I became interested in digital art in early 2021 when Christie's announced the sale of Beeple's artwork. I contacted the auction house for more details, and this conversation prompted me to seek out a digital art expert who could advise me on building a collection, explain the technical aspects, and connect me with artists. That's how I met Fanny Lakoubay, who has been my art advisor since March 2021 through LAL ART Advisory.

In 2021, we were still at the very beginning of the NFT domain, which made collecting NFTs difficult without prior understanding of blockchain technology, how to create a wallet, and how to purchase cryptocurrency. Nowadays, there are many services and platforms that facilitate this initial contact.

At my home, I have many digital artworks in mind, but not solely on screens that I find too intrusive in interior design. Many artists create physical artworks alongside their digital ones, such as prints or paintings. The use of projectors or dedicated screens like Infinite Object also allows for different display mediums. There are numerous options, and it is often best to discuss directly with the artists, who always have the best ideas for exhibiting and showcasing their artworks.

For reference, my first digital artwork was a female Cryptopunk that I adore. Later on, I even had a pixel portrait made that resembles me, in reference to the incredible Cryptopunks project, representing my digital identity. My collector's name, "Elsie," is also a pseudonym, which is common in the crypto world. To understand a new artistic movement, it was important for me to adopt its codes, even though everything was new for someone coming from a much more traditional background.

My collection has a few hundred artworks. In order to showcase the most characteristic artworks of this new crypto art movement, I have also created a permanent collection of 100 artworks that will not be sold and represent the diversity of genres, styles, and origins of crypto artists.

It is important for me to support emerging, female, and non-binary artists rather than buying NFTs from already popular projects. However, my collection also includes "blue chip" NFTs such as Cryptopunks and Moonbirds, established digital artists like Hackatao and Kevin Abosch, as well as contemporary artists such as Frank Stella, Damien Hirst, and Marina Abramovich who are experimenting with technology. My goal is to showcase the diversity of the crypto art movement.

To acquire new artworks, I rely on multiple sources. Firstly, I rely on the advice and connections provided by Fanny Lakoubay, who has been involved in the crypto art scene since 2018 and has developed relationships with numerous artists. She explains the concepts developed by artists she respects, informs me about ongoing exhibitions and sales, and connects me with galleries or artists directly, if necessary. 

I have also collected many emerging artists that I discovered through the Vertical Crypto Art residency, which helps new artists experiment with NFTs. As a token of appreciation, I also serve as a mentor within the residency to provide artists with the perspective of a collector.

The arrival of NFTs in the art market sparked my interest in contemporary art, which I did not collect before. The possibilities offered by the convergence of technology and art are fascinating to me, and I am convinced that digital art should have a central place in the contemporary art market. Our lives are inherently connected to technology, so our collections should be as well. It will take time, but I am optimistic that the documentation of the artworks I have collected and the ability to filter my permanent collection using traditional notions (style, edition, subject, etc.) will encourage more traditional collectors to venture into digital art.

I am delighted to see that more and more galleries, art fairs, and museums are exhibiting digital artworks. We are on the right track.

Financial markets are subject to fluctuations. They are inherently cyclical. Crypto markets follow the same pattern, so there is nothing surprising about it. However, it can be challenging for digital artists who have started making a living from their art. As for me, it doesn't change anything. I don't focus on the "floor price" of my artworks or the opportunities for selling at any given moment. My collection is built for the long term, with the purpose of documenting the birth of a new artistic movement and supporting the artists I follow. That's also the role of a patron.

Prestige and market value are definitely not my priorities when considering a new artwork to add to my collection.

First and foremost, I take into account the artist's background and become interested in their profile and the story they want to convey. Then, I examine the concept of the artwork or series and look for an intellectual, visual, or conceptual connection. I only collect artworks that resonate with me and to which I feel connected.

Lastly, I consider the technical aspects: how the artwork is presented, on which platform it was created, and which partners contributed to its production. I want to ensure that I want to associate my collection with these actors. One must be cautious in a new world where there are many new players.

The relationships I have built with the artists I collect are invaluable to me. The opportunity to connect with artists who are innovating around the world is an immeasurable wealth, and I encourage many other collectors to embark on this adventure. It is worth it.

At B.A.D, we always look forward to speaking with the patrons and collectors of our digital ecosystem. So when Elsie agreed to speak about The Edicurial Collection with us, we were thrilled. Cherished by the Crypto Art community, Elsie champions artists with her diverse and curated array of galleries.

Elsie Edicurial

Self-taught digital artist with background in graffiti and street art.

Digital artist spraying street art across the metaverse and creating an artistic expression that is essentially a mix of pop culture and crypto culture. Blending reality and modern lifestyle with characters from popular culture, renaissance art and raw graphic elements. Attempting to challenge common beliefs and break stereotypes through art, immortalizing the current moments and sentiments on the blockchain.

