market sales already exceeding $2 billion. 

 

 

“I got involved in the NFT space at the start of the year, and what made me want to stay was actually the community,” Amartya Pilaka continued. “It’s a compelling narrative for artists, creators, and game developers to rally around great ideas and to have their community rally around them.”

 

Who comprises a gaming metaverse’s community? “There are five categories of people who can participate in a metaverse economy,” says Derek Lau, game director for Immutable. “Players, investors, content creators, developers, and people that integrate the virtual with the physical world.”  

 

Does this mean that a generation of gamers will achieve financial emancipation by grinding for gear? “What NFTs allow games to do,” Derek Lau suggests, “is enable everyone, not just players, to be part of the gaming experience. We’re beginning to see some people playing these games full-time, but we will also see people invest and build a business within the game as owners of NFTs.” Axie Infinity’s scholarship programs have been very successful in allowing people to be investors in the game. 

There are various ways apart from playing to get involved with blockchain games. Projects like Loot, where the NFTs are mere strings of words that represent possible in-game items, show just how interested people are in getting involved with the game development aspect of NFT projects. By owning a Loot NFT or AGLD (the underlying currency of the game), individuals can provide input towards the game’s creative direction, creating a sense of accountability between the players and the developers, which ideally leads to a sustainable ecosystem.

 

 

How can you get involved as a content creator? Co-founder and CEO at Alien Worlds, Sarojini McKenna, stated that “content creators can provide services into the metaverse, whether that be technical like data and analytics, distribution, art, lore, music or writing. New users need to realize that they need to contribute to the ecosystem to be part of it for the long term.”  

 

While it’s still early for NFTs, the blockchain gaming scene is playing an integral role in the mass adoption of NFTs into mainstream media. Blockchain games claim to scratch the itch left by the traditional video game industry, but onboarding non-crypto native users remains a barrier to entry for many companies. As the technologies and communities develop around these nascent metaverses, we can look forward to CyberKongz in Sandbox and many other NFT projects with gaming utilities on the horizon. 

 

For more on CGC and their sponsors:

 

CGC Official: https://www.cgc.one/

 

Polygon Studios: https://polygonstudios.com/

 

Epik Official: https://www.epik.gg/

 

DappRadar: https://dappradar.com/

 

 

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Parin Heidari is a multidisciplinary artist based in Italy. She draws single-line portraits ambidextrously. Before creating NFT art full-time, Parin worked as a creative director and graphic designer for 10 years in The Netherlands, Italy, and Iran. Parin studied painting in Iran and holds a BA in Industrial Design and Visual Communication from the Polytechnic University of Turin. She has been a featured artist on the front page of Opensea and has recently been announced as one of 40 artists included in TIME Magazines “Build a Better Future” NFT drop.

 

How did you make your start in the world as an artist? Did it begin with drawing? Were you formally trained or self-taught? 

 

I was born in Tehran in 1986. I have been an artist for 30 years. When I was three I started drawing and painting- and since then I have never stopped! I loved fantasy books and Sci-fi movies and I started going to art classes before going to school. I remember I loved telling stories full of robots and UFOs with my paintings. My mother’s cousin, who is an Iranian illustrator, was my first teacher- and when I was a kid, I always wanted to illustrate a children’s book like her. When I was 11 years old I continued my art journey by going to caricature courses and learned how to draw cartoons. I went to NODET (National Organization for Development of Exceptional Talents) school in Tehran, Iran, which was a more scientific school. Almost all of the students were interested in science, but I always wanted to be an artist. Therefore I studied Fine Arts and later went on to study at Politecnico di Torino in Italy, graduating with a BA in Industrial Design and Visual Communication. I have lived a multicultural life which has always inspired my art. 

 

 

There is a simplicity to your drawings although they are bold and very sophisticated. What is your process in achieving this unique aesthetic? How/where did you develop this style and how do you approach a single drawing versus a series of drawings?

 

My online drawing journey started when I was in high school. I carried my sketchbook with me and became very fond of drawing daily from my surroundings. One-line drawings for me were the quickest way to capture my environment and the people in it, whether I was at a cafe, or on the bus, or even at a party; I was recording. Sometimes the pieces that I worked more on became the ones that are 1 of 1, but I really wanted to give the opportunity for anyone who wanted to collect my pieces the chance to own these works as well by creating editions of my series. It’s a maturation process that can be hurtful as it consists of letting go of something which I have created. However, it is also very demanding as the minimalism of one-line art requires a certain level of perfection and precision. Every element must have its place and its own intrinsic beauty.

 

There is so much passion and life behind each line in your portraits. Can you speak to the role poetry and emotion play in how you capture a human likeness with your technique? 

 

I use a single line with simple elements and colors to convey my own visualization of the deepest emotions we can feel as humans to make complex problems simple. The minimalist nature of a ‘one-line’ drawing requires a lot of precision and is a perfectionist’s nightmare. Every element has its own place and intrinsic visual authority within the image. Crafting a ‘one-line’ drawing is a visually rich and rather complex experience. It’s a process that can be painful sometimes though as I have to ultimately give something away that’s so close to my heart.

 

 

Who were some of your earlier influences and artists you admire now? Tell me how their work speaks to you and influenced yours? 

 

Egon Schiele has been my biggest inspiration. I love the simplicity yet boldness in his drawings. Hamid Bahrami has always been a big inspiration to me, the technique and creativity of his pieces always surprises me. I love Chantel Martin’s work as well, she is great at showing the most meaningful concepts so simple yet stunning. Martin is a fellow one-liner and ambidextrous. I really like how delicate and strong his lines are. Donald Robertson is a great painter, I am amazed by the way he plays with colors and shapes. His humor and intelligence which can be seen both in his art and personal life is something that always amazes me. Heather Day is my other inspiration, she has an incredible approach to shapes and forms. I love the courage she has in the combination of colors, she never stops creating. 

