VerticalCrypto Art’s Curatorial Picks — February 9th, 2022
Welcome to this week’s VerticalCrypto Art Curatorial Picks — the weekly series where we discuss the latest creative innovators within the VerticalCrypto Art ecosystem.
Today, we are delighted to welcome a unique blend of Stylists and 3D artists: TheBlackLab, Shir Pakman, Stephy Fung and Marjan Moghaddam.
This week, we will be exploring some examples of figurative representations of the human body and their relationship with the fashion sphere.
Our selected artists express through 3D software their creative flair & critical approaches. The artworks chosen for this Curatorial Pick convey personality and emotions familiar to our digital world within the Metaverse.
With that said, let us begin!
Artist #1 — TheBlackLab, ‘Andromeda’
TheBlackLab is an independent 3D artist, director and digital stylist based in Italy.
Running a CGI studio producing 3D content, motion graphics and Crypto Fashion,
TheBlackLab seeks to recreate the fashion experience within the Metaverse. Founded by 3D artist Amin Farah, TheBlackLab explores style, experimentation and innovation in digital style, using software packages such as Cinema 4D to create ethereal, generative garments.
Designing haute couture, pret’a portè and streetwear with leading fashion brands such as Adidas and Voile Blanche, Farah also conducts independent research in producing new combinations of digital fashion. TheBlackLab has created digital fashion and NFTs since February, 2021.
‘Andromeda’ is TheBlackLab’s latest digital fashion artwork on Portion, included within the Digital Fashion collection.
Designing a garment made for the fluid conditions of the Metaverse, ‘Andromeda’ envisages a hologram as a piece of clothing. Lacking real-world conditions, this piece depicts a constellation of fashion brands, lit up on a translucent display surrounding the model.
‘Andromeda’ has been chosen for this week’s Curatorial Pick thanks to its creative freedom. As described by Amin Farah, dematerialised clothes allow for a future where clothes are no longer needed to protect wearers from the heat or cold.
Artist #2 — Shir Pakman, ‘My Girl with a Red Hat’
Shir Pakman is a visual artist, 3D illustrator and animator based in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Taking inspiration from traditional art, Shir Pakman creates models, motion graphics and illustrations alluding to paintings and subjects from throughout art history. Having a fascination with pastiche and satire, Pakman deploys all-women subjects in her oeuvre, establishing modern revisions to some of the most well-known artworks in western culture.
Adopting a new layer to illustration movements seen in recent years, Shir combines unusual painterly gestures with 3D models to create phygital crossovers in digital and physical mark-making. Pakman has been creating NFTs since around September, 2021.
‘My Girl with a Red Hat’ is one of Shir Pakman’s latest artworks minted on SuperRare.
Referencing Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Red Hat’ (1666), this work provides a fresh take on the artist’s smallest recorded artwork. Holding a gaze similar to the original, Pakman’s subject gives a pensive stare with her 3D model, and nods to Vermeer’s first use of colour with the subject’s strongly contrasting cadmium red hat and cobalt blue coat.
‘My Girl with a Red Hat’ has been chosen for this week’s Curatorial Pick thanks to Pakman’s reflection on art history. Taking a look back at original tropes from former movements, this piece elevates Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Red Hat’ with a strong, revised subject and striking fashion sense.
Artist #3 — Stephy Fung, ‘映月 Ying Yue’
Stephy Fung is a 3D digital fashion artist based in London, England.
Creating digital fashion sought from culture, Stephy Fung celebrates her Chinese heritage through digital garments. Widely regarded as the first artist to create a virtual Quipao — a form-fitting garment of Manchu origin — Fung is known to explore pattern designs and revise traditional fashion through virtual clothing.
Collaborating with notable brands such as Selfridges and Glenfiddich and featuring in articles by HypeBeast, Jing Daily and many other notable news outlets, Stephy Fung has been creating digital fashion and NFTs since 2020.
‘映月 Ying Yue’ is a late piece by Stephy Fung, curated within Plan X Gallery’s ‘FOMO’ drop on Nifty Gateway.
Showcasing an elegant dress, ‘映月 Ying Yue’ is a Quipao which is deeply embed in Chinese culture. Dancing in black and gold in front of a misty seascape, this work graces the viewer with its serene appearance, diligent attention to detail and calming soundtrack.
‘映月 Ying Yue’ has been chosen for this week’s Curatorial Pick thanks to its acknowledgement of tradition in the wake of innovation. Highlighting classic garments within a metaversal setting, Fung combines the best of both worlds within the increasingly sophisticated world of digital fashion.
Artist #4 — Marjan Moghaddam, ‘Glitch Goddess in Pink’
Marjan Moghaddam is an award-winning digital artist and animator based in New York City, USA.
Using 3D software to produce animations and texture mapping across prints, videos and installations, Marjan Moghaddam creates subjects and environments which reflect innovation. Seeking to democratise curation by hacking footage of art fairs, galleries and museums, Moghaddam engages in critical social and political discourse covering communication and warfare through her original style of figuration, known as ‘Chronometric Sculpture’. Marjan Moghaddam has been creating NFTs since August 2020.
‘Glitch Goddess in Pink’ is an original CGI animation by Marjan Moghaddam, minted on SuperRare.
Appearing for the first time at Dreamverse NYC in November, 2021, ‘Glitch Goddess in Pink’ acts as an intervention to the inequality experienced by women in the art world. By glitching historical depictions of women in a singular form, this piece acts as part of an extended contemporary discourse which uses digital plasticity to switch between slender, heavy, glitched and fashion-informed states.
‘Glitch Goddess in Pink’ has been chosen for this week’s Curatorial Pick for a variety of reasons. Firstly, this piece has been making appearances this week as 30’ soft sculptures and large outdoor prints at Vancouver Winter Arts Festival 2022. Second, Moghaddam’s work has been indexed in dozens of art publications as the first feminist piece with viral metrics.
Marjan is a much cherished artist within the VerticalCrypto Art community. Collaborating with VCA on multiple occasions, we are delighted by her recent success!
That’s a Wrap!
And that’s a wrap! Thank you very much for stopping by this Curatorial Pick — we really enjoyed this week’s talented crypto fashionistas and 3D artists, and hope you did too. Until next time — take care!