I would say that my art escapes a simple definition, it is a fusion of styles and influences driven by the urge to transport the cultural revolution we are witnessing and living into works of art.

Anon who wrote me that I should mint my art. That was enough for me to start the exciting journey down the rabbit hole.

https://superrare.com/artwork-v2/the-future-will-be-tokenized-43416

Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, After Effects.

Mr. Richi is a well-known figure in Crypto Art. Unlike your average punk, he has a distinct graffiti style that is easily recognizable by only the most discerning Web3 enthusiasts. The B.A.D. team is fortunate to have met Mr. Richi through his auctions, exhibitions, and events, including the VerticalCrypto Art Residency Auction a few years ago. We wanted to catch up with him and find out how he's been doing.

Mr Richi

Rose Jackson (in the process of shifting to using my full surname of Forsyth-Jackson).

Multidisciplinary artist, background in fibre art.

In the blockchainart space I combine traditional methods of wool felting with digital alteration, bridging ancient techniques with the new. My art speaks about the unknown, the simple beauty of our world, colour therapy, and my personal journey and connection to my ancestors.

Textiles, GAN, digital - also painting and ceramics outside of the digital realm.

I would describe my style as abstract, fun and transporting. With my work I aim to create a beautiful moment for the viewer, that takes them from their every day life to somewhere magical and calm.

My partner has been into crypto since 2019 and then, once finding out more about it, it was actually my mum who encouraged me to explore the NFT's and minting my digital art.

The Australian art in our home when I was growing up is what shaped me the most - Jenny Kee, Margaret Preston, Ken Done and the work of multiple aboriginal artists graced our walls.

Wool, my hands, computer and both phone & camera for photography.

SuperRare, Foundation & objktcom mainly. I have experiemented with multiple platforms on various blockchains.

I first met Rose while mentoring on VerticalCrypto Art's Residency programme in late 2021. One its first ever residents, Rose Jackson is a textile and digital artist creating work on the blockchain, combining traditional wet felt methods, video recordings and GAN. She is a unique creator of our digital art community, exhibiting in New York City, London, Berlin, Zurich and multiple cities in China.

Rose Jackson

When I read about NFTs, I immediately knew I wanted to create a poetry gallery, where I could sell my own poems, but also those of my poet friends. This gallery eventually became theVERSEverse.com. Meanwhile, I fell deeply in love with the crypto art ecosystem. It’s such a radiantly alive place to be. 

For years I wanted to be a poet-artist, unbound by the page. By exploring new dimensions via which to share my verse, I felt certain I could make my words mean and probe and traverse and expand and touch and grab you in more urgent ways. So, I leapt into the echoing well of art borne of the web. 

The artist takes risks because the need to communicate our experience of the world is so clamant that we cannot bear to sit still. The artist, via the personal, taps into the universal, placing private visions at the service of connection.

My poems are heavily influenced by the works of poets such as T.S. Eliot, Louise Gluck, Lucille Clifton & Sharon Olds—authors with unmistakable poetic voices.

https://nft.gazell.io/products/fathomless-1

Word processor, adobe illustrator, photoshop, premier pro, pen, paper, stable diffusion, p5js.

I tokenize via NFT platforms, such as SuperRare, Makersplace. I also launched a collection with renowned London gallery Gazelli Art House.

My poetry is rooted in the deeply intimate details of my day. Our desires, regrets, quests for purpose are inseparable from the logistics of living. We rip envelopes, answer emails, towel children, boil eggs, all while pondering the ultimate meaning of our existence. I tend to be very direct in my writing. 

When we over embellish what we’re feeling, it’s often because we’re afraid of feeling it. I believe that only brutally honest and personal writing can be relatable–much less universal. Language doesn’t need to adorn itself to be powerful or beautiful. Much of my work explores how biology determines heteronormative societal rites, ripping the veil off romanticized motherhood—particularly notions that package female sacrifice as virtue. 

My poems are moments of observation, but also resistance. I like to employ rhyme, which, in conversational texts, becomes a marked departure from our normal speech patterns and adds intention, play, and subversion to a text. Sometimes, I feel like a conceptual artist, drafting poems borne of ideas, of messages I want to communicate, putting my tools at the service of concept. Other times I feel like a landscape painter, making suggestions based on what I see.

What excites me about the possibilities of digital art is that poetry and art can now converse on equal, virtual ground. Digital poems can be experienced in the same way digital art is experienced, via the devices that connect us to the world and its webs. I believe this will represent a revolutionary shift in the way poetry engages and seduces new audiences, particularly if this poem incorporates new media such as visuals, music, and voice. 

Spoken-word poetry by virtue of its immersive nature can reach out from beyond the screen, acting as a powerful bridge between our visceral and digital selves. When I applied to my MFA in Poetry, I asked if I could do a joint MFA in Visual Art. The university didn’t even know where to direct my request. Eventually, I desisted. 

