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ARTISTS IN THE CITY 🏙️🎨 #0
Recorded: May 28, 2025 Duration: 1:43:01Space Recording
Short Summary
In an exciting announcement, a new partnership with Artblocks Studio has been formed to launch a long-awaited generative art collection, alongside an open call for the Canal Street Show that encourages community engagement and support for emerging artists. The event will culminate in an open studio exhibition, showcasing the artist's innovative work and exploring the integration of NFTs with physical art.
Full Transcription
Music Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Music Yo everyone, how's it going?
Thank you all for coming out to this space. This is our first artist in the city space coming to you live from Brooklyn here in my studio.
And a big announcement today that I'm stoked to share and get this series started up.
stoked to share and get this series started up.
We're going to have some visits on this space.
I can see you guys in the audience already.
The Schiller squad is here.
We're going to have Did coming through, my collaborator, and a lot of exciting stuff
to share today.
So where do we start?
Maybe an introduction to me would be good because we're going to be having more than just me on this space in the future, but I'll be the hosts.
So this episode, this first Artist in the City, is a little bit about me and how we got here and what we're building.
So, I'm an artist from New York. I grew up just outside of the city, always dreamed of living here, and I in New York. If you haven't seen on the timeline, it's like the capital right now for this movement,
this digital art movement.
It feels like there's a real community building here.
And I'm excited to see many of you next month in NFT NYC.
So why cities?
I felt like for me, it ties back to my story with skateboarding. I
grew up coming down taking the train, skating with my friends, getting into
trouble, pretty much getting kicked out in every spot we'd go to. But that route
that we would take from the main Grand Central Station downtown is like etched
in my memory. And ever since I've been an adult like getting to see different
cities around the world, whether by foot or by skateboard, it's this motion that I've been
trying to capture in my work for years, this feeling of being a kid again, like the first
time you came to the city, how it felt. That is something that will stick with me forever.
So that's what this collection really started as, this idea to draw cities, to be inspired by the city. And then getting into the
pandemic years, it felt like we were taken away from that. We didn't have the experience to
enjoy our cities. We weren't connecting in real life. We were creating this city in the internet,
basically. There's enough people here to have a small city.
Even just on one blockchain, having all the artists,
it feels like a small city that we show up to every day.
So that play of IRL and online was feeding my art this last few years.
And I wanted to make people appreciate what we didn't have for those few years,
looking at the city in a new way,
seeing it through the eyes of a curious young person who maybe hasn't been, hasn't seen all
the inner workings of the systems of how the city comes together. But it's what fuels my art practice.
It's what inspires me to get up in the morning. And when I look out at the skyline, I can't help but feel hope and joy and proud to be a human.
Because, like, look what we made, you know, as a species.
Looking at that skyline, I can't shake it.
But what came from all this inspiration is a visual language, a group of friends, a bunch of recurring events, like the Canal Street show that's coming up in a month.
And now we're bridging into generative art.
That's the announcement for today.
We are partnering with Artblocks Studio and Schiller,
as well as my collaborator Did,
who's gonna be joining us in a bit
to create my first long form collection.
It's kind of crazy saying that.
I think the process has been so long and it's been on and off. It hasn't been three years of full work on it. I mentioned in my announcement that it's been three years
of working on this project, but it's been very on and off. And I think that allowed
a lot of really interesting things to happen.
It allowed me to start creating a community before I even had a big collection.
I saw a lot of people, a lot of artists dropping thousands of NFTs at a time in 2021.
And I kind of resisted the urge to do that because I didn't have my ideas ready.
And it's taken me a few years to feel ready to build a community where we can all be under one
one building um one idea one concept maybe it's my adhd that i jump between all these
different concepts all the time but i'm excited to welcome to the stage regima what's up regima
good man i'm floating right now it's so good to be here with you all What's up, Ragima?
Good, man. I'm floating right now. It's so good to be here with you all.
Yeah, we're stoked. We're really happy to be part of this with you guys to support you on your first long-form generative collection on Artblocks.
And, yeah, really happy to join this space and learn more about this series
as we go towards your collection.
Awesome, man.
There's a few other people requesting.
I will bring up Joanna.
For the next like 15 minutes or so,
we'll have some chats about our partnership
that we just announced with Schiller and Art Blocks.
We'll bring Did up when he comes in.
And then in the second half of the space, we will bring up whoever to talk and ask questions.
Yeah, these spaces are not just about my collection, of course.
It's like really about trying to build on what I've already started here with my studio and the people who have been coming to my events, people who have been just noticing what we're and enjoying like what we're building.
And I want to highlight more artists who are creating.
But with a focus on people who value both the IRL and the online, I don't think that it's healthy to spend all of our time online.
I don't think that it's even healthy spend all of our time online. I don't think that
it's even healthy as an artist to only make digital art. It's helpful to know what you do
when the power goes out. How do you still express yourself when the power and the internet's not
working? So I really love the blend of physical and digital art. And that's a lot of what we're
going to talk about in these spaces. And those are the types of artists I want to interview in the future.
But I'll shoot it over to you guys.
Do you want to get into anything specific, Regima?
Yeah, would love to know sort of the initial spark. I always love sort of the origin stories of things.
And with this city's collection, you said it was three years in the making
um yeah where was that initial spark you've always been inspired by cities and new york city
specifically um but yeah we'd love to know about like the initial spark and how that evolved to
getting in touch with did and kind of deciding to bring this long-form generative?
Yeah, well, I had a revelation recently that my biggest role model is my dad. And my dad
has worked in New York for almost his whole career as a freelancer. So he wasn't employed by someone like a comfy job. He was doing what we're doing. He was finding gigs. He was collaborating
with people and networking to keep going. And eventually he was able to build a life for
himself. And so I've always looked up to him. And he was also the one who brought me to the city,
to the Yankees games, to the off-Broadway shows and all these memories I had even before I
discovered skateboarding.
So that's like where it really starts is with him. And then fast forward like two decades, went to college in Philadelphia pretty much just because of the skateboarding scene.
There was Love Park and City Hall happening at that time before it was illegal to skate there.
And there was just all these videos and culture being built around Philly. I started to see the cities in a different way, like living
in a city for the first time, because I grew up in the suburbs. And then I studied graphic design,
took a screen printing class, took some painting and drawing classes,
and started to understand how I could capture my passions through art and design.
Fast forward again until this initial conversation with Did.
I had just released my first NFT collection in 2021 in October.
in October. It was called Open Minds. And it was when I was starting to open my mind to what a
It was called Open Minds.
world could look like with digital ownership and this new type of internet that we've all been
immersed in the last few years. And I wanted to open other people's minds to new ways of seeing
the world, abstracting things. I didn't really understand abstract art when I was a kid, but as I
grew older, I realized that was like one of the most exciting understand abstract art when I was a kid, but as I grew older, I realized
that was like one of the most exciting things about art for me was to have everybody able to
create their own interpretation of abstract art. So I took these pieces, these open minds,
there were square pieces. A few of them started to look like cities. They had this diagonal grid,
they had spontaneous collisions and moments
happening in them, but it wasn't conscious. It was totally unconscious when I was creating these
that they reflected the city. It wasn't purposeful. And that's a lot of my process is I let it unfold
naturally. A lot of times the meaning or the title of the piece comes afterwards. Not every time,
but that was how it worked for that collection. And so I took three of the
Open Minds pieces, two of them that looked like cities. Again, I didn't really know that at the
time, but I got them screen printed with a local printer here. And then here's where the magic
happens. I asked the printer to do something special. Don't just print the artwork like I
gave it to you, but also create
some test prints where you're combining the layers from one artwork to the other. And let me visit,
and let me pull the ink and create variations on the prints. And what resulted was this one of one
of X collection of screen prints that was like a generative printing process. I didn't know what was going to come out.
I was introducing this element of randomness,
and it reminded me a lot of my experience of the city,
seeing what happens when you turn the corner.
That was when I had the idea to bridge into generative art.
I didn't really understand it too much,
and I didn't have any coding experience,
didn't have too many friends that knew what they were doing either,
but I saw what was happening with Artblocks and a few other platforms,
and I was very inspired. Even people started to ask me if my work was generative,
and I could say, you know, after these screen prints that it kind of was, but it was analog generative, and then I worked with a couple other people on this idea before I connected with DID.
Neither of them could take it to the finish line for one reason or another.
And then DID came to me with this great passion.
He saw my cities and he wanted to collect them.
He wanted to analyze them.
He even made a whole presentation for me that was showing how this could turn into a system.
And we were both getting our minds in the same place at that moment,
and that was where it started.
Super cool, yeah.
Love that story, especially the part about your dad being an inspiration.
I think, yeah, not a lot of people might know um what led you to
kind of the art or the city aspect so it's really cool to hear about that and um how did you come
across did to work and like what made you want to choose art blocks as a as a partner for this. Obviously, we know they're a leader in the generative art space,
and they're loved for that, but there were some other options potentially out there.
