Editorial Listening

The work of Nicholas Keays , an artist based in Melbourne, has been called “Psychedelic” and “Trippy”, but we feel this is not an accurate characterization. His work is fascinating from an Aesthetic point of view and we believe it is important to take a moment to accurately characterize his Corpus.His Corpus is a methodical, focused and solemn expression of the solipsistic and deranged nature of contemporaneity. Something dark, from beyond, perhaps these “dark energies hiding in the shadows” the artist refers to, takes hold or emerges from beautifully crafted, solitary figures. It is fascinating to see how the artist captures this “uncanny” (a reference to Freud’s Das Unheimliche ) darkness “boiling up” from within, which rises and strangles human forms or structures.This is particularly evident in his collaboration with Dugong Jr, a Triptych that captures in stunning fashion the heaviness and materiality of Gold , Jade and Ceramic . In Gold (left), a lone figure is fighting a decidedly losing battle against a serpentine, emergent darkness and his silent cry for help is captured with brio, providing the viewer with a poignant depiction of the internal battles we are sometimes engaged in.The piece below, published in FELT Zine 28 , is much more than a striking depiction of how self-centered we have become, thanks to technology which has liberated or rather unleashed the dark energies of solipsisms by dragging feet first Conversation into a desert of insignificance. With her back turned, the metallic, flawless figure reminds us that the meaning of Conversation and Community is now lost to us. There are only people “turning their back” to one another, speaking in a void, and doing this while seeking attention , while drawing attention to each and every aspect of themselves (ego broadcasting). Nicholas Keays is supremely aware of this, and this is something that is expressed without any form of commentary.An authentic Conversation is “Hegelian” in the most naive sense: I have to “turn around” (something the mysterious figure refuses to do or simply cannot do as she is bound – the chains – to her idiosyncrasy) and face the Other in order to lose myself within the Other, but by losing myself, my ego, I find myself through the Other, through his World. A true conversation begins by the annihilation, by the crucifixion of the self.As can be seen below, the individual completely lost to the authentic meaning of Conversation “throws herself” (this is a reference to Heidegger’s Geworfenheit , or “throwness”) and her “things” towards the Other (“Am I not pretty?”) in the hope that a possible interlocutor will find her appealing and that an exchange will suddenly take place.Solipsism , brilliantly captured in Muscle Memory (below) seems to be a recurrent theme in his Corpus. The individual depicted in Muscle Memory is not lonely or solitary, since loneliness and solitude, as existential choices, both imply the reassuring and warm presence of Community, an anchor to which we can return at the time of our choosing. This piece is a glorious expression of Dystopian Solipsism, the type of Solipsism that obliterates Conversation and Community. Dystopian Solipsism is the endgame of the Cartesian Revolution, which largely contributed to put the Ego at the Center of Nature and Knowledge. The excesses of German Idealism, Surrealism, and even the way Classicism surrendered to Baroque all pave the way to a piece such as Muscle Memory, an Ode to the Ego liberated from the imperative of Otherness .How should we approach Nicholas Keays as investors and collectors? His excellent collaborations with Bring Me The Horizon , Dugong Jr. and PNAU did wonders for his profile in the Crypto Art scene, as did his interviews with Vogue Italy and FELT Zine .There seems to be a growing level of awareness about his work as people discover and learn about his vast output outside of the Crypto Art Sector. There is no way to accurately q...

