Creative Genius Edwin Makes a Powerful Statement About Potatoes, And People Too
In the countercultural artist’s groundbreaking genesis NFT collection, “Potatoes Are Humans Too,” Edwin peels back the celebrated root vegetable’s skin to expose its humanity.
Mononymous countercultural art icon Edwin is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, holding a potato.
With no preexisting online presence, by design, the reclusive mixed media artist has never allowed his work to be sold or exhibited on a digital platform to date. In fact, Edwin didn’t even own a computer — or a phone, for that matter — until Crypto.com NFT approached him to curate his debut NFT collection, a 10,000-piece generative PFP magnum opus that aims to humanize the potato. Now, the NFT marketplace of the cryptocurrency platform that has partnered with renowned talents such as Academy Award-winning filmmaker Matt Damon and basketball legend Lebron James has the equally impressive honor of presenting a first-of-its-kind collection by one of the fine art world’s most esteemed, yet esoteric creative geniuses. Created “in collaboration” with his new laptop, which he also considers a human being and fellow artist, Edwin’s “Potatoes Are Humans Too” is exclusively available at Crypto.com/NFT today.
With an unconventional upbringing, raised in a yurt and forbid from attending school or eating vegetables, Edwin did not encounter his first potato until leaving home for college — and has been enchanted with the starchy tubers ever since. Recognizing humanoid qualities in almost all creatures and inanimate objects, which he interprets as evidence of their actual humanity, Edwin naturally applied his unique perspective to the popular vegetable. “Humans live a potato’s life in reverse: humans start inside a human and end buried in the ground, and potatoes start buried in the ground and end inside of a human,” he told Crypto.com NFT. “Please think about that every day.”
“All living things have humanity, and are therefore human. Potatoes live, grow, change, die, rot. They come from nothing and return to nothing, as do we all.”
The ever-elusive artist lives at an undisclosed location with his dog named Dog, his cat Rembr-cat, his “soul partner” — who prefers not to be named — as well as their twin daughters, LifeForce Hyperion and Karen. Though Edwin is averse to the concept of borders, and only self-identifies as “a human on planet Earth,” Crypto.com NFT was able to deduce that his family resides somewhere within the continental U.S.
Edwin is also famously opposed to accepting exorbitant compensation for his creations, forgoing traditional avenues of monetization such as commercial galleries, museum installations, commissions, grants, residencies and fine art auction houses — making his livelihood a mystery. He has priced his “Potatoes Are Humans Too” collection accordingly, offering the NFT masterpieces at an inclusive rate and electing to donate the proceeds from primary sales to a charity that supports children in war-torn countries.
“The idea of monetizing is crass. I believe my work is priceless — and, [breaking down the] words ‘price’ and ‘less,’ I realized a work can’t truly be priceless unless it’s priced for less.”
Over the span of his accomplished career, the notoriously private artist has always managed to evade the press as well — preferring to let his art speak for itself. As part of the unprecedented announcement, Edwin has agreed to grant Crypto.com NFT his first-ever interview. Conducted by-way-of text message with 11-year-old Karen, who also serves as an intermediary between her father and his newly founded online community via his Twitter and prized AOL email account, Edwin shared intimate details about his life and the historic NFT collection. On occasion, Karen provided added commentary or context, which appears unedited — as it was sent — throughout the transcript.
Read the Q&A with Edwin below and visit the “Potatoes Are Humans Too” drop page for more information.
Part I: Potatoes
Do you really think potatoes are human?
All living things have humanity, and are therefore human. Potatoes live, grow, change, die, rot. They come from nothing and return to nothing, as do we all. When you view my art — whereby I made the choice to bless the potato with eyes, a mouth, a nose and a body — you start to see how near-human potatoes already are. I just as easily could have given them jobs cleaning toilets at Wakeford Elementary, love and loss, disease, guilt or desperation. It’s all part of the human experience.
“I spent many sleepless nights cursing the heavens for giving potatoes eyes.”
What is the significance of potatoes in your work? What do they mean to you?
My interest in potatoes began when I heard they had eyes. That means potatoes are essentially all born blind. What kind of a god would do that to a living thing? Then I thought, well, what kind of a god would would allow any earthly suffering? I spent many sleepless nights cursing the heavens for giving potatoes eyes. And I had a Mr. Potato Head toy as a child.
Why potatoes? Why not, say, broccoli or asparagus?
Why are diamonds valuable and not, say, old soup cans or feces? Why is a lottery winner seen as more valuable than, say, a janitor at an elementary school? Society assigns value based on art and media unleashed upon the society. I say potato, you say, “I now understand that I am a potato, and a potato may be my brother.”
“My eyes were opened to a whole world of experiences: bread, apples, Fruit Roll-Ups.”
Do you remember your first experience with a potato?