What made you want to kind of go with Art Blocks?
Well, I've been to Marfa twice now. I went there last year and the year before,
really because I'm inspired by all those artists, how they're able to think in systems and create
these incredible painting-like works. Some of them look like they're handmade, and they're able to
create a system. It just blew my mind that you could even do that. And so seeing Art Blocks
present the highest level of that medium was what drew me to Art Blocks initially and what drew me to go to Marfa.
The second time I went to Marfa, I was collaborating with White Walls on a preview exhibition for this project.
So last October, we actually showed 12 screens with outputs on them in Marfa.
And there was no drop. There was no nothing really out there just my my other pieces that are inspired by cities
like mostly one of ones and so when they finally agreed to have me an art block
studio it just felt so right because I felt like a part of that family after
going for two years.
Can I add something? Also, hello, I'm sorry if I rug.
I thought it was really interesting how you were saying that sometimes your work just kind of like flows out of you. And I don't know if that was intentional intentional but it really reminded me of the whole process
of generative art in general like sometimes you have wonderful coincidences and wonderful
outputs that come out of people kind of flowing with the code and like flowing with their craft
so I thought that was really interesting. Yeah there were a few projects that spoke to me early on, like seeing automatism really
reminded me of my drawing process of how I approach a blank page.
And just knowing that it was even possible to generate that type of look of spontaneity,
mark making, almost a handmade quality in a generative collection is what really
piqued my interest. I just didn't know it was possible. Now it's come so much further. We have
artists like William Mappan, who makes like a sketchbook colored pencil piece into code. And I
can't wait to see where this medium goes further. And I hope my collection does it justice because
for a long time I was like scared to dip my toe into this world. It feels like it's a lot of pressure
to put out a big collection or to have an idea that's worth generating a whole system around.
And I think I didn't mention in my story, but about a decade ago I was living in Manhattan
and I had to rebuild from nothing. Some of you guys know
this story already, but it made me really like have a different relationship with the city
after losing my apartment and seeing it from like this moment of a blank slate. Like I could create
the life that I wanted to because I didn't have attachment to my previous life after that moment.
wanted to because I didn't have attachment to my previous life after that moment. And
this collection is an homage to New York, but also all the cities that have affected
And do you reckon like the street art in New York, like the street art scene influenced
the way you created your work? Because I think it's so interesting because having lived there also
I kind of see a lot of street art but then there's a very unique mark to your work
that is almost like a geographical so like it's not really attached to one place
so I wanted to know like how did that come about? Yeah, I had a moment in about 2015 where I was like, okay, murals is the thing.
Murals are what's going to make the most impact in the world with my art.
Like, if I can touch, if I want to touch the most people with my art, doing street art makes sense.
At the time, it was going crazy.
Graphic designers didn't really do murals before that. It was a separate thing.
I was part of that wave in New York where we all studied design, and then we're like,
okay, let's start painting, and let's find some walls. I was using Photoshop to mock up my artwork
on different walls that I was finding, and then just going straight into the business and asking
them, hey, I saw you have some graffiti on the wall. Like, can I help you make that look better?
And sometimes it would actually work. And I think that really informed my style,
just like seeing all the street art around Manhattan and Brooklyn. The tools for sure,
like the tools of the street artists are spray paint, paint markers, and whatever else they can get their hands on, rollers, masks.
And the paint marker became my go-to tool. It was like this crink, this little bottle paint
marker with a fat tip. And I got obsessed with the quality of the ink and also the quality of
the marks that they can make. And so I was like in my studio, even though those markers are usually
used for graffiti, I was using them in my studio to make fine art and going from there. But yeah,
it was definitely inspired by that scene. And it still is. I'm in Bushwick, so I'm in the heart of
it. It's like murals. That's why I moved here was to get as much exposure to that scene as I could.
to get as much exposure to that scene as I could.
Oh my gosh, the murals in Bushwick.
I really hope you get one out there.
There's another one, if you've already had one.
I remember that was a really interesting one.
I can't remember exactly.
It was close to the nook,
but it was extremely figurative
and a little bit explicit because you know Bushwick.
And I think it's really interesting
because your art has like this sense of innocence
and wonder that it's not common in street art anymore.
And you bringing kind of that energy to murals
feels really refreshing.
Yeah, the dream would be to do a mural festival one day here.
That's like what I want to do to get a whole block.
A little bit logistically challenging.
But I want to figure out how we dovetail this project eventually into that.
Something where I can involve a lot of artists making murals together.
I think it's really magic.
Every mural festival I've been a part of has inspired me so much because I can see all the little tricks that the other artists are doing.
But I love what you said, Joanna, about the childlike wonder in the work.
I don't know what really drew me to that initially because my work used to be a lot more serious.
After I went to school for design, I got really into typography and lettering. And I was lettering some phrases that were
playful, but the way that I was doing them was very much about being super refined,
getting the letter forms to be super balanced and the negative spaces. The lettering was supposed
to help communicate what I was writing, like the style of the lettering.
But after a while, I got tired of coming up with things I wanted to say with the lettering.
I didn't want to write phrases.
I wanted it to be a little less obvious what I was trying to say.
And I think that moment of like when you see a piece of art and then you understand it, like that little leap that happens in your mind is magic.
Before you understand it,
but you're like trying to understand it.
I think that's one of the coolest things about art.
It sounds like you broke free from the kinds of art school,
which are often many.
So that's really good.
You said I broke out from the confines of art school?
Yeah, like I went to architecture school, so I also grew up.
Is she rugging?
I can't hear her.
I think, yeah.
Joanna rugged her.
I think she was just talking about her experience in architecture school
and obviously the confines of something like that and design.
And yeah, obviously I can't speak for it.
But yeah, was that something that you experienced?
Did you have a background in studying that or was it more experiential for you when it came to your art practice?
Did I have experience in what? Sorry, street art?
Yeah, like, did you do any, like, traditional study or practice?
Was it more experiential for you?
Did you have to kind of break out of any confines that were placed upon you?
Or did you kind of go into it
more with your own style? Sure. Yeah. Well, I always wanted to have my own signature style,
especially like coming from skating. It's all about style. You can do a kickflip, but if you
make it look really good, like that's much more fun to watch than, than doing like a much more
technical trick in a sloppy style. So signature style
was always something on my radar since those early teenage days. But I didn't know how to get there,
and I didn't know if that was even the right goal. And in the end, it wasn't. That wasn't
the end-all be-all goal. I thought that having a signature style would mean you have client work
coming to you all the time, and you don't have to worry about anything.
But it's not like that.
So it helps to be able to recognize someone's work.
I think I always drew and painted as a kid. In college, I got really more into the typography and different types of things like screen printing, letterpress printing, woodblock printing.
I really love printing and creating these repetitions with variations.
But then when I graduated and even studying graphic design, I wasn't sure if that was right for me. My father actually pushed me towards that, away from fine art, because it felt like if
you study fine art, you're not going to get all those business skills.
You're not going to understand how the art can be applied in the world.
You're not going to be able to provide value to companies.
So learning that, even begrudgingly in the beginning, did help steer my art style and for better or for worse like
it fits into the world as design it fits into the world as fine art and I don't really care to
draw the boundaries between the two anymore it's just like I'm both and I think the
the slow development of that of that color palette and that mark-making style just happened over the
last like six years, five, six years. I had one job that really changed the game for me.
You guys know the co-working spaces, WeWork? Of course, everyone knows, especially after they
had the whole documentary. That was my job from 2017 through 2020.
I worked on their art and graphics team
doing the interior art in the different WeWorks.
And that was part of how I got to see a lot of different cities.
Like, they were opening around the world.
And every time they did an opening in my region,
I got to go and help install the artwork,
even collaborate with local artists sometimes.
So that was also, like, really informative to my style, especially like the time in Latin
America, learning Spanish, understanding some of the art history down there.
Yeah, it's all blended together.
Yeah, super cool.
And just bringing it back a little bit to what's happening in June around NFT NYC.
I think you mentioned your event, but I'd love to know about how artists could get involved.
And I know, you know, part of this initiative with Spaces is to not only provide a space for people to talk,
but yeah, maybe they can be made aware
of like the open call you're doing for Canal Street.
Yes, good call.
I'm going to pin it up to the space in a second here.
We've been doing this show every NFT NYC
called Canal Street Show.
It happens at Loom Studios,
the best hub for digital art in the city.
They have a beautiful projector space on the first floor,
which we did a show in last year.
This year, we're back on the second floor.
It's like a loft building that we typically have our shows in.
There's 12 screens.
There's plenty of space.
We have a bunch of great curators involved this year
who are going to be helping us select from this open call.
Can't seem to find it here.
Here we go. We don't want to show just any art here. We have a theme for the show. The theme
is the obstacles in our path. Last year, our theme was pathways. This year, it's the obstacles in our
path. We feel like we're asking ourselves questions that we never thought we had to ask before in this year.