We believe that a genuine understanding of Mr Misang’s work requires a detour in a region few of us non-Koreans are even aware of: Hell Korea .Hell Korea (the expression “Hell Joseon”, 헬조선, is also widely used. “Joseon” refers to South Korea’s Joseon feudal dynasty, during which Confucian hierarchies came to concretely determine the structure of Korean society) is an emotionally charged expression used to describe a geographical region, South Korea, that unfortunately evokes strong feelings of enslavement, desperation and helplessness among the country’s youth.South Korea’s young men and women, faced with a rather rigorous and expensive education system , mandatory military service for men, a high cost of life (one only needs to take a look at the onerous Jeonse – 전세 – and Wolse -월세- housing systems, the price of a flat in the Gangnam or Seolleung districts, or take note of the rising rents in the increasingly gentrified Itaewon and Hongdae districts) and poor job prospects , have expressed the fervent wish to leave the 10th richest nation in the world in a staggering proportion of 79.1% for men and 72.1% for women.While it would be a mischaracterization to describe Mr Misang’s work as a pure representation (mimesis) or “mise-en-scene” of Hell Korea, one has to admit that key elements of his work are inspired by this notion that Korea is Hell on Earth. Mr Misang’s dense and focused Poiesis brings into being something that is not a blind representation of Hell Korea but something entirely new, that goes beyond the empirical truth of South Korea as a society but which is at the same time heavy with the author’s experience.Take his 12-part animated series entitled “Modern Life is Rubbish” for example (referred to as MLIR for the remainder of this article).MLIR #8, entitled “Packed Subway” (see below), a brilliant piece from a thematic point of view, will evoke feelings of familiarity to anyone who had the opportunity to experience Seoul’s infamous Line no.2 at peak time – especially around the Gangnam or Express Bus Terminal Stations.Mr Misang’s approach is to use a good dose of humor (better to laugh at the insanity of the situation, honestly) to depict an unpleasant reality (overcrowded public transportation) many Koreans have to endure twice a day, everyday.A “Salaryman” at the bottom of the piece speaks loudly on his phone, ignoring the categorical imperative of curtesy, while another smashes what looks like a bottle of Soju (소주), an alcoholic beverage popular in South Korea, on the head of a fellow Ajusshi (in Hangul: 아줐히, middle-aged man).While it might be a stretch to compare Mr Misang to Pieter Breughel, both artists share an uncanny talent for dense description and character depiction. Mr Misang’s character-based work however distinguishes itself with hard contrasts and the colors we are treated to are firmly rooted in Crypto Art’s distinctive palette.It is with a mixture of surprise and envy that we learned that Mr Misang published his first pieces on the Ethereum blockchain in early 2021. He is a new entrant, which means that sufficient sales points, which would help us form an objective assessment of his work, are not available at the moment.But all is not lost: a few fascinating data points have emerged for his MLIR collection.Shall we take a look?As we can see on the chart below, there was a good amount of activity in the first and second quarters during the multi-week drop of his MLIR collection.A closer look will reveal an interesting pattern, a specific market dynamic and a strategy for us collectors and investors will reveal itself.The 12 pieces that make up the “Modern Life is Rubbish” collection were not dropped at once. Mr Misang adopted a patient, calculated approach and dropped them one at a time, between February and April of this year.The images below tell the fascinating story of this drop.MLIR 1 to 5 fetched prices that were well below 100K. This changes with #6 and all sub...

In the past, computer games were something you did for fun. Some of those games were so fun, that you may have even paid for the privilege of playing them.But today, with the growing use of blockchain technology and the rise of cryptocurrency use in the gaming industry, you can actually get paid to play. And no, you don’t have to be a professional gamer or a live streamer.Simply by completing activities in the game, and competing with others, you can earn digital assets, worth real money, in a number of ways. In particular, the NFT games 2021 has to offer are rewarding users with valuable, non-fungible tokens that you can sell or exchange.And some of these NFTs can command a pretty penny. So if you want to start earning valuable digital assets, simply by playing games, then keep reading to discover the best NFT games to play right now.HOW PLAY-TO-EARN GAMES WORK ON THE BLOCKCHAINThe gaming industry is huge. And it’s constantly evolving. But the traditional model may be on its way out, which requires players to pay for a game upfront before they can play it.But one of the fastest-growing trends in the gaming world is the free-to-play model. With free-to-play games, you can play first and only pay later on, if you feel the desire to.For example, one of the most popular games right now is Fortnite. This is surprising, considering the game is totally free. But the company that created the game still makes bank, to the tune of $1.8 billion in 2019, by selling in-game items.The gaming industry hasn’t stopped there, though. Now we are seeing more and more play-to-earn games popping up. Not only are games free to play, but you can actually earn money, in the form of tokens, as well as unique items, in the form of NFTs.This is all thanks to the world of DeFi, or decentralized finance, powered by blockchain technology.When playing NFT games, you can usually earn various cryptocurrencies by completing tasks and progressing in the game. You can use these in-game to purchase different