NFT Creator – Cointelegraph Magazine
Coldie is a real one. Best described as a mixed media artist, the California native is a true OG of the NFT scene, with work dating back to 2018, including the iconic “Decentral Eyes” theme, “Sellout” and, more recently, a collaboration with Snoop Dogg.
His distinct 3D stereoscopic work jumps off the screen, and like the likes of Josie Bellini and Trevor Jones, Coldie leans into cryptoculture – the good, the bad and everything in between.
“Art is history. It is visual history. As I got deeper into crypto culture on my journey, I tried to be a bit of a historian of the time, creating pieces that were contextual to what was going on, whether Vitalik [Buterin] or John McAfee. Or later, [Edward] Snowden and [Warren] Buffett. For me, it was like a time capsule I was trying to create in real time.”
“When I look back at 2018, I remember that Andreas Antonopoulos talking tours and McAfee talking about eating his trash. It was fun for me, so it made it easy to re-create art. It was great fun.”
Coldie says it didn’t take long to understand the basic fundamentals of NFTs and blockchain technology. Then he discovered you could put art on it.
“So the whole unlocking of royalties and provenance. Those two things alone are revolutionary. I didn’t know if it was going to hit or not, but I felt like it was going to give digital artists a chance, and if collectors could understand that as well, then there was a viable chance it could take off, says Coldie.
Paying tribute to fellow early movement experimenters, Josie Bellini and Trevor Jones, Coldie also emphasized the impact of Beeptheir NFTs.
“Since Beeple came in, so many things have come up. It was a big inflection point where there were a lot more motion graphics than the early days where it was more like animated GIFs. Today it is more long-form storytelling. I guess it’s just an evolving space.”
Personal style
Coldie pioneered 3D stereoscopic work and the iconic ‘Coldie’ signature is instantly recognisable.
“I consider myself a mixed media artist, but it’s collage art. I am always looking for the illusion of depth in my art. I’ll layer things, but then take it from the flat plane and then space it out, so you can get a depth.”
“A lot of my early stuff I did, I did stuff with 3D glasses, but when I got into the NFT world, most people didn’t have 3D glasses at the computer. So I kind of developed my art into 3D animated movement to show people the movement without them having to put on their glasses.”
Just two weeks ago, Coldie did a collaborative drop with ClickCreate titled “Flow state,” which sold out 180 pieces as a relatively cheap entry into collecting Coldie art (between 0.042 ETH and 0.069 ETH), but it was a mad dash to the finish line with a looming deadline.
“I spent about four hours and retooled the whole thing. It’s like a puzzle, you know, so it’s always evolving, but with a deadline it’s great because you have to get it done. This gives a kind of loose and organic result, says Coldie.
⭐️⭐️NEW ART RELEASE⭐️⭐️
‘Flow State’
Edition of 180
Now marks for @clickcreateio holders of subpasses
.042 ETHThe rest will be available tomorrow at 15 ET
.069 ETH pic.twitter.com/rTYpjVs3b3— Coldie (@Coldie) 31 May 2023
“Decentralized Eyes Dogg”
In the mad celebrity rush to get a piece of the NFT action in 2021 and early 2022, many athletes, musicians, and entertainers fell flat on their faces, damaging their reputations in the process using misguided money grabs from fan bases.
However, there were a handful of celebrities who “got it,” and one of them was the rap legend Snoop Dogg. Snoop and his inner circle, including his son, Champ Medici and manager Nick Agehave been great champions of Web3 culture.
When Coldie was put in touch with Snoop, they vibrated and their values aligned, and as a result, the “Decentral Eyes Dogg” collaboration was born in November 2021. After some intense bidding on the SuperRare, it sold for a staggering 188.8 ETH ($754,300) December 4, 2021.
Decentralized Eyes Dogg city @Coldie x @SnoopDogg
The first ever NFT art collaboration between @SnoopDogg and @Coldiefeaturing original artwork by both artists + a new soundtrack by Snoop Dogg
Live for bidding NOW on SuperRare!