So we're looking for pieces that reflect those challenges and difficulties and breakthroughs that we're all going through,
whether it's like your personal things, mental health, literal, physical obstacles, collective obstacles as a species or as a society, civilization.
They all have to be vertical because all of our screens are going to be tilted to be 9-16 ratio.
And it can be any medium. We're even looking for physical work. If we feel like it fits the theme
or if it's like logistically possible, we will show physical work and help you get it back after the show if it doesn't get sold.
That's the magic of this show.
I'm bringing my community from before I got into NFTs and combining it with my new community that's like mostly on X.
And I'm blending those scenes of the, I mean, the gallery world in New
York wasn't very kind to me. Like I didn't, I wasn't able to grow in that world, but I did
grow in the street art world. And, um, I want to combine that community with, with what we're
building here. So the Canal Street show is like our physical digital group show that we do. And
I hope that you guys will put your work on that post. You have until
Sunday. And we'll find out a few days later who was selected. This is going to be eight to 12
pieces per screen. So a lot of pieces. Pretty good chance of you to get in if you put a piece that
relates to the theme. And yeah, any other questions about that?
And yeah, any other questions about that?
Yeah, maybe at this point in the space,
we can see who else wants to come up and chat with you
about how to submit, about the show itself,
or any other kind of topics we want to discuss.
That's cool. I do want to shout out to
the co-founder of the show, Will Eternal Pepe. He's been a collector of my work and a good friend
for the last few years. He has such a big heart. He's really the one who spearheads the fundraising
for the show and the logistics for the show. Wouldn't be possible without him. And also our
curators. Our curators either helped us in years past or they're coming in for the first time and
helping us put on the show, like putting their money up for the other artists in the community.
And it's fun to grow as an artist in this space, but it's a lot more fun when we can all grow
together. So getting these people involved, I just want to shout out. We have Hilda,
So getting these people involved, I just want to shout out.
We have Hilda, Madam Selke, Postwook, Mendez, Mendez, Photon is dead.
We love Pho.
We have a new one as well.
I think it's pronounced Rusk, Ruskunks.
We have also DeSaltor, who is the top holder of our Canal Street Editions.
He won a free curation screen.
And we have Send Rock.
We're also going to be doing a curation contest coming up soon where you could win a free trip to New York City just for proposing your idea of how it fits into our theme and what you want to show.
So look out for those spaces.
It's from the Canal Street Show account, so follow along there, and we'll be posting about that contest soon.
One more announcement, really quick. The day after the show, the 28th of June, we usually do an open studio in Brooklyn.
This one's going to be special because we just opened up a gallery that's attached to the studio.
So there's an open studio and a gallery and the
gallery is going to be full of city's pieces this year so my first like solo show for the project
um don't miss that if you're in the city like if you're booking flights stay until sunday if you can
oh yeah i know uh you just had a an opening this week, actually. Maybe you'd want to share some of that on the pinned tweets as well. It looked really cool.
Yeah.
Good idea, because it's open only until this Sunday. So if you are already in New York or you just want to support from afar, would love for you to check this out. My partner, Jesse Mordine, who is a weaver, a textile artist,
an educator, just opened her first solo show. We made this gallery together and we decided to put
her work up first, ladies first, of course. Her work's amazing. She made a daily artwork for a
whole year. So each piece in this room that I'm standing is tied to a date. So you can actually find your birthday
or your anniversary.
What's that, Jessie?
She's here with me.
So I'm gonna pin that up so you can check that out.
Really impressive collection, 100% physical.
So it's gonna be interesting to transition
to digital and physical work next month after this. Here we go, found it.
Yeah, if you're in New York, we're open from 12 to 5 p.m. this week for appointments to visit this
this exhibition. There's a few other people requesting to come up. Do you think now's a good
time to bring them up?
Yeah, let's run it.
All right. Welcome to the stage, Chaz and Ibrahim. What's up, guys?
What's up? I just had a really quick question about the 9x16 things for the open call.
If we have pieces that are already minted or on the blockchain and they're not 9x16s or say they're 2x3, would that still work?
Or do I have to make one a special version one of the same art as 9x16?
Great question.
I think the best solution for that, since it's already a tall vertical piece, would just be to crop it if it still looks good or just provide us with a new file that we'll show.
It's fine.
If the minted artwork is a different ratio, just for the show,
we want it to fill the screen.
Okay.
Yeah.
Perfect.
Yeah.
Bringing up a couple more people.
If anyone wants to request.
Yeah,
I can,
I can do that.
I can,
I can,
I know how to resize things.
Like I can do that in CapCut. Like if I, this is our video files, the ones that I'm thinking of. Yeah, I can do that. I know how to resize things. I can do that in CapCut.
These are video files, the ones that I'm thinking of.
And that was the other
question. Do video files cool,
or do you just want still art?
Video is great.
Animation works totally fine.
That's really engaging
for people who don't normally
see digital art, for them to see moving art.
So highly recommend if you have motion pieces that fit the theme, definitely submit them.
I almost forgot our main event for that night on the 27th is going to be a live art battle.
We tested this out in my studio last month.
It's an Ink Wars style two-on-two battle where we have two big canvases on the wall
the groups of two artists get an hour to create a piece based on the theme just using black and
white it's really fun last time me and ali mo went up against ovec and nishant ego dead i see i see
ovec in the audience shout out to ovevec. I'm going to get you next time.
And Alimo, what's up, guys? Yeah, we're going to be having two new artists take on Ovec and Ego
Dead for the show, for the title of the live art contest. They haven't been announced yet,
but that's the main event for that night. I'm also going to invite up a couple people from
the show. I see Will going to invite up a couple people from the show.
I see Will's in the audience as well.
Is anybody talking?
I can't hear anything.
Oh, man.
What's up, Swati? Welcome to the stage.
Hey Eric. Thank you for having me up. First of all, I want to congratulate Jessie because you
said she's around. I mean, those pieces are just extraordinarily beautiful. And she also sent the one for my birthday.
It has two beautiful shells on it.
I really wish I could afford it right now.
But this is going to be on my list to collect.
And I also wanted to find out if she would ever mint NFTs on these.
I know these are physical prints.
So, you know, for people to have NFTs of the physical prints would, not physical prints,
I mean, the physical work would be so awesome.
And also, congratulations to you on your collab.
I wish you the very best, both of you the very best.
And also, thank you for the Canal Street
show. I have a quick question. Because I, Chaz asked the first question that, you know, if it
gets selected, can we then crop it and set, you know, make it 16 by 9 by 16. so you already answered that my other question is is it like is it okay to submit
unminted work yeah it's totally cool to submit unminted work we're going based on quality and
fit with the theme okay so if it's unminted and you're open to minting it for the show, that would be really exciting.
Yeah, it's unminted.
I submitted two of my photography work that's not minted,
but I just submitted it because there's not much time. I thought that, you know, I will,
because Will also usually has a space on Thursdays.
So I thought I'll just ask this question,
if it's okay to submit unminted work.
Yeah, totally.
And to answer your other question about Jessie's work,
we have talked so many times about her doing a drop with NFTs,
but her practice is 100% physical.
She does do some sketching on the iPad,
but she doesn't consider that her finished work.
So really the medium is the message for these pieces.
The one idea that we did come up with recently was like a time evolving edition that shows the weaving of the
day. 365 pieces makes a lot of sense to do dynamic art. So if that comes to light, I will certainly
be amplifying it. She's just really focused on getting the physicals into their homes first.
It was an interesting few years of understanding like which collectors really value the art because if they value the art, they're probably going to want
the physical. And I think if you lead physical first, then you're filtering out a lot of people
that don't take it seriously. So I think for her first huge collection, doing it this way is really
smart. And she's totally open to talking one-on-one with collectors. I think the more interest she gets from our little digital world,
the more likely she'll be willing to dip her toe in.
And, you know, like she said that she grew up in India. So, you know, the fabric that she was using,
I'm kind of used to it because, you know, a lot of my friends and all are in that business where
they, you know, they make clothes, they
make saris and stuff like that. So I've had the opportunity to actually go and see how it's made
in the, you know, in the handloom stuff. So I was like so excited when I saw her, you know,
like weaving it. It's very beautiful. I am saving up. Hopefully I can get one of her stuff. It's very beautiful.
And I feel very honored that, you know, she's doing that.
Me too.
Me too.
I feel very honored to know her.
She's a very special person.
And her story is inspiring to me.
And it has been for a long time.
We both work a lot with structure and with, like, this idea of making and breaking the grid.
We only realized how much we had in common with that recently when we decided to name
our gallery Dot and Grid.
But that's also a more conceptual tie to this idea that we're all dots on the map.
Like when we pull up Google Maps, we're looking at a blue dot that represents us.