items, or you can trade them on cryptocurrency exchanges, giving you the option to cash out the rewards you’ve earned.But you can also earn NFTs , which are unique, tokenized assets. These are usually items that you can use in the game itself but can also be traded.Wondering why players are rewarded? Because the more that a player engages with the virtual world, the more value they create for other players, as well as for the developers of the game.So you never have to feel like you are wasting time playing video games anymore. The more time you play, the more tokens and NFTs you can earn. When you’re done, you can sell or trade, having something to show for the hours spent gaming.TOP NFT GAMES 2021So what are the top NFT games you need to know about? These games are rated highly both for gameplay, and the ability to earn these assets, and should be the first on your list to try.Axie INFINITYThe most popular NFT game available right now is Axie Infinity. If you are even remotely interested in cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance, then you’ve heard about Axie Infinity and the ability to earn valuable NFTs by playing a video game.The reason that Axie Infinity is so popular is due to its resemblance to Pokemon. In the game, the goal is to breed digital, NFT pets, known as Axies. These Axies are used to battle other players.Axies are unique thanks to a unique code of genetics, which are then passed down to offspring. Some are more rare, powerful, and sought after than others.And since the game is based on the Ethereum blockchain, you can trade Axies on NFT marketplaces. So the rare Axies will fetch higher prices than the more common ones.In order to start playing Axie Infinity, new players first need to purchase three Axies for themselves. You can do this by first acquiring Smooth Love Potion (SLP), which is the game’s native ERC-20 token.Throughout the game, winning battles with other players and completing quests can reward you with additional SLP,...

Hackatao, a fiercely rebellious Italian duo composed of Nadia Squarci and Sergio Scarlet, made quite an impression in April of 2018 with their first SuperRare Drop – an animated piece entitled “Girl Next Door”. They have since then become such a foundational element of Crypto Art that we have to proceed here with a slight amount of reverence.The tag “Surrealist pop”, a potent expression of the disarray of contemporary Aesthetics, a science that has lost its way and which is incapable of speaking about Crypto Art without comfortable references to the past, has often been used to describe their work. However one does really wonder if this characterization is accurate as their work is neither pop nor surrealist.While there is a large amount of literature covering this Duo, there is a dearth of serious articles written from the point of view of Aesthetics . As we will see below, the labels pop and surrealist are so far off the mark that they actually obfuscate the essence of their work and what their work aims to “bring to light”.“Hack for the pleasure of going under the skin and discovering what’s hidden inside.”The Core ( Kerngehalt ) of Hackatao’s work reveals the Essence of the Subject. By revealing the Essence of the Subject, their work satisfies the Phenomenological requirement of a retroversion towards authentic Reality , towards the World that we live in ( Lebenswelt ) defined as the convergence of our perceptual and conceptual layers.But wait.Do we not know what a Subject is?Is it not obvious?Today, the Subject has the “character of what is known” ( A. Riehl’s Charakter der Bekannheit ), the “quality of what is known ” (H. Höffding’s Bekannheitsqualität ), without being truly known. We presuppose the Subject as “known”, and this is exactly why the essence of the Subject remains unknown to us.The very notion that we are in possession of the Essence of the Subject is a preposterous idea. This is the reason why Hackatao’s work is a gift. Hackatao’s work presentifies – or, for those who strongly disapprove of impromptu neologisms – “makes present” what is right in front of us yet remains undisclosed and obfuscated.As we can see below, something is brought to the surface, but perhaps it would be better to write that something “boils up to the surface” and de- monstrates ( monstrare ) its unrestrained character.The chaotic combinations of characters, of references and of situations is free-flowing and fluid, however the clear outlines provide structure in a way that prevents what is brought to the surface from leaking out. What was once within now occupies the graphical space created by these outlines. The distinction that we make between outline and content brings to mind the false dichotomy between form and content: the outlines are the form filled by what was once within. In Aesthetics we should obviously be wary and raise eyebrows when such things are written, but this simple dichotomy does provide an entry point into the substance of hackatao’s act of bringing to light the Essence of Subjectivity.From the point of view of Reception Aesthetics , it’s interesting to see how the eye is led from the deceptively simple outlines to the chaotic “fillings”. The eye is “caught” in this chaotic maze and literally led to explore every single centimeter of the graphical space. These fillings are what we call in reception Aesthetics “Calling Structures” ( Appellstruktur in German and Structures d’Appel in French). These structures lead perception, they install the viewer in an immersive sphere in which the structure of the interaction between the viewer and the thing viewed is determined by the thing itself. The viewer is led to see certain aspects of a piece before certain others (the outline before the fillings, for example). Our duo, being classically trained in the Arts and having a deep understanding of Aesthetics, most probably understands this principle and uses it to lead the viewer towards an underst...