I actually didn’t see a potato until I went to college, as I was raised in a purely a carnivorous household and was yurt-schooled by the family shaman. Then my eyes were opened to a whole world of experiences: bread, apples, Fruit Roll-Ups. I then experienced potatoes fried in the French style, and when I visited the campus green grocer, I was impressed to see what appeared to be a basket of old biceps — but was later told it was a basket of potatoes. They have surprised me ever since.
If you were a potato, what kind of potato would you be and why? (Russet, red, fingerling, Yukon Gold, Russian blue, instant, etc.)
I believe we are all one people, only beings of this particular dimension in this particular space. Likewise, I don’t believe in defining potatoes by species or, for that matter, any living creature by any taxonomic rank.
How would you be served?
Fried in the French manner.
Part II: Humans
Where are you from and what was your upbringing like?
I lived in my former reality in the space I then occupied. My upbringing was very normal: venison chips for breakfast every morning, ritualistic dance classes after my yurt-school by our family shaman and “Dateline” on TV every night. My life bringers loved Jane Pauly.
Where are you currently based?
In this current reality, in the space I currently occupy.
Tell us about your soul partner.
My soul partner, who prefers not to be named, is a very private person. To be honest, I know very little about this soul either.
Can you tell us about your daughters? I understand one of them handles your digital correspondence.
I have two identical soul-offsprings: LifeForce Hyperion and Karen. I’ve never used a computing machine, one that makes phone calls or otherwise, until Crypto.com NFT convinced me to explore a new medium. I understand the letter buttons correspond to what appears on the screen when pressed — but after it took me well over an hour to type my name when signing up for my first free America Online e-mail label, Karen has since taken over. She’s wise beyond her 11 years of age.
*Btw dis karen idk wut hes sayin hahaha but happy u made dad get a phone
“Even names can be art.”
Karen is such an interesting name. Why did you choose it?
My soul partner, who prefers not to be named, wanted to name her “Caring” — which we both quite enjoyed. It was only after hearing of sonic art group Korn that I felt it was so inspiring to replace a “C” with a “K” when spelling, as they can sometimes make the same “kuh” sound, so she became “Karing.” I found the “g” sound to be a bit aggressive and feed into a culture of toxic masculinity, so I softened the ending with an “en” sound — and the name became “Karen.” Even names can be art.
How about Dog and Rembr-cat? How did you think of their names?
When my soul partner — who prefers not to be named — and I decided we wanted to partner with animals, we left the door open to our home and laid a trail of tuna leading to our living space and waited. Our first pet was a raccoon — but when I tried to hug it, I was bitten badly and he [or] she ran away. Next, a dog wandered in — clearly homeless. So after removing the shackles of a collar and tag, I stared into his eyes until I realized the dog didn’t want to have a name. That would make addressing our partner difficult, so we call him Dog. When a cat wandered in, he ate some food, then stood very still like a Rembrandt portrait. It is my artistic inspiration that realized “andt” and “cat” have similar sound shapes, thus Rembr-cat was named.
Part III: Art
You’ve cited influences from “Michelangelo to BeBop Rocksteady.” If I understand correctly, can you explain how BeBop and Rocksteady from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles specifically have inspired your work?
BeBop Rocksteady is a scream artist that I met under a bridge in Central Park during a 3 a.m. constitutional. I’m not aware of what a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is.
What inspires you artistically, in general?
Everything. You may see a bottle of Windex, I see a pool of blue calmly waiting for purpose. You may see gum stuck under a desk, I see an upside-down sculpture created by chaos and youth. You may see a roll of toilet paper, I see a fecal canvas where art is immediately created and destroyed in mere seconds. This reality is inspiration.
What do you try to say with your art?
My art speaks for itself.
Who is your audience?
Emotional cores.
“Schools try to brainwash you into thinking there should be theory to art. That’s the death of creativity. And failing my ‘Intro to Art’ class in college is proof.”
What do you consider “good” art? What makes art “good” to you?
Art itself can’t be “good” or “bad.” Anything can make somebody feel something. That’s art. Schools try to brainwash you into thinking there should be theory to art. That’s the death of creativity. And failing my “Intro to Art” class in college is proof. I did not need to finish school to be an artist. I’m better without their “lessons.”
What’s more important: technique or message?
Technique is message. I start with ideas, I physicalize those ideas through technique and the messages are my ideas. Sometimes I’ll skip technique altogether and just tell my soul partner, who prefers not to be named, what I was meant to create. Then we both close our eyes and imagine what that would be like. It is art for the mind.
Please describe your artistic evolution.
When I was a new soul, I mostly worked in finger paints and dirt drawings — then as I aged, I was introduced to crayons, then pencils, then ink, then clay, then the human body, then sonic shapes, then interpretive dance and most recently the computer. My next great work will return to my roots with finger paints and dirt drawings.