But we don't realize how many other dots are
on the map. There's millions of dots on the map, billions of dots on the earth,
but we can only really build together and make progress if we come together and form structure,
and that's where the grid comes in. So Dot and Grid feels like the perfect name for our little
community, and it's the name of our gallery, but it's also probably going to turn into more of a global thing
as we get through our first few shows.
All the very best, and thank you for letting me speak.
I took so much time, but thank you very much.
Yeah.
Wish you the very best.
Thanks for the enthusiasm. I appreciate it and the questions.
Thanks for the enthusiasm.
I appreciate it and the questions.
Where did Joanna go? Did she get booted off? She got rugged.
Yeah, I think Joanna got rugged, but we're also joined by Ibrahim Elmi.
How's it going today?
Hey, hello guys, Eric and all the friends here uh first yes i really appreciate
the hosting the canal street show and uh the next your story was really uh inspiring and uh
interesting for me so i i really like to know uh what is your goal for the future
I'd really like to know what is your goal for the future and with your art, for example,
where you see yourself in the next 10 years.
That's a big question, man.
Thank you so much for asking.
I like to say that I collaborate with reality.
So people who I meet randomly sometimes end up informing my
path. And that's what happened with DID for sure. So I don't know what's going to happen after we
release this generative art collection. I might be more inspired to go further down that path
of learning to code in JavaScript like myself and build on more ideas. I definitely see myself doing more murals around the world
and creating this cities in cities effect
where you see this visual style popping up all over the place.
And I mentioned a mural festival.
That's one of my big goals I'd love to do in the future.
I'd also love to build a skate park.
That's like a legacy project for me that I want to also love to build a skate park. That's like a legacy
project for me that I want to leave behind. Build a skate park, paint it, design it, sculpt it,
and then that way it's a part of my message. I want people to come offline and enjoy what's right
in front of them that they might be ignoring and not just play the video game version of it.
So I'm not sure about exactly where I'll be in 10 years,
but probably still doing a lot of the same stuff I love to do today. Hopefully I can still skate
and paint murals and travel and hang out with all you guys around the world. Hoping to organize
more of my own events, but just go bigger and not so much focus on commercial work. I think I
use commercial work and client work to build
here and to serve a lot of really amazing companies and brands but over time i've
i've realized that like if i want to build a world of my own i have to do that not wait for
the brief to come in so building my own world doing more exhibitions and not waiting for a brand to hire me. Yep, sounds really great, and good luck with the journey.
I appreciate you, man. Thank you.
And I'll see you in Will's spaces.
I think Will's a little busy at work today, so he's not coming up.
And did is in a meeting, but should be over soon.
What's up, Joanna? Welcome back.
Sorry for rugging. It's so funny because I was telling the
rest of the Shiller team, I was making fun of like, someone rugging once upon a time way back
when and then I rugged catastrophically. So that's karma. But I wanted to kind of like reminisce a
little bit on last year's canal show because canal street show because
it was so fun it was so packed i only got to talk to you for like two seconds uh but just to kind of
give everyone an idea of how packed it was like this ispacked with so many familiar faces and so many artists and
the vibe was phenomenal so I'm very excited to see what happens this year and you know it's
good to see you grow even from a personal level like I've known you for a while now.
I bump into you at the randomest places.
Like, guys, the last time I saw F.D. was in Florence.
So it's kind of funny, like we just bump into each other.
And now it's an honor to kind of work alongside you and see what you've got going on.
And I think everyone should be quite excited. But yeah,
I just kind of wanted to say this. And I wanted to ask a question, actually,
how many days of recovery did you need after the Canal show? Because I bet that was exhausting to
put on. Well, I told you we go straight into a second event the next day. It's like nonstop that week. It goes from Canal Street Show to the Open Studio event the next day. After that, I'm out for at least like five days, just resting, recovering, which is a little scary going into this because we're not only doing those two events, but we're also doing this drop where you might do something like a dinner if we have time in New York outside of the two big
events. So there's a lot to plan but I have a great team and people around me. I wanted to also
shout out, I see Selkie in the audience. We have a really exciting thing coming up in July for the Rio art residency round two.
You mentioned we were in Florence.
Last time you saw me, I was showing these new cities that I created based on Italian cities. Those are more one of one hand drawn based on literal maps and monuments and meeting points.
My plan is to continue making those as I travel.
So when I go back to Rio for
the art residency and oh my god the lineup for the art residency is looking so good. I can't
wait to share it soon with you all. I'll be creating more cities as I travel and hopefully
more murals as well. Shout out Selkie. If you're available come on up to the stage.
Selkie, if you're available, come on up to the stage.
Oh my god, actually, yes, please, Selkie, come on stage,
because I haven't spoken to her yet.
And I know she is somehow related to Brazil.
I don't know exactly how.
But I've been dying to muse her,
because, you know, I've got that little common thread of the UK and the Portuguese language.
So very exciting.
Oh, no, I thought that was, I thought that was for a second.
My bad.
Yeah, Selkie was born in Rio.
Oh, she just requested.
So I'll let her speak for herself.
Here we go.
And I think we have a Selkie.
Welcome, Selkie. Hi, thank you, guys. here we go and i think we have a selkie welcome selkie
hi thank you guys um thank you very much um well first of all let me just tell you uh you
indeed congratulations um and you know art blocks for enabling you guys and you know it's just it's
it's excellent uh you know i've been i've been
watching you you know build this behind the scenes and i'm super excited to see it finally launch um
and um hi joanna i um i i can't wait to see you in lisbon um so just to explain, because I think a lot of people who know me know this, but a lot of
people who kind of see me in the space sort of don't necessarily know this. So I was born in
Brazil, born and raised, and I moved to the UK when I was 24. And I've been here for about 18 years I'm I'm old so um so yeah so that's the uh
that's the whole connection I'm from Rio um and uh yeah and I I love that we have kind of similar
kind of stories um I think yours might be a bit the other way around I think you lived in the UK
uh from from an early age but yeah, and I love your accent, by the way.
And so, yeah, but yes, yes, thanks.
So, Eric, do you want me to talk a little bit about the residency?
I just very quickly, because this is obviously about you guys.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, we got through most of what we wanted to get through in the first half, and we have about 10, 15 minutes left.
So give us a little rundown.
Amazing.
Well, like you said, I mean, I'm excited to sort of share
the lineup of artists, but we can't share it just yet.
So a little bit of suspense.
We are, fingers crossed going to be uh announcing it
next week so um and we're super excited for it we'll have um 15 artists at the residency this
year and obviously 16 with eric because he's the lead artist from you know attending the residency
and what we're trying to do is very much the same we did last year we're trying to
kind of mingle established artists get established artists and emerging artists to kind of mingle
and you know kind of get learn from each other exchange sort of knowledge um and there will be obviously a little
bit of mentorship from the more established artists um and um and also we're going to give
opportunity for um opportunity to artists from uh sort of challenging challenging backgrounds in
brazil uh but who are are already doing extremely well.
But, you know, we want to kind of present them to the world a little bit.
So, yeah, we were excited.
The whole idea behind a residency is really to elevate digital artists
and to elevate digital art because we also get,
last year we got excellent coverage in the main newspaper in
in brazil and i intend to fully intend to do it again this year and we painted a beautiful i mean
fdot um eric you led the uh mural painting on the beach we left the mural there as a gift to Rio. We, you know, interacted with the community to be able to do that.
So it's really kind of growing locally, but also with this mindset of expansion,
of bringing Rio out to the world and also bringing digital art into Rio
and kind of making this sort of kind of melting pot of you know the what Rio is
and the creativity the every the history everything about it the culture and and the beauty the sort
of beautifully um kind of limitless nature of digital art and an artist. And yeah, so that's, I'm going to apologize if I'm not very articulate.
I've been moving houses for the last few days and my brain is completely fried.
So I hope that all made sense.
Yeah, that was great, Selke.
And I also wanted to just say, like, it's a beautiful initiative that you started in your father's honor.
He would be so, so proud, especially because it's nonprofit. Like, you're not taking anything from the artists.
You're just giving, giving, giving, trying to make a cool experience for them.
And I think the approach of being quite curated with it, bringing in some very established artists to help some of the
emerging artists and bring that mixture is what makes it so powerful for them. I think a lot of
opportunities in this space are distractions disguised as opportunities, but this is definitely
a big opportunity for these artists that you're giving them. And I'm very grateful that we met
and that I'm a part of it. You just kind of decided I was a co-founder after the first year, lead artist, and I couldn't be more grateful to be that role.
Yeah, thank you.
Can't wait for next week to announce that.
And there's a video coming, too, for Rio Art Residency that the voiceover was my best impression of the Sel selkie old-timey sort of British accent
It's amazing guys, I can't wait to show it to all of you. It's just so good
Eric, if nothing else works for you, I mean it will because you're obviously going places
for you, I mean it will because you're obviously going places, even more places
with what you do, but anyway you will have the voiceover career to fall
back to. Well thank you, thank you so much Selkie. And thank you, thank you for
giving me this opportunity to talk about the residency. Yes, just very, very quickly, you're right. I'm I am.