Blockchain Networks are closed systems by definition and by design. By closed, we imply that by themselves blockchains cannot natively access information from the outside world. This intrinsic incapacity to interface with the empirical world that we live in and to consume information from the Outside are defining traits of this self-referential technological stack.Deaf beef’s work is a fear-inducing and claustrophobic illustration of Blockchain as a closed system.The decidedly solipsistic character of his aesthetic is destabilizing – faced with the haunting beauty and austere simplicity of pure code, the viewer, standing in a void of nothingness, reaches out for comfortable and reassuring references and there are none to be found, no familiar representational anchors come flying to the rescue.There is nothing mimetic and substantial in his minimal and daring aesthetic. There is nothing here that would suggest his inputs, pure code, are inspired by elements of the real world. The outputs , the pieces generated without supervision from pieces of code, bear no resemblance to anything we can see in the real world. What we have here is the decaying (his pieces degrade with each wallet change) expression of the self-referential character of blockchain technology.The starting point for each of his pieces (and this aspect of his Modus Operandi truly challenges Aesthetic’s understanding of Art) is self contained code written in C, an object oriented programming Language. His code directly outputs raw numerical data encodable to sound and visual media. His work is fearlessly autotelic, the Alpha of this autotelic merry go round being C code stored on-chain (and not on an external service such as IPFS) that targets Ethereum, which is itself dependent on C Compilers.Deafbeef stuns the classically trained Art critic further (who wonders with a smirk if we are still dealing with Art, and when this generative nonsense will end) when he states that his models are deterministic . Should anything happen to an NFT, his models are sufficient to perfectly reproduce the generated outputs (the artist even provides very precise instruction to reconstruct the NFT). As the models are stored on the Ethereum Blockchain, the permanence of the outputs is assured.His Synth Poems , variation on the theme of the evanescence of the Author, are minute long generative pieces leveraging the power of FM synthesis. Each piece is generated on the fly at the time of minting from a random hash value. The focus of his synth poems is audio, however the audio is accompanied by visualizations that are reminiscent of early computer graphics. The left and right audio channels are mapped to X and Y coordinates of an oscilloscope to produce haunting visualizations.Deafbeef distinguishes himself by his parsimonious nature: he understands there is value in holding back (only 49 posts on his Instagram account since August 2020) and speaking, or shall we say minting, only when necessary. He does not hide the fact that the amount of mints should be kept to a minimum: “The number of mints should only be as many as is required to display the range of the generative system”. This parsimony induces a certain amount of scarcity on the markets, which is great for prices in the long run.How should collectors and investors approach Deaf beef’s work?There is strong steady interest for his work, as can be seen on Crypto Slam (see below). This fact diminishes the risk that his NFTs will remain unsold (and turn into idle assets) if one wishes to sell them.Data gathered from NFTStats corroborates this: strong, steady interest for pieces that fetch prices in the mid six-figures.A chart from a different source (artcentral.io) tells the same story: strong, steady interest with price firmly anchored in the mid six-figures (see below).Our preferred strategy is to hold long-term. The combination of induced scarcity, the ambitious nature of his Modus Operandi, and the fact that his c...

