André Saraiva And Hackatao Release Their First Cryptographs
We are proud to announce that Cryptographs from the artists André Saraiva and Hackatao are now on auction at cryptograph.co
André Saraiva
André Saraiva (aka André and Monsieur A) was born in Sweden from Portuguese parents but grew up on the outskirts of Paris where he began tagging his name on the neighbourhood’s walls as a teenager. He was part of the early Parisian graffiti movement alongside artists like Space Invader and Zevs. He eventually found his iconic signature and alter-ego: a round-headed figure with long limbs and a circle and a cross for eyes — Mr A. He was one of the first artists in the 80s to use this kind of logotype as his signature and Mr A has been painted across all six inhabited continents. André has exhibited globally from the Parco Museum in Tokyo to the Grand Palais in Paris. His work has also been featured in museums such as the MoCA and in feature films such as Exit Through the Gift Shop. He is also a performance artist, famous for projects like “Love Graffiti” in which he spray painted the name of someone’s lover at an address of his or her choosing. He constantly experiments with new media, most recently working with traditional Portuguese tiles to create a wall in the heart of Lisbon.
André Saraiva’s Cryptograph
Mr A takes centre stage in André’s Cryptograph. In this particular case he has portrayed Mr A. as an unhappy planet earth who appears to be melting. André’s Cryptograph is a reference to how damaged our planet and environment is becoming and how global warming is essentially ‘melting away’ our world. In the top right of his artwork we see the words ‘We Love Oz’ (also the title of his piece) which is a message of support to the nation of Australia given the catastrophic wildfires that they endured earlier this year.
Hackatao
Hackatao (Sergio Scalet and Nadia Squarci) are a well-known artistic duo who formed in Milan in 2007. Their name Hackatao is a combination of the words “hacker” i.e. a person who circumvents or creatively overcomes challenges and “Tao”, which indicates basis of the Taoist religion and is considered to represent the pervasive principle of all things in the universe. Their crypto art is incredibly popular and they have been an active participant in the movement from it’s very early days. They are known for their Podmork creations, which are ‘UFO or Dreamy Monster’ like sculptures that have a soft and totemic shape. Their work explores big issues from technology to the environment and has an instantly recognisable style: it is visually dense mixing tattoo-like drawings and outlines with stark quotations. They have exhibited their paintings and sculptures widely, and their work is present on all the major Cryptoart gallery platforms out there today. Their work is particularly loved by art collectors in the digital community.
Hackatao’s Cryptograph
Hackatao’s Cryptograph is a GIF that displays a portrait of an Orangutan drawn in their distinctive style, with the words ‘SAVE ME’ superimposed on top of it. The outline of the orangutans head is filled with beautifully intricate drawings that are so precise they seem almost carved in metal. The artwork is aptly named ‘Self-Portrait of a Primate’ as its intent is to draw attention to the severely endangered species, by showing the viewer just how closely related we are to orangutans. Orangutans are the old people of the forest and they are known for their gentle and graceful nature. Today they face almost an 80% loss of their natural habitat in Indonesia and Malaysia and their numbers are declining rapidly.
André and Hackatao are both brilliant artists who have their own distinctive styles and use graffiti and graffiti like imagery in their work. Andre’s Cryptograph is helping to support the environment and combat climate change and Hackatao’s is supporting the Orangutan Outreach charity, who protect orangutans in their native forests and care for orphaned and displaced orangutans until they can be returned to their natural environment. We are very proud to have them both on the Cryptograph platform.
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