So this is how fried my brain is,
because this is I started the residency last year,
and obviously you helped me get it off the ground,
which is why you're the co-founder.
And but it was really in.
So my father passed away in 2023.
Very suddenly he was only 68 he was a big shock
and um he was a he was a very creative person um he he painted he um composed and played music
and he loved music he loved art and um and so uh and you know know, when he passed, he, you know, as happens, he left me with a little bit of money.
And I didn't really want to just go about treating it as normal money.
I just wanted to do something special with it.
So I invested in the residency.
I had the idea for the residency.
I thought this would be a really good thing
to bring the eyes of the world into Rio with artists,
with supporting artists, with elevating art,
and showing my roots and you know
everything that was a part of my father's universe and it's kind of mixing all that and yeah absolutely
um it was uh it is very much in his memory that you know i uh we've we i decided to do it and we're very grateful to you, Eric, for helping me to make this
real.
And to all the patrons who supported us last year, Blondie, OG, WCC, Transient Labs, and
how I'm going to forget Will, Eternal Pepe, who also does the Canal Street Show, Eric just mentioned,
and Sandrock and Giancarlo as well, Giancarlo Sanchez. We are obviously always on the hunt for
new patrons and partners as well to enable us to do it.
If I could, I would pay for the whole of it,
but unfortunately I'm not in that kind of position yet.
I haven't made my Bitcoin millions.
So yes, so I just wanted to say, Eric,
thank you so much for letting me speak.
And if anyone has any questions
or wants to ask anything about the residency,
I have to drop off because I have a meeting, unfortunately, in two minutes.
But I just wanted to say, please, my DMs are open.
Just come and ask me anything.
If I don't follow you, just send me a sort of at me on your timeline
and I'll follow you back. And my DMs are open.
And really, Eric, congratulations on all the successes.
You, Jessie, you're my friend and we talk every day.
And I can see all the effort and all the hard work that you put into everything that you
And it just kind of matches your talent
because you're extremely talented
and you do all the hard work that you need
for everyone to see how talented you are.
So huge, huge congratulations.
And, you know, yeah, I just, it's gonna be a success.
So yeah, and thank you.
And I'll, yeah, thanks for having me.
Wow, thank you so much, Selkie. That was amazing. I don't know what to say. Like,
the journey has been wonderful, getting to grow in this space alongside you and to build the
residency. I feel like we're still in the first chapter, first couple chapters of this story, but so much has happened as well.
So I'm really grateful for that growth with you.
Looks like Did is just finishing up his meeting.
Maybe we'll interview him on the next space and get to know my collaborator a little bit better.
But if you have any questions and you can't come up on stage,
leave them in the comments below the spaces or just share the space out. Get some more people
in here. We'll keep it going for a little bit longer. I also see Jordan who's in the audience
from Art Blocks if he would like to come up if he's available. And any other homies,
you're welcome to request up would love to hear your voices
if not i'm just going to be here talking about how awesome this this show that i'm looking at
right now these weavings it's been really interesting actually getting to to see how
people respond to the the show it's physical only as i mentioned for jesse for her weavings
but we're in this digital art space and you know the ones that come out and resonate with it they're The show is physical only, as I mentioned, for Jessie, for her weavings.
But we're in this digital art space, and the ones that come out and resonate with it,
they're not really focused on whether it's physical or digital.
They're just enjoying the essence of the art.
Oh, hey, we got Emlo and Kay requesting up.
Here we go.
What's going on, guys?
Welcome.
Hey, Emlo.
Hey, huge congrats on the Artblo blocks announcement and also on the Rio residency both huge accomplishments and very excited to see
what you've been cooking up the past three years with did I know how hard
you've been working on that project so I'm very excited to collect that and
just see the whole collection out and I I'm very excited also that you've
been toying with the idea of Generative for a while,
but I think this is your first foray into Generative, right?
Yeah.
I mean, if you don't count the analog screen printing
Generative stuff, then this is my first code-based collaboration
and also my first on-chain artwork on ETH.
I did do one ordinals piece last year, so that was my first on-chain,
but this is my first on-chain ETH, and I'm so excited because I feel like it's the best way to release art.
If you can get it to last forever on-chain, that's the most longevity possible.
the most longevity possible.
And I think that you have to put everything you can
into these tokens if you're going to make them last forever.
I feel like it's been such a long journey.
Thank you, Emlo, for following along with it
and for coming to my events.
And it's been lovely to see you around the city,
at the galleries and different shows.
I love the community that you're building too. It's been awesome to be in there. Thank you so, at the galleries and different shows. I love the community that you're building
too. It's been awesome to be in there. Thank you so, so much. And we love having you in our
community. I think you're one of the first members of our community. And it's been awesome getting
to know you over the past few years and seeing your art flourish and develop. And I think like
you've also created your own language with like your own visual language, which I think is really cool,
which I've heard you speak about before,
but I'd love to learn a little bit more about how your visual language
translated to the generative code aspect.
Sure, yeah. Good question.
I think Did can answer better if he ever gets here.
He can answer how he saw it from the beginning,
but I'll do my best to sum it up.
So I think what works well about this style for generative
is that all the lines are a monowidth.
They're all one thickness.
So really what you're doing is you're just drawing one line.
You're not really drawing the whole shape.
And that's actually how JavaScript works natively.
When you're drawing lines, there's functions for that and then texturing the lines
so it made sense to try and capture some of the gestures in in code just with line work
the texturing was difficult to get it to look like and match my my physical art and my the
origins of the style but eventually based on those crink markers that I mentioned,
we came up with a shader that works well for mimicking the texture.
And then hidden throughout the cities, besides the blocks, the buildings, the traffic, the rivers,
there's also these hidden symbols and these glyphs,
which I'll be talking about more and more as time goes on.
But that was the last piece that's still being implemented into the code.
We're trying to bring in more little moments of joy and spontaneity from the city, things that make me happy or at least just make me feel human and make me feel present.
Distilled down to just a few few lines making that into a symbol and
then placing them around the grid um i can't say like how how he did it but he he made it work like
it's it's actually being drawn at a different angle than what you're seeing it in the output
it's kind of crazy like it's being drawn at a 90 degree angle and then it's being
um run through something to skew it to create that isometric effect.
And my other question is, how do you guys make it feel so, like, I guess, non-machine-made?
Like, I think there's definitely a human touch to it that I think is really interesting
that I haven't seen in that many generative collections.
I think partially because of how it uses your
style. But I also think that the way that you did collaborate, it was very cool. I'd love to
learn a little bit more about that. We've been meeting a lot, like looking at these
folders of 1000 outputs, and just finding the things that look off, finding the things that look great,
and then refining the algorithm for another set. And that's why it's taken over two years,
partially because did move across the country and had a kid, but also partially is because
I really didn't want to sacrifice that. I wanted it to feel like my hand-drawn work on the surface.
And that was the challenge. I didn't really want to do generative art that looked machine-made.
I don't resonate that much with pixel art, even though I've grown to love certain artists and how they approach pixel art.
And obviously there's CryptoPunks, which we all love and see as like kind of a groundbreaking artwork. So in the beginning,
I didn't understand this digital aesthetic. I didn't really resonate with it as much.
And that's where the project started. I wanted to do something that was more like,
instead of pixels, there's dots. Instead of hard edges, there's soft corners and rounded,
hand-drawn curves that just feel like you're you're like wrapping your arms
around something when you're when you're viewing it or be or receiving a hug from somebody
but some of the outputs do look a little more cold and harsh and they don't have any glyphs
and it's the middle of the night in the city just a little bit of light reflecting off the water
I wanted to capture all the different moods of the city
and bring in that street art effect.
But I think Did will be able to answer better
of how he actually went through it
and what were some of the biggest challenges.
I love that.
Yeah, no, I was asking more not from a technical standpoint,
but more from a, like, I guess visual standpoint,
which you answered really nicely.
So I appreciate that.
Yeah, of course.
How's the process with Artblocks been?
So far, so good.
I mean, we connected in Marfa.
They didn't even really know I was doing the preview,
but I wanted to kind of get the project on their radar,
bumped into Snowfro and Jordan while I was in
Marfa and just pitched it to them. Like their company was going through a lot of transitions.
The space in general was going through a lot of transitions last year and the year before.
So it took some time to feel like it was the right moment. But then we agreed, like,
let's make this happen. It makes sense to do it around NFT NYC. They've been awesome. Just like
helping in the back end.
We had to reformat the code a little bit once we got into the art block system.
And yeah, we're just back and forth every day now.
Showing them different outputs as we're making the final touches.
I saw Kay come up here as well.
Did you have something you wanted to say?
How's it going, Kay?
Hi. hello.
I'm good.
He has asked basically all my questions.