Within Aesthetics the exactitude of definitions matters tremendously. Well crafted definitions are powerful tools that help us circumscribe and understand styles, methods and movements and describe the work of artists with precision. When claims are made about an artist’s style or intention (claims such as: this artist dabbles in conceptualism or photorealism), only well crafted definitions enable us to validate or invalidate the “truth content” of those claims.This introductory methodological consideration brings us to the idea, often repeated, that fvckrender is a surrealist artist.Well, is he?Let us first define Surrealism and then proceed to validate or invalidate this idea, which raises eyebrows, that the Montreal, Canada native, who is known to push the technological limits of Digital Art, is a representative of this movement.It is the French Artist Guillaume Apollinaire who coined the term “Surrealism”. However, it was André Breton who defined Surrealism in his Manifesto as “pure psychic automatism, by which one proposes to express, either verbally, in writing, or by any other manner, the real functioning of thought. Dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic and moral preoccupation.”The Unconscious and its mechanisms take center stage within Surrealism. This movement sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious by tapping into it (automatic painting is a striking illustration of this).While Fvckrender’s AR Work , for example, illustrates the intrusion of something dark and deeply deranged in the monotony and grayness of the real world (this could easily be confused with Surrealism), he is not the surrealist visionary certain critics think he is. Surrealism requires deep intention, Mens Rea. Frederic Duquette is absolutely not preoccupied by the creative potential of the unconscious, and his sole concern is to push the technology to its absolute limits through the representation of, shall we say, “oniric” landscapes, which all carry the weight of Crypto Art’s visual signature (neon colors, shiny renders, detailed, high-resolution animations).Fvckrender is not a surrealist artist – and while he is deeply abstract, he is not a conceptual artist. Conceptual artists, as we know, focus on process, on the All-Powerful “Idea”, and their own statements about the work they do is of utmost importance. By his own admission, Fvckrender’s art, which is breathtaking, abstract and substantial, is just a collection of elements that he finds interesting: “ There is nothing too profound in my art. ”Balance, Process of Life, Mixmania, Skateable (day 1701) and Planté (Day 1566) are the standout pieces in his gigantic Corpus. His work is precise, cold yet expressive in its calculated neutrality and substantiality, and filled with forms and landscapes bathed in a kind of fluorescent serenity.There is abundant sales data available for this artist, which we are very thankful for. To this day, Fvckrender has sold 1965 NFTs, and his entire Corpus has an approximate value of 8,673,941 US Dollars. The most expensive piece he ever sold is Self-Help (which we can see below), with a price tag of 675,641 US Dollars. In second position comes his piece entitled Yin Yang , with a 217,311 US Dollar price tag. And his Perceptions comes third with a price of 197,556 US dollars.Frederic Duquette’s Fvckrenderverse is a tremendous feat of technology and perhaps the best way one can get induced into his universe. The Fvckrenderverse is a downloadable platform which features a variety of Areas or Worlds. In one area, certain collections or NFT Drops can be viewed as cohesive landscapes. Another area contains 3D models of each one-of-one NFT he has ever published. The Fvckrenderverse can be downloaded here .Fvckrender’s work is in demand, that is the least we can say. The chart below shows steady market activity for the period ranging from November 2020 to today. Sale...

