What has happened this week on my journey?
Hi Fam.
This week I purchased 9 land parcels in the virtual world of Decentraland. I am selling 3 parcels and keeping 6 parcels as 1 estate. This has been a great step forward to my own gallery. I can’t wait to work with great artists like YOU. Keep an eye out on the progress
Artist of the Week
Week Nineteen: Dario
Twitter: Dariocavaliere3
View Artwork: Rarible / Foundation
Dario is an art director and motion designer based in Amsterdam. Since he was a kid he has always been fascinated by VFX and Sci-Fi movies (he’s an 80s kid, and -well- at the time everything seemed amazing). So, after his studies in Architecture, he decided to transform his passion into work and he started learning animation and 3D modeling, watching all the possible tutorials and therefore ended up spending a discreet amount of Friday nights in front of a monitor.
He doesn’t regret anything, btw. He likes to tell stories with his work, represents complex emotions, experiment with colors, lights, shapes, and materials, while treating his works like paintings, trying to re-create the vibes of some sort of New Renaissance Movement.
He first heard about NFTs through Rick Gude (friend, colleague and also an NFT artist) at the end of 2020. After some explorative readings and informative videos he decided to join the community end of February 2021.
Possibly, one of the best decisions ever; he never felt so creative, inspired and challenged in years. And most of all, he made friends.
“Portrait of a Knight” is one of his favorite artworks, inspired by the work of Caravaggio and Rembrandt, where Light and Darkness are the key elements of their paintings, it wants to emphasize the contrast between visible and invisible.
The light creates a dramatic chiaroscuro, highlighting the details and hiding the rest, capturing the moment and freezing the time. This piece has a special meaning for Dario, it’s a reminder of all the obstacles we have to face in life, all the sufferings, all the defeats that mark our path towards the success. Despite the sadness of the image, this artwork is an incentive to always fight back and overcome the difficulties.
The tools he used are Character Creator for the model, Marvelous designer for the clothing, Cinema4D for the 3D scene and render, After Effects for the compositing. During these months, Dario learned that in this NFT community “Patience and Dedication” are the key: We’re not in a hurry, we need to keep doing what we love and at some point, unexpected, we’ll find someone who loves our art as much as we do.
Always be yourself, be curious to try new techniques, and don’t be afraid of talking to other artists for feedback and opinions, because this is how we learn and grow as artists.
His inspiration is everything that surrounds him: Nature, people, stories, emotions. All his artworks tell something about him, his thoughts and his life.
Artist of the Week
Week Nineteen: Atefeh Sadr
Twitter: atefehsadr
View Artwork: OpenSea / Foundation
Atefeh is a female artist from Iran. She started drawing as early as 2 years old. Art has always been her passion and what she enjoyed doing most in her life. She studied Business and Computer Studies at university and worked as a sales and marketing professional at corporations for over 10 years while doing art on the side.
Three years ago she decided that she did not want to work 9-5 everyday doing what she did not love. Therefore, she quit her job and started full time as an artist. She took professional art classes and learned different techniques. Her works mainly include oil color, acrylic and watercolor paintings. She has participated in 5 exhibitions and was awarded in a national art festival. She was also amongst selected top young artists (under 35) by reputable galleries in the country.
Her inspiration comes from spirituality, philosophy and mythology. She is also fascinated by Rumi’s poems and ideas, which gives her great inspiration not only for her art but also for her life. She is fond of Surrealism, Pop art, Geometric Art, Minimalism and traditional Iranian architecture and uses ideas from them to create what she feels, thinks and believes about life, self-realization, beauty, compassion and nature, in her works.
She first heard about NFTs about 3 months ago through a post on Instagram criticizing NFTs and got curious, so she did her research and decided to enter this new art world. She watched many YouTube videos, read about NFTs and how to market art as NFTs.
Initially she started to mint her artworks on OpenSea and afterwards on hic et nunc. After some weeks, she got an invitation to Foundation through a competition tweet and got a bid on her first piece after a day, which became huge motivation for her.
She believes NFTs are the best thing that could have happened to her with regard to how she would like to make art, promote it and sell it no matter where she lives. She was amazed by how welcoming and supportive the NFT community has been. Even though living in Iran with all its difficult conditions, suppressions and inequalities against women is an everyday challenge, getting to know this community and meeting all its amazing people has helped her to not lose faith and become a better person. A kinder and more caring person and supportive of others especially those who are new and going through the same situations.
She believes that life is all about growing and becoming better. A better artist, a better person, a better community member. She is always trying to learn new skills, work with various styles and merge different elements or media to create unique pieces. She believes that not abiding to pre-defined and accepted styles have led to creation of masterpieces throughout art history. This happens when you step into the paths that no one has ever tried before.
All her works are combination of handmade/traditional art and digital art. She aims to show that real beauty comes when we accept and see the differences and contradictions, the traditional and the modern, the old and the new, the rough and the soft. For her, creating art is life itself. It is making peace with your past while you enjoy every present moment to create the future. This is the ultimate way to grow and prosper and enjoy life.
Her genesis piece on Foundation is “Garden of Eden.” It is one of a kind piece. A combination of hand drawn watercolor and digital art.
Inspired by Rumi’s poems and self-realization, she created this piece and wrote the description:
“What you’re looking at, looks back at you
What you’re looking at, is reflection of you
Once you stop chasing around to discover this truth…you’ll know that everything in the universe has always been within you.
you’ll know that your pain is your cure.
That very moment you’re enlightened and back into the Garden of Eden for good”
She wants to show that happiness and misery of people come mainly from within, how we look at the world and what we choose to remember and believe. Just like what Rumi says in discovering one’s supreme self and finding the ultimate heaven and hell inside oneself. Once we see and love ourselves for who we really are, we’ll look at the hardships and failures as the necessary steps to grow. And the person who embraces this, would never undervalue him/herself or lose faith.
Just like some of her other pieces, this piece emerged in the process. She did not have any predefined sketch in her mind and made it totally based on her instincts at the moment. She feels that her art and she, build each other up. Sometimes the art makes her look differently and take a new perspective.
Something she wants to share with others:
“Be yourself and show it in your art, that is the most unique quality and true value of your work.
Make your next piece better than the one before, that way you never stop growing.
Always be kind and caring to others. Always be supportive. Others are going through the same things as you are.”
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