In many ways, I feel like I was waiting for the artistic opportunities afforded by Web3 to arrive. My hope is that Web3’s ethos of decentralization will translate into a welcomeness to artforms, such as poetry, that were not typically displayed, appreciated, or transacted as art in the past.

I'm an artist and a poet at the forefront of literary NFT's and web3 publishing. I'm also a cofounder of theVERSEverse.

Orbiting similar creative spaces as Ana for nearly two years now, B.A.D. first met this talented creative during her solo exhibition at Gazelli Art House in October 2022.

An archetypal blockchain poet, Ana María Caballero is a co-founder of the theVERSEverse. Leveraging the nuances of the blockchain to convey new meaning, Ana's mantra is that "a poem = work of art".

Ana María Caballero

We are a metaverse development company crafting deeper connections with audiences by bridging the physical and digital reality.

Sairo is a creative agency building bridges into WEB3 (WEB3D, VR, AR, Digital Twins, Metaverse) with a focus on Luxury, Fashion, Collectables & Antiquities.

As a result of COVID we started Sairo in response to the Web3 space accelerating at an unprecedented pace. Young and agile we have all grown up on the building blocks for WEB3, it became clear we needed to get into the space before the market saturated. Coming from recent education backgrounds and studio’s we felt disheartened by the lack of movement into the space and mixed opinions regarding it. At our core we believe “to move the creative sector as a whole positively, we need to help brands understand the potential of the Metaverse through education and start to build the bridge into this new digital world”.

Exhibitions (Historical) - We are helping curators save thousands by scanning exhibitions. The problem is that storage, re-set up exhibitions and movement can cost a lot. We can capture and curate in a digital space so you can keep the exhibitions set up long term online.

Interactive Web (Luxury products) - We have been able to help brand create interactive experiences straight on their website. Helping their audience to make the decisions to buy the product so much easier. Why see a picture of a chair when you can explore a 3D one online helping you to visualise the real thing within your physical space.

AR (Fashion) - We have been able to help brand take their first steps into Mix reality. Creating unique, stand out experience via AR platforms. Creating much deeper connections with their younger audiences.

Sairo is a creative agency building bridges into Web3 (WEB3D, VR, AR, Digital Twins, Metaverse) with a focus on Luxury, Fashion, Collectables & Antiquities.

Sairo

B. 1983, Taipei, Taiwan. Live/work in Brooklyn, NY.

Li is an interdisciplinary artist working with art, dance and technology. Her work is intuitive and sensual to explore the subconscious dimensions of reality. She combines audiovisual, sensorial stimulations and movement hinging on her personal transformations.

In 2019, Li won AFIAS Moving Image Award/Spain. In 2018, she received grant from Taiwan Ministry of Culture and finalist in ICIA International New Media Competition/Poland. Her video works showed internationally such as Centro Cultural FIESP/FILE Festival Brazil, Lightbox NYC/CADAF and Naves Matadero/Spain Moving Images Festival. Her works have been featured on PBS/WHRO Virginia.

Solo exhibitions include Whale interactive installation at La Sala Performance/NYC. Multi-sensory Installation design for dementia was semi-finalist in NYU Stern's Entrepreneur Challenge. Her works are in the collection of NOOW.art.

I work with video, sound, installation and performance.

Hinging on stages of my personal transformations, my work culminates emotional and visceral experiences that are intuitive and sensual to explore the subconscious dimensions of reality. Often strongly themed in nature, I work with dance, interactive technology, video, sound and sensory stimulants to make installation, performance and social space depicting an utopian universe.

My video works have been compared to Pipilotti Rist. I come from a traditional fine arts background, and German Expressionism is one of my favourite artistic movements.

CADAF introduced me to the blockchain community.

Sonia Li

Live performer, VJ, LaserJay, electronic musician, VR-Art/design/animation teacher.

I'm a visionary artist, exploring the new media art technologies, such as: Virtual and Augmented Reality, Generative Adversarial Networks and Audio/Visual synthesis. Inspired by visionary culture, fusion of nature and technology, electronic music and by media-arts in general.

Psychedelic, sci-fi, conscious-expanding, subconscious-mind-manifesting.

https://www.instagram.com/luke_brown_spectraleyes/

https://www.instagram.com/brian_scott_hampton/

https://www.instagram.com/sutu.eats.flies/

I've been creating digital art for years and never had opportunity to actually sell my art. So when I realised all of the possibilities of the blockchain + art combo, my mind was totally blown away!

I've been accepted as a founding artist on R.A.R.E. Art Labs on 4th January 2019.

VR: Gravity Sketch, Tilt Brush, Blocks, Medium, AnimVR. Ganbreeder.app. Adobe PS, AE, PR. Google DeepStyle.