Our Preferred Strategy: Purchase near or exactly at Drop Time, then list Days or Weeks later at a price which is a multiple of original listing price. “Roll” funds into recently published XCOPY pieces and repeat the process.We write with purpose: we aim to provide Keyholders with objective, data-driven assessments which demonstrate a deep, intimate knowledge of Crypto Art. Our hope is that these assessments will become, with time, an integral part of their decision making process. The attitude that we should favor while making these assessments is to put our biases and preconceptions about certain artists, styles, movements and collections in brackets (in a sort of Phenomenological Epoche) – in order to let the data and the Art speak for themselves. At the very least, when it is not possible to do so, we should clearly “announce” our biases – they will bubble up to the surface anyway if we don’t – instead of pretending to speak with an objective voice. It is in this methodological spirit that we admit our incapacity to push aside our admiration and a feeling of deep deference for the artist (or artist collective) named XCOPY. Our only hope is that these feelings will not give too much color to the assessment below.XCOPY emerged in 2010 from the dark depths of Tumblr. It was there that he first published his apocalyptic, dread filled pieces, which quickly gained a dedicated following. Tumblr’s gif file upload size limit (1 megabyte) provided a very restrictive creative canvas and helps us understand the genetics of the artist’s fast, choppy animation style.XCOPY released his first Non-Fungible tokens on the now defunct Ascribe.io platform (which we remember with fondness), R.A.R.E. Art Labs and Digital Objects .XCOPY went on to release more than 140 NFTs on SuperRare, and (as per NFTNDX.IO) 1452 NFTs in total, minted on 10 separate contracts (the specific details of the contracts XCOPY has used during his career as a Crypto Artist can be found here ). Hard work and stylistic consistency turned him into a legendary figure in the Crypto Art Space. According to CryptoArt.io, his Corpus is currently worth an astounding 30 Million US Dollars. In March of this year, XCOPY’s “Death Dip” (below) broke the SuperRare sales record with a price tag of 1000 ETH. His second biggest sale is “Reflection” with a price tag of 475 ETH and the static “Summer.jpg” comes in third position with a price tag of 336 ETH.His style can be recognized instantly: his work is colorful, fun and captivating. He is a true pioneer of Crypto Art and he has inspired legions of imitators such as the team behind the Punks/Xcopy collection .How does one approach XCOPY from an Aesthetic point of view? XCOPY provides a convincing illustration of traditional Aesthetic’s incapacity to “get” Crypto Art. The fact is that Academics and traditional aesthetics have been absolutely blindsided by the emergence of Crypto Art. The familiar criteria and methods of Aesthetics are no longer useful here (“You have no Power here”) – which is why so many critics and artists choose rejection, which is easier and definitive, rather than genuine understanding. The Aesthetic value of Crypto Art is unquestionable, although unexplainable given the state of complete disarray in which Aesthetic finds itself today: its mere existence calls for the emergence of new criteria and methods, adapted to these new objects which challenge our understanding of Art.From a Material point of view, XCOPY’s work, deeply abstract without falling in the mercantile trap of cheap “conceptualism”, bears the weight of Crypto Art’s visual signature: Neon Colors, absurd, cartoonish silhouettes and character depictions, and nervous strokes that complement a raw sense of humour.The more we look at his work and the more we understand why he is hailed as one of the most important Crypto Artists alive. His work reminds us of what Heidegger says about the “bringing forth” (Veranlassung) of meaning. Somethi...

Bianca Beers, who has over the years cultivated a powerful online presence and seems to enjoy steady, positive coverage from the Press, is genuinely interesting from an Aesthetic point of view. Her skill is never in question: upon looking at her work it is obvious that her skillful hand shows no hesitation.Her love of Music, Urban Culture and Fashion is apparent and her naive and substantial visual signature can be easily recognized across her collections. Her work exudes a clean and youthful energy and it is easy to understand why she has been in the crosshairs of large brands and corporations.Her work is a celebration of Presence. What do we mean?By Presence we mean what is immediately apparent, that which appears to us without ambiguity, that which takes a stand in front of us and requires no explanation since it is somewhat familiar in its ipesity, immediately recognized and understood. Her focus on Presence is apparent in her Gods of Growth series, which she crafted for Binance’s 100 Creators Campaign. This focus on appearance and on the external is diametrically opposed to Conceptual Art’s focus on Pure Subjectivity and Inner Life, which takes the form of statements or explanations by artists who abhor letting the Aesthetic speak for itself. It is not clear if the public understands that her work constitutes a – perhaps unintentional – silent critique of the excesses of conceptualism, and an attempt to let the Aesthetic speak for itself.Her focus on appearance, which is actually a risky strategy, never devolves into blandness or superficiality. Take a look at “Cellophane” for example.The face of a young woman is brought to life by a masterful use of layers and vibrant colors, and it should be apparent upon inspection that what we stated about