Hackatao’s Signature Styling Tattoos the $WHALE Vault
Exhibition Running Through January
Dynamic duo HACKATAO grace the $WHALE Arium Gallery for January’s artist of the month experience, curated by Breezy.
Hackatao are monarchs of the NFT scene 👑, a power couple who reign supreme in every media they put their hands to. Whale Shark has been an avid collector of Hackatao since he founded the WHALE vault.
“The creative force of nature, Hackatao, are recognized as one of the most important pioneers of the crypto art or NFT art movement. The Hackatao duo derive their name from the fusion of two words “hacker”, meaning “person who overcomes imposed limitations with creativity and ingenuity” and “tao”, meaning “all living“. This pursuit of creativity and an appreciation for all things that are life is apparent through their works that bear references to art history, symbolism, psychology, philosophy, and society,” he explains.
“Their signature surrealist pop style infused with symbolism that forms a core layer of beauty and meaning provides a depth of intellect and aesthetic that is unmistakably “Hack” and “Tao” within the roaring seas of digital art.”
Hackatao’s trademark is to dissolve boundaries and remix disparate sensibilities and styles (namely surrealist and superflat) into unforgettable artwork both physical and digital.
The Hackatao duo derive their name from the fusion of two words “hacker” , meaning “person who overcomes imposed limitations with creativity and ingenuity” and “tao”, meaning “all living“. — WhaleShark
Hackatao are true OGs of the cryptoart scene. Bold colors set off black lines of varying widths to create striking and definitive art that has made the Metaverse rounds with a host of groundbreaking projects.
“We are among the first artists in the world to use the Ethereum blockchain technology to certify and exchange our digital works, a real revolution in the world of art. We were selected to be frontline artists, along with a few others who get their art from AI. Hence a new movement in the world of art called cryptoart is being born.” —Hackatao, 2018
⏳ In The Beginning
The place is art and fashion mecca Milan, Italy. The year is 2005. The two opposing forces of Hackatao, (S+N) meet, merge and begin making art quite some time before NFTs were even a thing.
Their first collaboration, Podmorks, were small ceramic dolls painted with intricate detail. Podmorks were the canvas for the nascent spark that has evolved over the years to become their signature style.
Years of gallery exhibitions made them cult darlings of the Milan underground art scene, but their move out of the city botched that status for them for a while. What some saw as a defection provided Hackatao the focus that laid the groundwork for their first serious exhibition. Despite this, the couple was still able to support themselves making art, continuing their upward trajectory within the Italian fine art scene until 2018, when Hackatao discovered the blockchain and its practical potential. The rest is history.
Hackatao enjoys a particular sweet spot because they merrily dance on the line between the fine art and cryptoart realms. That is despite the fact that their first NFT ever, Girl Next Door, bore a specific message towards the former.
Their Hack of a Bear 🐻 project was a good illustration of this fact, when Christie’s London announced Hackatao’s digital companion piece to Leonardo da Vinci’s penetrating study Head of a Bear.
Hackatao enjoys a particular sweet spot because they merrily dance on the line between the fine art and cryptoart realms
🤝 COLLABORATION: A DRIVING IDEAL
Since Hackatao is the quintessential collaboration between two very different people, it’s natural that as a team, creating work with other artists is of the utmost importance to them. Collaboration with other artists is a mainstay of Hackatao’s modus operandi.
They have partnered with the likes of DC Comics OG Jose Delbo, Graffiti Queens and Cryptopunks.
They’ve also delved into the Metaverse with Cryptovoxels and have even created their own Sandbox game.
One notable collaboration was when Hackatao partnered with musical legends Blondie to create a project called Hack The Borders because well, cryptoart is quite punk rock, or at least has been up until recent developments.
“We would like to leave beauty to the world through our art. We would also like to leave an example. We really like to collaborate with other artists and players. We want to be an example of how you can create not just collaborative art but a community of people. We involve musicians and other artists and we really care about curation when it comes to drops and projects. Something we really hope to see and that we will always contribute to is the fact that, through the blockchain and smart contracts, different people can be remunerated automatically when they’re involved in a project. That’s something we really care about and we’ll help as much as we can.”- Hackatao in an interview with WealthSimple Magazine, July 2021
Another execution of this ideal is the Remix Me project, which invited noted artists to remix one Hackatao piece with their own respective styles. As usual, Hackatao started this project with an eye to innovation. In this case, they want to spearhead relevant legal innovation by analyzing how this project unfolds within its dynamics of sharing and widespread use of the art.
They joined forces with law firm Piselli and Partners in order to impact new copyright enforcement regulation and ideas. Although their intent is to initiate the definition of new legal protocol relevant to the cryptoart scene, it’s really about making sure artists get the financial remuneration they deserve for what they create.
In yet another manifestation of artistic collaboration, Hackatao partnered with Sotheby’s for Queens+Kings, the very first avatar project of its kind. This time, the focus was on bringing out the creative abilities of their collectors. They wanted to provide a technical platform where people could tweak their own PFPs. This is done according to the traits of the avatar they purchased as per a brand-new technology written specifically for this project by NFT Studios.
“By clicking on the Hack the Royals option (you have to actually own one, and connect your wallet), you can disassemble and reassemble your avatar with the traits that you own. You can detach the traits from the avatar that you own and make new use of them, or search the OpenSea marketplace for more traits to collect,” says Hackatao on their website.
To get all the details about how minting and customization works, please read this article or if you’d like a less technical breakdown, you can read more about how it works here.
🐋 Hackatao X WHALE
Though they’ve recently instituted their own Discord channel, Hackatao and their art has always found a home within the $WHALE community.
The MORK community resides in the $WHALE Discord. MORK is the Hackatao social token which enables holders to receive certain perks, such as whitelist privileges for the Queens+Kings drop, the second batch of which will occur in February, 2022.
The Archetype
One of the fifteen pieces displayed in the $WHALE Arium Gallery is The Archetype.
“Balance is core to the art of Tao, and on behalf of the Whale Community, I am honored to be sharing a masterpiece from this artistic duo that embodies this pursuit of life, death and perfection: The Archetype. The Archetype can be said to be the epitome of the synergy, divergence and harmony of the duality that is Hackatao. A fine balance between life and death. A fine balance between new and old. A fine balance between Hack and Tao.”- WhaleShark
👀 You can gaze at this sightly visage as well as 14 other Hackatao pieces owned by the $WHALE vault in the $WHALE Arium Gallery until the end of January.
We hope you join us in this celebration of Hackatao.
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