What’s your favorite artistic movement, throughout time?
I saw a child on the street dancing with arms straight down, waving back and forth as if he was flossing — but his body was the tooth. It was a wonderful artistic movement.
If you could collaborate with any artist throughout history, who would it be?
Absolutely BeeBop Rocksteady. Never have I heard such an impressive vocal range of scream art. I would only collaborate as an appreciator, as I could never aspire to such primalism.
Tell us about working in one-of-one generative collage art.
It was an experiment to prove that computers are also human, and I’m now absolutely convinced they are. Two different computers running randomized algorithms to create generative collage art will create 10,000 unique artworks based on what they’re feeling in that moment. I now understand what I’ve been missing without a computer my entire life. I could have had that additional friend. I plan to partner with fellow artist Computer again in the future.
Part IV: Art-FTs
How were you monetizing your art before NFTs?
The idea of monetizing is crass. I believe my work is priceless — and, [breaking down the] words “price” and “less,” I realized a work can’t truly be priceless unless it’s priced for less. So most of my art is distributed at street fairs, roadside yurts and through public works.
“When I first heard about an art movement involving chains and blocks, I was of course interested.”
How did you get into NFTs?
When I first heard about an art movement involving chains and blocks, I was of course interested. Through natural exploration, I was led to the world of NFTs — which I only understand to mean very small artistic works that exist in little circuits on computers that are then magnified to be large enough to show on a screen. I still have seen neither the chains nor the blocks, but look forward to the opportunity.
What attracted you to the space?
I’m attracted to all mediums. It could have just as easily been mop bucket ballet.
“I’ve always been attracted to the macabre, so the idea of a currency based on the looming images of a crypt is appealing.”
Were you interested in cryptocurrency prior?
I’ve always been attracted to the macabre, so the idea of a currency based on the looming images of a crypt is appealing. We’re all marching towards death, and currency controls most lives. It makes perfect sense. Beautiful.
What do you like most about NFTs or working in the NFT space?
I love how quickly I’m told lives have been changed through my art. That is rare in physical spaces. Soon after beginning my America Online electronic mail account, messages poured in. Often, fans were providing me offers for discount life insurance and some even found inheritances from family members long lost or forgotten. I will respond to all of my fans, in time, with all requested information.
I understand you’re pretty proud of your email…
I was able to acquire an absolutely free electronic letter account through a company called America Online with the help of Karen. I was told this often performed at a cost of many mortgages and years of toil to raise the appropriate funds.
*btw dis Karen i made him giv me 20 bucks to do it haha luuuuuulz
If you could change anything about the NFT industry, what would it be?
I was shown a cartoon picture of an ape that appeared quite unsatisfied. I was told the backstory of this ape was that he was a member of a yacht club, which signified opulence. It further shows that the accumulation of wealth does not equate to satisfaction. Though likely fictional, I hope these apes find happiness.
Do you collect NFTs yourself?
I have not accessed a wallet, as I refuse to acquire any form of identification or a social security number — but my daughter Karen partners with NFTs.
*btw dis Karen sup BOM SQUAD!
What are some new ways you’d like to leverage NFTs in the future?
I hope to release a yearly collection, provided for free to those who acquired my “Potatoes Are Humans Too” art. I’m told they will be dropped through the air, so please be cautious to not be struck by a falling computer.
“I was told to build a Discord server, but I chose peace over discord and don’t believe any being should be any other being’s server.”
How do you intend to build community around “Potatoes Are Humans Too?”
All life forms are one unified community. I was told to build a Discord server, but I chose peace over discord and don’t believe any being should be any other being’s server. Karen has created for me another free account on a website called Twitter and you can send me a electronic letter at my address: @EdwinTheArtist.
*btw dis Karen got dat OG NAME smash follow yall
Do you have any goals or future plans for your art, in the NFT space or otherwise?
I hope to someday bury myself in a potato patch for months to watch them grow from a fetus, if I can only find a way to survive the endeavor. I’m very excited about finger paints right now, but often have to work evenings and the sheen of the finger paint looks nightmarish in the glow of the summer sun.
Browse the “Potatoes Are Humans Too” collection.
Please note that this article is a satirical work of parody written for promotional purposes and does not purport to reflect the opinions or views of Crypto.com. All characters appearing in this article are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Any additional products or features of the drop (including redeemable items, charity donations, utility and/or giveaways) are provided at the entire responsibility of the Creator(s) unless otherwise noted on Crypto.com’s official channels. For more details, please refer to the drop page and the Creator(s)’ channels. Some products or features of the drop may not be available in certain jurisdictions. Nothing in this article should be taken as legal or financial advice.
Editor’s Note (Oct. 10, 2022): an earlier version of this article was originally published on April 1, 2022 and has since been edited and/or updated.