Presence applies here: there is no hidden meaning, no esoteric symbolism deeply hidden in the fabric of this piece, things that are traditionally “brought forth” by analysis, commentary or exegesis: all of the artist’s energy was spent depicting a young woman and bringing to life her characteristics and idiosyncrasies.Bianca Beers challenges the notion that Art should be about profound ideas playing hide and seek and waiting to be found out behind a veil of colors ans structures. We are not saying that her work is superficial or lacks meaning, or that we are dealing with an empty-headed Savant blessed with an Adobe subscription: what we say is that she takes position by allowing the Aesthetic, the pure appearance of the individuals that she depicts, to speak for itself. Bianca Beers is a rare animal: she has enough self-restraint (all masters possess a great degree of self-restraint) to not speak on behalf of the Aesthetic, but to simply bring it to existence with mastery and let it be.DesCartes, Kant and let’s not be afraid to say it, German Idealism, are so important in the history of Ideas because they are important markers in the advent of a new Paradigm: the Subject, the “sphere of absolute beginnings”, dethrones the Object as the prime focus of Intellectual Inquiry. Conceptual Art is a derived product of this epistemological cataclism – which is the reason why it is incapable of letting the Aesthetic speak for itself – the Subject, with a smirk, always need to have the last word. Bianca Beers is genuinely interesting because she turns that Paradigm on its head: her ego never gets in the way, and her objects speak for themselves with eloquence and grace.Within the NFT sector, she is promised to a very bright future. The work she does on the outside of the NFT sector (she has done work for brands such as Nike and Microsoft) will certainly boost her profile among Crypto-Native and Crypto-Curious collectors. Queries on NFT analytics platforms did not return the results that we expected, but perhaps it has to do with the fact that not enough data has been collected so far on her NFT work. An objective, data-driven assessment of her work will have to wait and for the mome...

There is barely any information online about the enigmatic figure known as Nicholas Keays, who defines himself as “a 3D artist trapped in Purgatory”. This makes the task of objectively assessing his works, in order to devise a trading or holding strategy very difficult.Queries on platforms such as NFT Stats and Nifty Rivers return no usable Data Points. In addition, Mr. Keays has not yet experienced the catalytic effect of the Press’ attention.Therefore, in order to evaluate the merits of his portfolio, we will have to resort to a purely Aesthetic approach, until more information (articles, data points) is available online for us to peruse. Be warned: this can be a dangerous and misleading approach, as the NFT market is exuberant, irrational and doesn’t always behave in phase with flowery aesthetic discourse.Nicholas Keays’ work is characterized and punctuated by surges of brilliance.The piece entitled “ Muscle Memory ”, for which we have a fondness, stands tall above the rest of his works, thanks to its boldness, plasticity and sheer excellence of the render. The piece carries the weight of Crypto Art’s visual signature, with the gradient background providing a subtle reference to “Neon”, a staple of Crypto Art, while the skin of the “Model” shines and glistens, as she struggles with the daunting task to maintain a sense of dignity by any means possible.Nicholas Keays’ collaboration with Dugong Jr , in the form of a Triptych (Gold, Jade and Ceramic), captures the materiality and concreteness of Sculpture and delivers, without the need of convoluted statements, purely by Aesthetic means, a powerful idea: a form emerges and reaches out, but is quickly brought back in by the heaviness and the weight of a Serpentine captor. Each piece of the Triptych, animated in glorious detail, is a brilliant illustration of the idea of the losing battles we fight daily against temptation.From an Aesthetic point of view, it is clear that Nicholas Keays, an emergent artist, shows signs of Maturity. He is gifted with the uncanny ability to issue blistering social critiques without proffering a single word, through Aesthetic means, in direct contrast with the Praxis and Ethos of Conceptual Art. When he provides a commentary, it is more poetry than the justification of a process“Stretch deep into your hip muscles and direct the flow of your breath to the area of tension, observe the melting away of unconscious trauma and emotions stored in the body as to move forward feeling lighter and Happier.”It seems the Press has not yet received the memo, and the market (judging by the action on markets such as Superrare and makersplace) has not taken notice (this will not last). This is an opportunity for collectors.Nichola Keays has a fondness for collaborations (PNAU, Dugong Jr). All it would take is for Mr. Keays to collaborate with an established artist in the NFT sector. This would generate copious amounts of Press and affect the value of his entire portfolio. Therefore, we would like to frontrun the Press and Collectors by taking a long-term, calculated risk: purchasing Muscle Memory or any piece of the above-mentioned Triptych – they warrant the purchase by their excellence alone – is a sound strategy, given that his portfolio has not yet enjoyed the effect of steady, positive commentary in the form of Interviews, Crypto Twitter chatter and Analysis.Our Preferred NFT Strategy: Buy and Hold – Long Term.DYOR: Not financial advice. If you enjoyed this post, consider becoming a keyholder for members-only exclusives.

