Longevity of blockchain and art: an artist interview with VESA
Discussing the hype of crypto, blockchain technology’s lasting value and a limited digital art (NFT) giveaway.
This week we talked with London-based artist and writer VESA to talk art, blockchain, creative inspiration and release some exciting details about our upcoming collaboration.
Disseminating digital editions of VESA’s art
VESA has been exploring the intersection of art and blockchain for years, becoming heavily involved in the crypto art space in 2017. And one year ago he joined Codex as the first artist on the featured collections platform and registered his work titled “Beyond Moon” that was created for the 2018 World Crypto Conference.
For this year’s World Crypto Conference, Codex and VESA will be sending digital editions of “Beyond Moon” to the attendees of the conference. Disseminating digital art editions to the thousands of attendees at a blockchain conference furthers the artist’s goal of spreading the word to the public of the contribution art can have in the blockchain space and development of the technology.
In the same week, Codex and VESA will also be sending digital editions of his new work, “Invisibility”, a work created by a combined mediums of painting, photography and collaging, at Litecoin Summit.
“Invisibility” explores the past, present and future states of our financial systems. VESA says the work is not only a critique of traditional financial systems, but a look at the evolution of them and how cryptocurrency could fit into our society’s future.
He explains that he is “constantly frustrated with the short sidedness of the crypto space. What’s the real objective here? It shouldn’t be about just about celebrating ‘let’s go to the moon’ and ‘lambos’.” He believes that art can be a vehicle to express his belief that there is real value to using blockchain technologies to improve traditional financial systems, and the art he creates should align itself with those values.
Disseminating thousands of digital editions of VESA’s artworks produces 3 major outcomes.
- It exposes VESA’s art to a massive new audience who may otherwise have no prior involvement in the arts. Litecoin Summit and World Crypto Con are technology conferences, not art events. While there is a continually growing demographic of people who dip their toe in both tech and the arts, there is still a wide audience of people whose interests don’t crossover. These conferences serve as yet another opportunity to expose a large audience to an art focused view of technology.
- It displays the unique quality of NFTs (Codex Records) and how can blockchain technology can be leveraged in powerful ways for digital art via the ability to prove digital scarcity and authenticity. Registering digital art onto a Codex Record allows an artist to prove a piece is authentic and created by them; not a copy or duplicate. VESA has explored creating digital editions of artwork on Codex before with his Breathless series. The experimental series involved flying a body paint model to London, painting her form, recording her breaths and turning those breathing recordings into 10 second digital works; poetically bridging two seemingly disparate things, humanity and technology, through digital art.
- Lastly, it showcases the message that blockchain technology presents long-term, viable solutions to pain points in various industries. VESA’s art explores the longevity of the technology, both in the arts and within financial systems. He seeks to convey the legitimate use of the technology and pushes back on the notion that blockchain is more than just a cryptocurrency fad. Giving thousands of people access to art with this message reinforce those ideals.
Bonus interview questions
Want to learn more about VESA and the influences and inspirations behind his art? We asked him a few questions to help you get to know him better:
- What inspired you to start using/working with blockchain in your practice?
The separation of money and state is one of the most important historical events unfolding in front of our eyes right now. The substance and drama are inspiring, but it also solves major problems for me. So far, I have about 350 digital high-resolution originals due to my process. For a decade, they were not attractive to the art world as they could not be monetized. With unique attributable blockchain signatures, a whole new world opens. It ends the dark ages for digital content producers and will help usher in VR & AI at a more rapid pace.
2. What is an example of the intersection of art and tech that you love?
Aside from the stories that come from the blockchain merger and opportunities the previously mentioned VR, AR & AI are something I’ve looked into for a few years. The first VR & crypto art demo is ready. I’ve utilized AR a couple of times and have plans to integrate them all eventually. The important thing for me is to why I am doing it rather than how. This is why I’d rather do things right than fast. There is one significant innovation stopping me to enter VR but once that is cleared I’m all in. Google, if you want to know what that is, get in touch.
3. Who are some of your biggest artistic inspirations?
Dali was a significant evolution as a child. Seeing his work opened up my imagination. Today, it keeps being DaVinci. As the art world is mostly about deconstructing the deconstruction, I get artistic inspiration from Elon Musk, The Joe Rogan Experience, Jordan Peterson, Camille Paglia, etc.
4. What is an artistic or career goal you have?
To be one of the main artists to define this era.
5. What kind of art do you most enjoy as a viewer?
Ken Wilber’s integral theory made a big impression on me since my early 20’s. This is why what Elon Musk does is an art to me. The ability to see a world-changing vision and have the grit to make it a reality against all odds defines the relevance of creativity for me. More simply, the art I most often immerse myself in is music.
6. What kind of art do you most enjoy to create?
Anything that contributes something to our collective evolution. The function, not the form is important to me.
7. What moves you to create art in your daily life?
We are spiritual beings in a body. Most think it is the other way around. In spirit = inspired. Survival, values, and evolution are the main lenses through which I observe the world around me. Those filters see inspiration everywhere.
8. What is the most challenging part about being an artist?
We are at a defining crux point, which was best defined by Sir Ken Robinson in his multiple TED talks about the creativity crisis in our global education system. The values of education are still toiling with the relic mentality of the industrial revolution and AI is starting to make low-end white-collar jobs irrelevant. Most companies being born the coming year will be irrelevant in 5 years. Integrating creativity as the top priority, and embracing the risk associated is the most important challenge not many yet take as seriously. Creative people, en masse, can figure out solutions to all the other crisis we are facing as a species. Currently, as Ken so well defines, we get educated out of the creativity we are born with. This is also why most don’t buy art.
10. Where is once country, place, museum etc that you think everyone should go visit with great art?
Italy in multiple cities. I met a blockchain CEO, who is from Rome. He hated the renaissance art from his country as it was shoved down his throat in the wrong way as a kid. Art is a delicate matter not only the way it is made but how it is communicated too. Outside the mainstream, a new global tradition embracing Sistine chapel is in Damanhur, Italy. I’d like to go to experience that.
Resources:
- View VESA’s Codex gallery: https://codex-viewer.com/featured-collections/vesa
- Visit his website: https://www.artforcrypto.com/
- Read VESA’s Crypto Art manifesto on Codex: https://codex-viewer.com/record/3033
- Learn more about World Crypto Con and get tickets: https://worldcryptocon.com/
- Learn more about Litecoin Summit and get tickets: https://litecoinsummit.org/
Written by Corinne Moshy
About Codex
Codex is the leading decentralized asset registry for the $2 trillion arts & collectibles (“A&C”) ecosystem, which includes art, fine wine, collectible cars, antiques, decorative arts, coins, watches, jewelry, and more. Powered by the CodexCoin native token, the Codex Protocol is open source, allowing third-party players in the A&C ecosystem to build applications and utilize the title system. Codex’s landmark application, Biddable, is a title-escrow system built on the Codex Protocol, which solves long-standing challenges in auctions: non-performing bidders, lack of privacy and bidder access. The Codex Protocol and CodexCoin will be adopted as the only cryptocurrency by The Codex Consortium, a group of major stakeholders in the A&C space who facilitate over $6 Billion in sales to millions of bidders across tens of thousands of auctions from 5,000 auction houses in over 50 countries.
To learn more about Codex initiatives, visit our white paper. To inquire about partnerships and developing dApps using the Codex Protocol, please contact us via Telegram or Twitter
