UNDRGRND DIGS 002
DECEMBER 6TH, 2021
5 Artists From the UNDRGRND Collection
UNDRGRND DIGS is a periodical feature showcasing artists that the UNDRGRND curators dig. We sift through the social media and NFT platforms to find the best artists waiting to be discovered. UNDRGRND believes in the artists we feature and we will purchase NFTs from each artist featured. Purchases will be airdropped to reward UNDRGRND community members.
If any NFTs can save the world they will come from the mind of Oli Sorenson. The short, brightly-colored, simplified gifs with an 8-bit look are easily digested visually allowing the deeper message of the agriculture industry and human’s ecological destruction to sneak through the viewers guard and fester. While his agriculture pieces may appear pessimistic and bleak, Oli provides solutions and hope for other issues like racial divide: love. Oli’s Interracial Crypto Sex series suggests that if we simply just love each other physically, eventually our offspring will begin to look the same with the melanin in our skin erasing our differences. The sentiment is such a beautiful notion and not to be overshadowed by the fact that sex without children (Reverse Cowboy and Scissors) helps bridge our divides and connects us as simply humans as well.
In 3 months Axstone will no longer be undiscovered. Arguably she has already engrained herself in the community as an established artist with a strong following. Her colorful and weird characters seem to resonate with so many of us but can only from the creative mind of one person. With little to no explanation of her pieces, Axstone allows the art to speak for itself. Her style is reminiscent of Mexican folk art, artesanías, which is typically created by someone with no formal training. This is a perfect metaphor for the new space we’re all a part of. There is no formal training for this and we are all learning together. Whether Axstone has had any formal training is irrelevant (so is the fact that she’s Turkish and not Mexican), especially in the NFT space. Artists are free to showcase their work and be celebrated by collectors where previous barriers of the traditional world may have hindered them. Even in this new space we all seem to gravitate towards talented artists and together we are beginning to build a consensus, organically, on talented artists such as Axstone.
Tim Burton animations feel childish compared to Wickana’s dark and beautiful scenes. Depicting nightmarish scenes, typically involving death, with poetic descriptions, her work captures the intrigue of any spectator. The description on hollow reads, “the destination is still very hazy, i'll be floating forever in thin uncertainty”. GUILT-lotine reads, "need to decapitate this unwanted feeling”. Whatever the feeling and struggles we all face there remains a beauty in surviving it and persevering. To experience happiness and fulfillment requires an opposite state to discern between the two. It may be an unfortunate reality but the truth remains and Wickana displays the beauty in darkness perfectly.
With the level of thought and the length of discussion around Lady Redhorn’s work, it was impossible not to feature her. Her talent is undeniable. Her paintings are striking. The subject matter is where the thought and discussion began. While the discussion of nudity may be a familiar one within the art world it is still new to the NFT world. NFTs have brought in a new generation of art collectors and speculators. With that comes individuals unfamiliar with discerning nudity that is objectifying versus nudity that serves a higher purpose. To not take the time to discuss, educate and push our collective understanding of controversial topics through a modern day renaissance would be a missed opportunity. Thanks to Lady Redhorn’s work we can begin to discuss the important topics of our existence.
It is easy to have superhero, robot and nerd-culture fatigue after years of movie studios plundering the childhood memories of 80s and 90s kids. However, Gilang Kusuma has awakened that inner child. Gilang’s work is refreshing, familiar, innovative and nostalgic all at the same time. Every streaming service wants to create a proprietary cinematic universe in hopes of becoming the next billion-dollar empire but most have forgotten that those fanbases were built from the ground up in comics. Each of Gilang’s NFT works as an individual panel in a larger narrative and then combined into one NFT as a series. With a unique set of colors, scenes set to music and an over-arching storyline Gilang Kusuma’s work should be experienced first hand. It should also be experienced on a large screen and, if history is any indicator, the way Gilang is revolutionizing the comic book experience it absolutely will be.
Each UNDRGRND DIGS will feature artists our curators have purchased for the UNDRGRND Collection. UNDRGRND will airdrop pieces from our collection to community members via giveaways.
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