Kevin Abosch knows his way around words and takes precautions to not define himself (and to not let the Press define him) as a Crypto Artist: “I wouldn’t want somebody to say ‘That’s Kevin the crypto artist.’ I’m a conceptual artist who works with a number of different media, including photography and blockchain.”But this is something we already knew: Kevin Abosch is an Outsider, not a native Crypto Artist. It is immediately obvious, to anyone who has any kind of familiarity with the NFT sector, that his work doesn’t carry the weight of Crypto Art’s visual signature, a common visual language evidenced by Tanya4D ’s joyful exuberance or Xcopy ’s raw primitivism, for example.But perhaps a taste of the Outside is exactly what the NFT sector needs at the moment. Perhaps it is exactly what the doctor ordered.As an Outsider, Kevin Abosch brings the Ethos and Praxis of Conceptual Art to the NFT sector: a relentless focus on process and meaning. We are taken aback as this is something we are not accustomed to.Initially, we get the sense that Kevin Abosch’s NFT Art comes in direct conflict with the very nature of Crypto Art, which favors a time and capital intensive form of Blender/C4D powered, in-your-face visual expression, without long-winded explanations: “shiny” pieces are “thrown” in the attention economy, “premiered” on Crypto Twitter or Discord and presented as is for immediate consumption without artist statements and convoluted socio-philosophical commentary.Conceptual Art, which Kevin Abosch practices, is the expression of a civilization that favors discourse and the discursive concept above all else. Conceptual Art has come to put the discursive above the purely Aesthetic, and a symptom of this are the artist statements that unavoidably accompany the works that are pushed towards a sometimes, shall we say, reluctant public.The value of conceptual art then has to be derived from: 1. the discourse that the artists themselves offer about their own work, and 2. the process which is inseparable from this discourse and which is, for all intents and purposes, a material expression of this discourse. Conceptual Art’s focus on discursive concepts and process is facilitated, and funded, by an institutional environment that enables and encourages the prevalence of verbosity and conceptualism over pure, substantial and naive execution – over the purely Aesthetic.This is why we feel Kevin Abosch’s practice of NFT Art is immanently conflictual – and eminently disruptive. Perhaps this is intentional. We are taken aback and dragged out, feet first, out of our comfort zone, populated with Moon Cats, shiny Blender renders and Futuristic Sneakers. His approach brings along an alien element of verbosity, and a calculated focus on patient Craft and Process.Now, is this a good thing or a bad thing?Perhaps it would be better here to put our biases and opinions in brackets, avoid easy condemnations, and in a kind of “Phenomenological Epoche” let Market Data do the talking.The Data speaks volumes – it appears that collectors and “flippers” (short-term NFT traders) are hungry for a touch of conceptual Art in the NFT sector.Take Abosch’s 888 series for example, the 8th series in terms of volume on NFT Stats .Kevin Abosch’s 888 series, the output, as per the author, of “Deep-Learning algorithms trained on billions of data points pertaining to global sociologic dilemmas” is in the crosshairs of collectors and flippers. The most expensive 888 to date was 888 #97, which was sold for 59K the 24th of August 2021.In terms of volume, 123 888 (2.87 million US dollars) were sold in the past 30 days. The median price for the past 30 days for an 888 is 17.8K. These are excellent figures and denote an appetite among investors for Kevin Abosch’s careful and patient approach to building NFT series.Kevin Abosch’s 1111 series, which dropped in March 2021 on OpenSea, is also proving to be quite popular among collectors. 15 of them were sold in the past 7...