 

When you brought your work into the NFT space did you anticipate your work would be so well received? You were a trending artist on Opensea and I imagine that was very exciting! 

 

[The] NFT space made me believe more in myself and my art. I have never experienced the potential of art, as I have seen in this space, it’s nothing like any other work experience. There’s no client work or deadlines. Because of the multicultural nature of NFTs, I have also connected with so many amazing artists from all over the world. It’s a great opportunity for everyone to be able to share the art they love and grow in it as well. I can finally be who I always wanted to be and I’ve finally become a full-time artist, and I’m so thankful for that. 

 

 

What are you currently working on?

 

I am working on some new drops and collaborations with some amazing artists in the NFT space, and I am going to be included in the FOMOLAND exhibition in Switzerland in October and a couple of other huge projects that I will announcing very soon.

 

To learn more about Parin, check out all her NFTs on TryShowtime, visit her website and follow her online:

Instagram: @parindesigns

Twitter: @ParinHeidari

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David Cash: Welcome, everybody. This is NFTS.WTF, my name is David Cash- I’m the editor in chief, and I am here with the one and only Dan Carr, creator of NiftyKit. Dan, Would you like to introduce yourself and for anybody living under a rock, what is NiftyKit? 

 

Dan: Thank you for having me. I’m Dan, and I am the co-founder and CEO of NiftyKit. It’s a subscription-based app that allows you to create smart contracts and NFTs, and sell them on your marketplace. We are heavily focused on creators, so we wanted to provide a tool that makes it easy for people to get in and not be super frustrated with all of the unknowns in there. So we want to help you go from zero to one and get your smart contract, and NFT’s out there so that your fans can start collecting. 

 

Cash: Awesome, a very noble cause- we need more people like you. I think a lot of artists lately have had growing pains. Our audience members are people who have been in the space a little while, be that five months or five years, encompassing a whole range of experiences. And I think almost everybody who is reading this right now has tried to mint something on Opensea or another platform that has given them a less than ideal result, to put that very nicely. Or have had a situation where they’ve minted NFTs, and a collector would have liked something different in their smart contract, something not so generic. Then on the other side of things, you also have people paying thousands of dollars for front-end and back-end devs to develop something custom, even when what they’re working on doesn’t require such a custom solution. 

 

So I love your solution, and I think it exists somewhere in that nice sweet spot in the middle of those two places. So from a Degen perspective or an insider community perspective, why would you recommend somebody choose NiftyKit over hiring devs as a turnkey solution?

 

Dan: So we focus mainly on two things: saving time and money. The space is moving super fast, and if time equals money, we want to be the shortcut to get your project launched. There are tons of ideas, and sadly, some of these great ideas never see the light of day because the project owners get stuck overthinking things. I’ve been in clubhouse rooms where people are looking to get into the space and are being recommended to pick up solidity…  Like, “Hey, it’s fine if you had a MySpace or you’ve done some HTML before, then you should be able to pick it up.” It shouldn’t be like that… So we created this service to be able to help you channel all the energy in those ideas and make minting and smart contract creation really the least of your problems. If you get stuck and hung up on all that technical stuff under the hood, you’re taking away from what you’re going to need to market your product and get it out there. So we want to just [be a] shortcut for people.

 

In addition to the time, there’s saving money on devs, like you were alluding to. Why would you want to go out and hire devs, I think you would not want to use NiftyKit if you need something more custom. There are a lot more projects coming out with generative aspects that need a little bit more utility baked in. But what NiftyKit does is provide that base layer of NFT support to give you your smart contract. And it’s an ERC 721 smart contract that’s interoperable with Rarible and OpenSea. So we wanted to give you something that gives you the flexibility on creating NFTs and sell them in different ways. Whether you’re listing them on your storefront on NiftyKit, or you’re taking them over to Rarible and OpenSea, listing them there as well. Or we even have people who just do private sales outside of any of these platforms and just transfer it if you trust people that much. So we wanted to just get you past this part zero to one, all in the same day without having to spend weeks trying to figure out what one does with a smart contract.

 

Cash: For anybody who’s reading this, we have a very special offer. If you’ve made it this far, you’ll be one of the first to hear about it but I’m sure we’re also going to be posting this on their social media. Dan, would you like to tell the folks reading your very generous offer?

 

Dan: We want to offer a free Ethereum main net smart contract and 10 NFTs for someone to do their next drop, free of charge, gas on us. So yeah, definitely stay tuned and we want to give that away to just show our appreciation and thanks for everyone supporting us and definitely will be plenty more fun giveaways and things that we’ll be doing so we just wanted to kick it off and offer that to you guys.

 

Cash: Guys, that is a crazy deal; you are too kind. Everybody that’s a $250 value USD, smart contract plus 10 NFTmints, gas included, That’s insane and you guys know what gas is like right now so that’s a big offer. Dan, thank you so much. I appreciate you all taking the time to read to the end!

So how can you go about winning this? You’ll need to follow us on Twitter, Follow NiftyKit on Twitter, quote-retweet our pinned tweet, tag three friends, and subscribe to our newsletter.  After the response to our Fluf giveaway, we thought that it was time to come back with yet another.  And since gas fees have been so fickle lately, we hope one lucky community member appreciates ten free mints and a free custom smart contract, courtesy of Niftykit.

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