I was curious about the process
and it was really fascinating the way he explained it.
I think it's pretty cool.
I've been going through it during the space
and just seeing how it all relates.
They're all really quite unique.
Yeah, it's really a curious process
because this looks like actual scribbles,
like doesn't feel machine-generated, like he said.
It's really fascinating.
Yeah, that's just what I came to
comment on. It's really good work, man. I think it's also about the color placement,
because when I work with these paint markers, the way I do it is I lay down one color at a time,
very much like the screen printing process that I started with, how you're printing one layer at a time, very much like the screen printing process that I started with, how you're printing one layer at a time. So I'm picking up this color and then that color, and then I usually start with
the grid. And that's how we started with the code, was like starting with just the straight lines
that don't need too much of a hand-done touch, and then slowly getting more and more complex
towards like the glyphs and building it up like you're building a real city.
And I always like to say like the, when you're building a city,
the architect can only go so far. At some point you need to call in the engineers,
the builders, the construction crew, and that's, that's did. And that's Artblocks and Schiller, like this team who's going to help me build this bigger than I possibly could. And I'm so,
team who's going to help me build this bigger than I possibly could. And I'm so, so grateful
because I was very tempted to rush ideas early on when things were going crazy in 2021, but I'm glad
I slowly refined this idea and didn't rush it. So shout out to the team. Thank you.
And thanks for the question, Kay. That is awesome. You said you were going to develop this. I'm seeing
from what I see, these are like shots, like you said, different shots of different times in the
city, different places at different times. Is there going to be like a mega piece of like a sky view of like a huge expanse. You mean like the biggest, most complex city?
Yup.
Well, there's at this, at this point,
there's four different zooming levels.
There's like a more zoomed in where you just see like a few blocks.
If you scroll through some of the outputs that I just put up on top there,
you can see how it goes from being more zoomed in to being like in the middle to being really zoomed out.
The piece that I posted this morning where I said, I love this city, that was the most zoomed out that the collection gets.
Believe me, I was pushing to see how far can we get out, like zoom out further, like fly the helicopter higher.
And just the time that it takes to render
these pieces is crazy.
It's pretty intensive to make
a computer build this with
all the textures involved as well.
So we kept it here.
This is like the most zoomed out it gets.
But there's four different levels.
There's also borders on some of the pieces,
and then some of them bleed off the edge,
which creates a different effect.
It kind of implies that the city is ever expansive. And that's really why I loved
this idea for regenerative art so much is it feels like the city is infinite. It's always
evolving. It's like a photographer going out just capturing these instances of what they
see in the city. And the algorithm is that world and the outputs are the photographs
this is really wonderful this is really it's really wonderful i'm really i'm really glad i
get to witness this thanks for sharing yeah of course There's so many little stories in the collection too that I can't
wait to share in the future. I have to say a big welcome to one of my favorite people in this space,
Pinstripe Gator. Welcome to the stage. What's up, my man? How we doing? We're great, man. It's good
to see you. How you doing? I'm doing well, thank you. I just wanted to pop up and say hello, and congratulations on the morgues board of phenomenal news
that I've been seeing lately with you, and Jesse, for that matter.
So lots of awesome things going on, and I love to see it.
It's always good to see the good guys win, you know?
Thank you so much, man.
Yeah, we had a quiet winter, I would say.
We didn't put out too much in the colder months,
and the spring and summer are looking to be really exciting.
So glad you're seeing it. I never know with the algorithm these days.
Well, I don't miss anything from you, sir.
If I miss it, it's just because I'm not around long enough,
and I don't scroll too much.
Little Gator is actually right behind me,
and thinks it's funny that I'm talking to you.
He's talking to FDOT. So say what's up jake sorry that sounded like it was you just making a voice
man no no i was repeating i was repeating him that was his that's his pre-teen voice so you know
when he gets excited now it's just hard so got it that's what he says yeah yeah um i guess the
one selfish question i have for you is uh i'm assuming that there's a orange and blue city that is reserved for me.
Correct.
Oh, man.
The blue and orange goes deep.
We have a palette that has blue and orange in it, but all the minting will be random art block style.
So I don't know what palette will go to who um that's all right
but i'll hunt somebody down you know it yeah i tried to make a lot of palettes that feel like
new york and and then also some of the more tropical cities and and european cities i've
been to um but the blocks in this collection you'll see that's another variable that i didn't
talk about is like sometimes the blocks are square like, what's a city that has more square blocks? Like, I guess
Brooklyn has more square blocks, Philadelphia, Lisbon, Florence, like there's just like these
regular squares. But in New York, especially uptown, you get these super long blocks where
it's like, you can walk for five minutes and you're still not up the next street.
Yeah, and that's the truth. Yeah, or it feels like Central Park, like each minutes and you're still not up the next street um yeah
and that's the truth yeah or it feels like central park like each block is like the shape of central
park so um i'm glad that uh that you're excited and and that hopefully we can get you that blue
and orange palette i can't man well speaking of blue and orange the nick's gonna uh pretend to
show up here one of these games and extend the series a little let's see man let's see did you
see the the nicks collab i posted the other day again you clearly didn't see my reply saying that there's a
there's it seems like there's a appropriate home for that so i didn't get it is that you are you
are you the appropriate home of course it is okay i got it come on come on come on thanks man i
appreciate it yeah i hope to get to collab with more teams and more like legit sports. It seems like they like the sports world loves more realistic art.
They seem to really like showing the players. And when I tried to do that, it came out kind of weird.
You know, all those baseball cards. So I thought, hey, look, I didn't think it was weird. I thought
it was pretty awesome. I'm just kidding. Yeah. It was definitely a cool thing to see like how the sports world responds to my art style.
Like, do they, do they embrace it? Do they, you know, it was all over the board.
Of course, there's like a lot of commentary in that world.
Oh, the Bulls collab was pretty awesome too. And I don't like that team.
So dude. Yeah. I want to do more with them.
Just did their, their digital collection and and still like can't believe that how
much chicago loves me for some reason i haven't spent too much time over there but out of all
other cities that are giving me opportunities like new york and chicago don't talk down about
my man chicago should love you they recognize a little bit better than others apparently
i don't know what it is maybe it's just like being in the north like there's appreciation
for other people that have to go through cold winters hey look you know you're always welcome down here when it's uh
when it's cold up there so yeah so like yeah i guess you lived in new york for a while and then
you moved down to florida i have actually been born and raised down in florida but my dad is
from new york so my grandparents used to be up there so i used to spend my summers up there
um i tried to avoid the avoid the cold as much as i possibly can i am a florida boy
through and through what part of new york did you spend your summers in uh long island long island
and obviously the bronx because you know we did a little yankee stadium i was actually at the first
uh the new yankee stadium the first two games at the new yankee stadium so um and then we were
there last year for the uh the division series i brought little man for his first trip to Yankee Stadium.
Are you going to be coming up to New York next month?
Man, would I love to.
I'm trying to pull it off because the truth is there's a reason I really
shouldn't be able to other than getting yelled at by the wife
because the kids are in camp and she's actually a counselor at their camp.
So I'm trying to pull it off, but I'm not super hopeful.
But we'll see.
Definitely trying to get up there.
I would love to.
I hate that I miss Canal Street again and all that good stuff.
We're going to make it happen one of these days.
Besides, I've got to come check out the new gallery, man.
That thing looks awesome.
Thanks, dude.
Yeah.
And if you missed it earlier in the space,
we're doing a curation contest with Canal Street Show,
which will get one lucky person a free trip to New York.
So pay attention in the coming weeks on the Canal Street Show account for that.
Gator, if you have an idea for how to curate within our theme, we'd love to hear it.
All right, cool.
I'll definitely dive in a little bit.
Awesome.
Cool.
Well, I'm going to step down, but I wanted to say hi.
I haven't spoken to you in a while.
So I just wish you congrats to you and Jesse and did and I guess in Selkie.
I mean, you got so much going on, dude.
It makes me very happy.
Yeah, it's going to be an intense season.
I appreciate you, man.
Thank you for sharing in the joy and thanks for helping me make it happen.
You know, you've supported me these years and I would not be able to do such an ambitious project
and keep it kind of working behind the scenes
for so long without support from people like you.
Oh, you know the running joke that I, you know,
I blame you for me being in this business.
So, you know.
Yeah, the worst thing that ever happened to you, right?
Worst thing that ever happened to me.
So I appreciate, I appreciate you just as much for me.
Cheers all around
much love man thank you all right take care
does anyone else have anything going on that they want to share questions or thoughts about uh
about what we talked about about anything coming up in your city, in our city.
We'd love to hear it.
I can see Paper Buddha down in the stage.
He supported me last year and picked up the one-of-one cities that I showed at the Canal Street show.
Thank you, Paper Buddha. You're amazing.
Who else is coming up?
Rohit.
Hey, welcome to the stage. What's going on, Rohit?
He's connecting.
