Blind Gallery 1st Edition Highlights
Let's remember some of the artworks that were part of the first edition
Hello everyone!
My name is Sofia, I am a gallerist and writer, and last week I joined the Blind Gallery team to highlight the amazing art and artists that are part of the Blind Gallery experiences.
The inaugural First Edition of the Blind Gallery brought together both emerging and established generative artists united by a common passion and incredible creativity. A central theme of how we all seek to navigate the crypto art space emerged, with various artists tackling the heightened emotions and roller coaster experience of this new world head-on. As an art lover and collector with many years of experience (just about) surviving in the crypto space, the following works particularly resonated with me.
goldcat’s work The Collector exemplifies the artist’s style, marked by loose and expressive brushstrokes and a colour palette reminiscent of Rembrandt’s renowned portraits. The abstracted rendering of the figure’s facial features poignantly conveys the work’s central theme: the anonymous nature of the majority of NFT collectors. This juxtaposition of a traditional yet digitally rendered grand portrait style in the context of NFT collectors is intriguing, as we associate the latter more with young tech-savvy individuals most likely interacting with the world via a PFP. In spite of the portrait’s abstraction, the emotions are clear: swirling brushstrokes suggest the turbulent “should I / shouldn’t I” feeling that a collector experiences when it comes to the latest hyped project mint or enticing 1/1 release, while the figure’s distant stare and reflective state takes into account both missed opportunities and unexpected triumphs.
The representation of mental turbulence is taken a step further by Matthew Plummer-Fernández in his work Anon Torment, a surreal, saturated piece that evokes the burning uncertainty many operating in the NFT space feel. The artist picks up on the widespread veil of forced composure that we tend to adopt, particularly important in a market so driven by sentiment and the public perception of sentiment in which one negative tweet can sink floor prices. There is an interesting tension pinpointed, lying somewhere between composure and duplicity, and which is especially heightened by the vivid rendering of the contrasting fire and water elements. These opposing forces are presented in balance, pushing against one another at certain meeting points but otherwise coexisting and enabling the figure to proceed without unmasking. The longer I spent with Anon Torment, the more strongly I felt a resistance rise to the “wagmi” culture of the last bull market, the effects of which have transformed subtly into public trends of sell-shaming alongside accusations of capitulation and a supposed lack of faith. Having said this, there is also a staunch comfort in this reminder that turbulence is a shared experience and that we are collectively at the forefront of new ways of being and creating.
This comfort in shared experience takes on additional nuances when that commonality is reached and accessed through forms of communication that do not rely on “real world” names or clout. This idea is beautifully captured by Adam Disbrow (AD_AD) in his work Pilgrims, which in his own words “is an expressionist representation of a group of people on spiritual pilgrimage,” further stating that “selfless action is faceless. There is equality in anonymity.” This work hits at the idealism of simultaneous anonymity and transparency, in which our pasts outside of our engagement in this new world cease to matter, while at the same time our present activities, from digital creation processes to ownership transfers, are accessible and verifiable. The strength of this message lies in the unique and recognisable style that Disbrow has developed, that nonetheless is reminiscent of masters from Lowry to XCOPY, with calligraphic elements forming a subtle backdrop. I strongly feel a sense of solidarity when enjoying this artwork, and I derive comfort from the reminder that we are interconnected explorers on what Disbrow has termed our pilgrimage.
Finally, let’s zoom out with a look at Raphaël de Courville’s entrancing creation Ontoscope. This work builds on the other artists’ expressions of solidarity with some much-needed perspective by simultaneously demonstrating how far we have come from the hyper-traditional museums of old, while pointing out important elements of continuity, such as the realism of early stereoscopic images. As the artist points out, we are currently “standing on the threshold of the metaverse.” What better time to take stock? Perhaps by remembering what connects us, from other people exploring this space alongside us, to the creative impulses that have defined humanity since our earliest days, we can be ready for what’s next.
Sofia Carreira Wham (@s0f1a_eth) is the founder of the DOYLE WHAM Gallery in London and writes The NFT Innovation Digest.