SuperRare, KnownOrigin, R.A.R.E. Art labs.

Yura makes use of image processing tools such as Ganbreeder to create moving images that are inspired by science fiction novels and nature. He describes his art as "psychedelic, sci-fi, conscious-expanding, subconscious-mind-manifesting", and when you look at his works, you see even much more in it.

Yura Miron

I create experimental visual art. Usually in GIF format and best experienced in your feed. I hope to be an authentic voice floating on the superficial sea of social media.

Dystopian, near future portraits of the apathetic and distracted.

Growing up, cartoons, toys and video games influenced me more than art. I worshiped my Amiga 500 - playing games like Flashback, Xenon 2 and Syndicate. I’ve always found inspiration in music, books and comedy as much as in art.

A friend was talking about bitcoin and I got excited.

Late November 2017. I bought a small amount of bitcoin and stupidly lost half of it on transaction fees when I transferred it. I got obsessed and eventually read about ways that crypto could be used to create digital art editions.

I’m tokenizing my art as NFTs - I think of them as signed editions. As someone who grew up collecting, it’s exciting to offer digital art as a collectible. I’m interested in the ways NFTs can be used across platforms or within games. I also run XERO Gallery, a crypto art gallery based in the 3D world of CryptoVoxels. Our mission is to turn artistic creativity into positive real world action - through charitable donations.

Mostly SuperRare and KnownOrigin. I've also used Digital Objects and RARE Art Labs.

Everyday I make notes - concepts, titles and to do lists (usually on the tube). This helps me focus when I am at the computer. I don’t like to start with a blank canvas, I open a previous piece in photoshop and paint over it. Often I spend as long in the exporting of a work as in the drawing. I tend to bring the exported GIF back into photoshop several times to paint over. This process creates many variations, snapshots of the evolving piece. The hard part is knowing when to finish or even abandon a piece. I delete my working files regularly and find it helps keep things fresh.

XCOPY

Art has given me a lot so I try to give back.

Bosch, Caravaggio, Goya, Homer, Munch, Duchamp, O'Keeffe, Dix, Höch, Tanguay, Rothko, Pollock, Motherwell, Hesse, Bacon, Johns, Frankenthaler, Molnar, Baltz, Tarbell, Saville, Manolo, Barrat.

https://www.artnome.com/news/2019/2/27/blockchain-art-30-how-to-launch-your-own-blockchain-art-marketplace

We saw Jason for the first time at the Rare Art Festival, New York, January 2018. This was shortly after the first boom for blockchainart and cryptocollectibles. By then, Jason was already an active participant in discussion around the matter, and soon found his place as blockchain art expert in the field.

Jason Bailey

I studied art and have worked in a lot of different areas related to computer graphics.

I create artwork on a daily basis. The material from this ritual of creation allows for a thick and rich compost of ideas and concepts that emerge in the process of assembling the materials together. The common thread of my work throughout the years has been to capture and transform the essence of my drawings. Being able to put some of this work on the blockchain has exposed this work to a new audience and somewhat flowed back to the ideas that I am working with.

My work is mostly non-objective, non-figurative or abstract. I have been in that 'space' for a long time now, although I do some sticker designs for disseminating what I consider to be positive incantations.

It's hard to say exactly. But usually music has the strongest influence on me.

For the moment I think of myself as an 'end user'. But I can expand on that somewhat. I have been through several 'tech trends'. Blockchain to me seems like another one. As long as there are human beings there will be art. I am not 100% sure (nor is anybody for that matter) that blockchain will outlive art. Perhaps that's obvious. Sometimes I get the impression that it is not so I am taking the liberty of stating that here. But stating this is not to belittle the impact that this technology has had for some of us who have jumped in early, although I have to say that I consider myself a latecomer.

For me the experience of 'putting art on the blockchain' has had three positive effects:

a) I have been able earn some money that allows me to cover some basic necessities, which leads to b) That I am working a bit harder to develop my work in a way that I always wanted to and c) probably more importantly and oft overlooked is that I have met some like minded people. I can't tell you how much I value this small group of people even though I have never met them face to face. I guess I am contributing to the movement by being a part of it in this way.

Dada.NYC, Photoshop, Procreate, Cinema4D, Blender and After Effects.

I tokenize on SuperRare, KnownOrigin, MakersPlace and contribute to Dada.NYC

The less I think before and while I am doing something the more easily the work emerges.

We first recognized ilan while browsing KnownOrigin.io. His artworks are very different from what is stylistic ruling these days. Incentive enough for us to invite ilan to give some insights into his work and activities on the blockchain!

Ilan Katin

BAD 2.0 would not have been possible without the tremendous support from the directory contributors and our Gitcoin patrons. If you’d like to add, edit or change anything, please email us at bchainartdir@protonmail.com. We are grateful to the Web3 community, who continues to support BAD.

Blockchain Art Directory

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