Hey, welcome to the stage. What's going on?
Hey, F.Dot.
Quick question. Do you guys have any plans for India as well?
Funny enough, India was where I painted my first mural. I went out there for a wedding,
and I was determined to meet somebody that would help me paint an outdoor mural.
And this guy, Anant, just answered my message. I'd never spoken to him before. So I'd love to come back out to India and do another mural to make that come full circle.
But right now, no plans. We do have some family there on Jesse's side. So we'll visit them,
I'm sure, in the next two or three years, if not sooner. But I want to pay tribute to those cities because they were a big part of
my mural journey. It was in New Delhi, in Housecast Village. That's amazing. If you come
by here anytime, hit me up. Let's catch up here. We have a little bit of an art scene going on. So
would be happy to, you know, have some meetups here.
Which city are you in? I'm sorry if you already mentioned it.
I'm from Jaipur, Jaipur, Rajasthan, nearby Delhi.
Nice. That was one of the places I got to visit when I was out there. I got to see Delhi, Mumbai, and Jaipur. Beautiful, beautiful place. The pink city.
Mumbai and Jaipur.
Beautiful, beautiful place. The pink city.
Yes, the pink city and the city of culture.
And it's a big tourism spot.
So anytime anyone's coming up to India, Jaipur is a must visit.
And hit me up if you're here.
Definitely. Thanks for the invite.
And I see we have another person on the stage, Nikola.
What's going on? Nicola what's going on
hey what's going on I came a little bit late to this place so I don't know what you were guys
talking about earlier but I just wanted to say that if any of you is going to next week to Lisbon for the NFC conference. I will be there.
So, yeah, just go to the DM.
We can meet.
I'm an artist.
And, yeah, I'm just looking for people to meet and to get to know.
Cool.
Yeah, we have Joanna, who's from Lisbon, who's going to be there.
Some more Schiller family is going to be there.
I, unfortunately, couldn't make it out to Lisbon this year.
Really wanted to make it happen, but it was just too close to the NYC week.
So didn't want to overbook myself and overextend.
You know, we have this new gallery here we just opened.
So trying to stick around for a bit.
Next year, I'd love to come to Lisbon.
But this year, we're focusing more on New York for this season. But definitely hit up Nikola if you're going
to NFC and connect with them. I loved it when I was there a couple years ago. We did
a live art workshop right outside the venue. I was pitching it to them again this year,
but in the end it didn't make sense with what they had planned. So hopefully
next year. Yeah, I love that you brought up Jaipur, Rohit, like talking about cities. That city
definitely left an impression on me. Just the colors, the architecture, some of the different
people that you run into around the city, all the production,
the craftsmanship that happens. That's one of my favorite parts of traveling, just going to a new
city and seeing what traditions are still alive from the last 100, 1000 years that never died.
And I think that's part of my mission is to continue highlighting traditional craft.
A big part of what we're doing here at the gallery is showing process-driven work,
not just automated stuff, even though the robotics are very interesting. I'm really
trying to bring it back down to what feels real and what feels human so that everybody
in Brooklyn can even understand it and relate to it.
Maybe I'm just not the most early adopter of the early adopters,
but I love to bring it back to old school craft and use that as a starting point.
Yeah, absolutely. I think the city that you live up in and cities that you visit shape up a lot of you so i've been brought up
here in jaipur is like for the whole of my life and the culture here is so tremendous that um
there's havelis there's forts and all of this is like so prevalent here that it just makes me
go like wow it's a it's a place to be and that's why it's like a
tourism hotspot so that's what I was wondering if there's any art event
happening in India hopefully it happens in Jaipur as it's like it's a it's a
must-visit kind of situation in Jaipur at least from what I've seen some other
cities as well but Jaipur is like a must must visit so yeah I was
wondering like if you guys have some plans soon hopefully maybe in the future
yeah we'll keep it on my radar it's good to know that we have some friends out there
uh we have a new person who just joined the stage we're going over time by the way sorry for the
super long space we'll close it down in maybe 10 minutes, but I wanted to say a welcome to BaseSport. How's it going?
What's going on? Can you hear me?
Yeah, we're good. Good to see you.
Nice. What's popping? What's popping?
We were just talking about this announcement we made today, some upcoming events, residency in Rio, Canal Street show, a lot of big
news this this month. Yeah for sure, for sure. Wing John, what's up? Yo question, number one,
I don't know why I can, I would love to see like a collab with you and Vinny Agar.
which would have been the actor um y'all both give me this like uh contemporary like
digital action painting you know jackson pollock needs keith herring you know i'm saying like
you're familiar with benny haggard right if i'm not mistaken yeah yeah where's he at we're good
homies we have collaborated before. We've never released it.
We have a couple pieces that we did just sitting here in my studio, physical pieces.
Okay.
But every time I bring it up with him, he's like, just keep it in the flat file.
Save it for a rainy day.
He's like, no, not yet, not yet.
So I don't know what his reasoning for that is, but I respect it.
And maybe it's just about keeping it as a personal memory and not trying to commercialize it or sell it for now.
But it was our first.
He's a very archival person.
I got him.
I had brokered a deal with him to do a mural in Baltimore.
So just recently for Artscape.
I think that was last weekend.
I just passed.
Oh, nice.
You were involved in helping him get the wall?
Yeah, yeah.
You are a legend.
Like, that is one of the hardest things to do is, like, get the walls, get permission from whoever owns the space or from the city themselves.
So, hats off to you.
Like, you're doing great work.
Yeah, so I actually work in street art. I've been working with a master painter for about eight years now as a documentarian and a mural
assistant. And I was able to put it together because they happened to make me the project
manager and coordinator for like 30 plus artists. And I was like, yo, we got some walls left. I'm
like, we got to get Vinny in here
because I'm from Baltimore and he's, uh, he's based in, uh, between Baltimore and New York and LA.
So I was like, yeah, it'd be kind of sick to get like a web three artists on this wall, man.
Yeah, it worked out. Yeah. I love what he made. It was really cool. And it was an interesting
wall. It wasn't just a flat wall. It was like a big blue pillar. Yes, yes, yes. So the pillars hadn't been painted in, I think, 20 years.
So they're trying to, like, revive the downtown Baltimore in a harbor.
So they redid all the pillars and curate a lot of, like, artists based in Baltimore, local to Baltimore.
So it was a pretty, pretty big thing.
Artscape is the largest free arts festival in America, which is kind of weird
to say as a Baltimorean. I'm like, ah, we have something that's that big. That's kind of cool.
I have a question for you. Who are your favorite or who inspire you from, as a traditional artist
standpoint, it can be renaissance painters whoever um and then
who are you inspired by contemporary from a street art perspective out of curiosity
one of the first artists that my grandmother exposed me to i didn't even mention this before
but my grandmother was an artist for a lot of her life. She would buy me like all the books and art
supplies for the holidays and stuff. But she introduced me to MC Escher when I was very young
and I loved all the optical illusions, like what you could do with just black and white
and a pencil, really pushing the medium forward. And other than Escher, you mentioned Keith Haring,
big fan of Keith Haring, not only his art, but also his message, the way he worked as an artist.
Picasso, I love Annie and Joseph Albers. Definitely going back in time further.
I was just in Florence, so I got really inspired by Renaissance era painters.
And I wasn't super inspired by them in the past.
Maybe I just didn't go deep enough to understand the stories of the artists.
But on this last trip, it was my second time going there.
second time going there, I really tried to spend more time in the museums and I
I really tried to spend more time in the museums.
started to understand that like the timeline of all this stuff and why
Florence is so influential as a city. It's the city of the impossible becoming
possible. So I wanted to know more about that and in terms of contemporary
artists, there's so many. I feel like one of them that comes to mind is Chantel Martin. She does black and white line work everywhere she goes and just covers the world with lines.
Meeting her when I was still in college was really inspiring to me. Also, I organized a TEDx conference when I was a student in college and just inviting some of my favorite artists like Craig Ward who works with experimental typography um he's a contemporary artist and designer
very inspiring to me and also very close by in New York um I see we have a request but they're
I don't know uh if I know this person I'm not sure if we should let him up. Does that answer the question about the inspirations?
Did you have anything else?
Absolutely.
Yeah, the last thing is I see that you're Bushwick-based.
I used to work in Bushwick as well.
Have you heard of the Bushwick Art Collective?
Yeah, yeah.
They're not too far from me.
They do a block party every year.
That's like half a mile from here.
I haven't been able to get a wall with them, but I am friends with some of those people.
And hopefully it'll happen sooner or later.
I do have a couple walls here in Bushwick that were for local businesses, though.
Sick, sick.
That's pretty much it for now.
Oh, yeah, I had a homie.
I don't know.
Are you familiar?