The auction ends on December 3 pic.twitter.com/cqv9NJNTdy
— SuperRare 💎 (@SuperRare) 29 November 2021
“Snoop wanted to do a one-of-a-kind piece of art, and I had gotten in touch with them — it was a very cooperative relationship. Up until that point, even back then, it had been cash with celebrities just wanting to get a million dollars and go, said Coldie.
“I told Snoop how I work and didn’t want any of the stuff that had happened to other celebrities in the past and he was totally cool with it. I did the animation in the piece and ended up writing the lyrics for the audio component of the artwork as well. Looking back , it was crazy, what an opportunity I got to write lyrics for Snoop Dogg.”
“It was a great way to get my artwork in front of a lot more people. I run into people randomly who aren’t necessarily associated with NFTs and tell them I was behind the Snoop piece and they usually say ‘holy, I have see that!” so that tells me that this artwork was outside the ecosystem bubble that we all live in.”
Notable sales to date
influences
Coldie has his own tastes, but cites traditional artists Andy Warhol (American visual artist, producer and leader in the Pop Art movement) and Robert Rauschenberg (American painter and printmaker, Pop movement) as having had some influence on his career to date, in addition to notable NFT artist and creator of “Gazers,” Matt Kane (artist and coder).
“I am rooted in and love collage. Artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol, the ones who made pop art, had quite a big influence on me.”
“I’m a child of the 90s and that’s a lot of my influence as well. I grew up with grunge music and design. That kind of thing has always been very important to me. I think I identify with that style – gritty and troubled images.”
“I also have to specifically mention Matt Kane; he’s just a master of color and movement, and I think he’s on his own level.”
also read
Characteristics
The best (and worst) stories from 3 years with Cointelegraph Magazine
Characteristics
Decentralized Social Media: The Next Big Thing In Crypto?
The development of use cases
Always one to think at a deep level, Coldie continues to be bullish on blockchain use cases despite general market sentiment being in something of a lull.
“I really think NFTs are like an attention marketplace and it’s a way to reward customers and people who engage with you. We saw early on that art NFTs proved the thesis of peer-to-peer transactions on the blockchain. »
“But when you take a step back, you realize there could be a whole host of other things like rewards and ticketing. There are companies working on NFT tickets right now. We’ll probably end up bypassing the word NFT, and that will just be your ‘digital ticket’ that is on the blockchain.”
Coldie also weighed in on the future of music with blockchain technology: “I collected a lot of vinyl records when I was younger, so I’m a fan of the album itself. I think we lost that when we went digital. The demand for albumen inserts and fantastic packaging is gone at the moment.”
“There are certain forerunners like Snoop Dogg who made his cc0 music [creative commons], where you can download his music and use it all you want. He has taken the Death Row records fully on the blockchain. To me, that’s a signal right?”
“But this signal takes time to create the ripple. If Snoop Dogg does it, other people start saying, ‘What’s this about?’ I think it’s going to bring in different mechanics with royalties and rewards where if you own NFT, you can come into a show or there’s a meet and greet. There’s all kinds of possibilities.”
Hot NFT artists to watch out for
Sut — Artist, writer, director, collector and founder of Neonz.xyz
“This guy did the CGI for Ready Player One movie, and that alone was like, this guy is literally designing the art for our future. He does augmented reality and his artwork is like Blade Runner on steroids and it’s absolutely fantastic. He is fantastic and slept soundly. I scream it from the mountaintops and I will continue to do so.”
Die with the most likes — Artist from Indiana with his work shown at the first ever digital art exhibition in Milan.
“Die [with the most likes] and I actually just went to VeeCon in Indianapolis. His stuff is so raw. The social context of his art, when you look at it, it’s kind of cruel, but there’s so much humor baked into it. It’s just perfect.
Coldie’s favorite collector
Basileus — “Basileus is a long-standing supporter and early collector. He is just a wonderful, kind person with a knowledgeable eye.”
Links
Twitter: twitter.com/Coldie
Instagram: instagram.com/coldie3dart/
Website: coldie3d.com/
Subscribe
The most engaging read in blockchain. Delivered once a week.