One of the homies actually put me on to you uh from mecca verse his name is slipping me now um you may know him at a place like mecca commission or medic
commission or something like that but uh yeah he had put me on to your work not too long ago but
definitely great meeting you and uh i'll be i'll be following hopefully i can commission a piece
for the private collection one day and thank you for doing what you do. Like I said, that's a hard job to get permission for artists from the city.
And keep doing that.
Keep me in mind.
And hopefully you'll see some more artists on these spaces that are interested as well.
Yeah.
Okay.
No, I definitely will.
We do a collaboration with the Oreos.
We have been working with them for the last five years.
So right now I'm working on getting Vinny a wall in the Orioles spot.
So I'll keep you definitely in mind.
See if we can get you in Baltimore somehow.
My only Baltimore piece that I did was a Camden Yards card.
You did? You did Camden Yards? Yeah, I I gotta find it. I'll send it to you.
That was...
That's actually an interesting part of this story, too,
is in 2020,
I got hired by Topps,
the baseball card company,
to do 20 cards based on the different players.
And I got to do Cal Ripken Jr.,
speaking at Orioles.
But after that project,
it was kind of the first time they combined contemporary art
with sports cards. And so they had artists that were painters, that were photographers,
experimental media, like creating baseball cards. And this was all like right when the
NFT mania was starting to pick up. But I pitched to them this idea of a stadium series and having
these old school ballparks, like the original Yankee Stadium, Camden Yards, Shea Stadium,
having a baseball card just for the stadium.
Because I'm not always the best person to hire for drawing figures and people.
Sick. Definitely connect with me, bro.
I will. I'll send it to you for sure.
Because maybe I can use that as a pitch to get you to get a and a new one inside the camping yards curation i would
love that absolutely i got to visit as well when i was working on the card i just saw uh we have a
new addition to the stage welcome jordan from art blocks what's going on man what's up eric can you
hear me all right yeah yeah totally hey what's going on congr Congrats on the announcement. Thank you. And thank you for accepting me and helping make this happen.
Yeah, we're excited. We've been chatting since Marfa. I think that's when we started talking.
So it's great that we could officially lock this down. I've been previewing this work, you know, for months now, and I'm excited for it to finally come to Mint.
You guys did an awesome work, and, yeah,
excited to celebrate this with the community
and see it go live here in a couple weeks.
Oh, my gosh, it's happening.
I can't believe it.
Yeah, thank you for all the advice advice too, like along the way, like
getting your eyes on the project before it was fully formed. Like I wasn't sure what you were
going to think, but your, your words of wisdom have helped. So thank you. And you know, a lot
of artists they want to do something with Artblocks, but it's kind of a closed ecosystem
these days. Like you're doing only a few curated drops a year. And then do something with Artblocks, but it's kind of a closed ecosystem these days.
Like you're doing only a few curated drops a year.
And then you have this Artblocks Studio product that is mainly just reserved for people who have already released with Artblocks.
So I didn't really know if I even had a chance at this, especially because I'm not a generative artist by training or like that's not my main medium.
But I appreciate the exception and,
and this collab is going to be awesome on there.
Yeah, you're right. We are, we are really locking down. We've,
we've got just a handful of curated releases this year.
We've already done one and several announcements to come soon.
And then we're also, you know,
studio is meant for a little bit more experimental things and artists to kind of at their own pace go release things.
But like, as you said, there's still kind of this still still kind of, you know, a tight control on who gets a studio contract.
a studio contract and usually it's people that have already released on art blogs but there's
And usually it's people that have already released on art blocks.
an exception and there's there's probably a handful that we get every year where it's just
like really great artists that they just they just haven't released anything yet uh that we we kind
of grant access um so yeah it's been it's been great working with you and exploring this i'm
glad that we can make it work because, yeah, your art is great.
Getting to work with you and did on this
has been super cool.
Just in the last couple of days
to have Schiller join in on the fun
has been awesome.
I've loved working with those guys for years.
So it's super cool to get the team back together. Well, yeah, super,
super fun. And I'm glad we can make it work and excited to be in New York in a couple weeks,
potentially to, you know, meet up in person again. And there's just a lot of, a lot of fun
stuff happening. I think, I don't know if we're back, but we're like, we'll be back soon. I think is how to, how to position it. But that statement, we're back. It's like, it means everything,
but it also means nothing. I like the sentiment, but yeah, we gotta be, we gotta be thoughtful.
Right. We can't grow too fast. Otherwise it's not sustainable. So I also wanted to share that
you had a big announcement today with Artblocks.
You just opened up the RSVPs for Marfa.
You want to share a little bit about that?
I can pin it up.
Yeah, thank you.
Yeah, today we officially opened up the RSVPs. We had announced the dates a couple of months ago, but now it's locked in.
People can RSVP at Artblocks or view the tweet to get in there.
And as usual, it's free to attend. There's no charge. Just show up.
You will have to figure out your own lodging and your own transportation.
But there's a lot to do if you show up.
We just want everybody to RSVP so we know you know how many people were accommodating but in addition this
year we have an extra kind of special bonus um that we're calling like the anniversary swag bag
anniversary like commemorative uh swag bag so for 250 um you can kind of upgrade and receive one of these commemorative packages and you have to be present
to pick it up or you can organize a delegate or something but yeah so far we haven't announced
everything that's in there we've just announced what's on the site there which is a goodie bag or you know like like a bag to carry it all um a signed poster
and then there's going to be a lot of fun little goodies in there that that will add to it but we
don't want to pressure people into upgrading uh getting fomo and going crazy over it it's really
just a way for people that have told us that people are already collecting a lot of these fun souvenirs.
They're also wanting to, people have shown interest of wanting to support because it's
just historically, it's just been a free event that Artblocks puts on.
So it's another way for attendees to show their support.
So yeah, it's a small fee.
The event is happening
in October, so we've got some time, but it's just great to lock in your RSVP.
And yeah, it's going to be exciting. I've gone the last two years, and I can't wait to
wait to come this year, which will be the Artblocks fifth anniversary.
come this year, which will be the Artblock's fifth anniversary.
Wow. So five years ago is when the company got started. And then when was the first Artblocks
weekend? Yeah. So the company, Eric, launched the Squiggle in November of 2020. And then in 2021,
they hosted the first Artblocks Marfa weekend. So that was the first.
So this year, it'll be the fifth.
And it kind of gets close to the fifth anniversary.
And we've got a bunch of cool things to announce as we get closer to that five-year anniversary.
Five years is huge in crypto terms.
I can't believe it's already been five years.
So yeah, we'll have a lot of fun kind of retrospective, new announcements, new initiatives, new product updates as we get closer to the
fall. But yeah, I think anybody that's been, you'll hear from them and then they talk about
trying to make it a tradition. My wife has been before and she's really excited to come again.
It's probably one of the only like crypto events that she'll tolerate because
it's just a bunch of really cool people hanging out and looking at art.
So yeah,
it's a really great experience.
If anyone really wants the full art blocks community experience,
you've got to get to Marfa at least one time.
I love that Marfa creates this filter for people where there's no direct flights to get there.
So you have to fly and fly again and then drive like four hours and then you're finally there.
So it only really draws out like the serious people who love this movement.
And I'm just happy that you guys have that in addition to all the
other events you do in different cities, but it's a staple. I'm not going to miss it this year.
Hoping to do something again there with you guys in relation to cities and celebrate with everyone.
That's great, dude. Yeah, you said it. It really, you really got to want to be there. You can't accidentally end up there. For me, for those of us that have a direct flight to El Paso, that's probably as easiest as it gets. And that still takes all day of travel. You got to fly to El Paso and then rent a car, which is hard to get sometimes. and then drive from El Paso to Marfa, which is three hours.
So everybody know what you're getting into.
But because there is this bar, it actually acts as like a quality barrier, as you said,
where some people are even, you know, people overseas, people, I don't know, guys like
Nifty from Squiggle Dow, it takes him like 30 hours from door to door. It's pretty insane.
People are that dedicated to get to this place,
this middle of nowhere, West Texas town.
And it's, yeah, it's just, it's such a fun time and experience.
yeah, it's going to be a fun weekend.
Yeah. It's, it's going to be a fun, fun weekend.
Hell yeah.
Well, I already RSVP'd and I will be there.
We'd love to connect with more people who are coming to New York,
more people who are coming to Marfa before the event happens.
So send me a DM if you're going to be in either of those cities coming up.
Well, we're running about an hour and 40 minutes now. I think I'm going to wind down the space.
We'll keep did for the next episode. His meeting ran really late. We'll keep him a little bit
mysterious for this one. And we'll get more into his story and the process of this project next week, same time, on Wednesday at 3 p.m. Eastern.
So I'll schedule that in a few days. Look out for that.
Really appreciate you all showing up and celebrating this announcement.
So much of my soul has gone into this collection
and I can't wait for you all to see the outputs
from the algorithm
and to celebrate in New York next month.
So many exciting things, man.
All right.
Enjoy the rest of your week, everyone.
Talk to you soon.
Peace. peace
