UNDRGRND DIGS 029
JUNE 13TH, 2022
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.
When throwing around the term "historic" or "OG" regarding NFTs, it is helpful to know the history of certain mediums. UNDRGRND writer David Koblesky has given an excellent base for understanding the origins of what he calls "motion art." Before finding NFTs, motion artists shared their work on Tumblr, where many of these GIFs received hundreds of thousands of views and shares. Perhaps the most undervalued art form over the past few decades has been GIFs because we've seen them millions of times in every form. We haven't considered that these took an artist's time, thought and effort. Xponential is one of the "OG"'s of motion art and understands its historical significance. In many of their NFTs, they lay out the timeline of where the gifs originated, where they were shared, and how many views they received on sites like Giphy. Once collectors realize these works were created years ago and begin to understand the historical record of GIFs, Xponential will receive the recognition they deserve from the art world.
These colorful illustrations by Hans Kristo often have a deeper, more serious origin thought behind them. OVER-CONSUMPTION depicts a giant child's toy but represents our human nature to consume and output things because the world is moving so fast. In The Predicted Trojan Horse again uses soft colors to deliver a reminder warning that the sully goals of media and advertisements, "The desires of the market enslave us." Hans's collaborations are much more hopeful and show the new world of possibilities we are entering with a "music video" for musician Lucy Enigma in Transitions - Into My world [stage]. Visionaries like Hans Kristo believe we are at the beginning of transitioning into a new world, and who better to illustrate the way.
Any GEN-X or Millennial collector will feel a nostalgic connection to the work of Ozge. These weird CGI animations would have fit into a line-up of bizarrely creative shows like Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Robot Chicken, or Kablam!. This era of animation was built on wild creativity; the only limitation was what animators' imaginations could create and the level of unsettling images the audience could tolerate. Ozge creates in the same fashion. Strange creatures dancing in delight are not unsettling enough to look away and add only a sense of wonder and astonishment of the mind that was able to conceive of such things. There will always be a challenge in balancing the line between weird and genius creativity and Ozge threads that needle.
Stephania’s art expresses immense personal vulnerability. She gives fans of her work a glimpse into her life as she patiently awaits the birth of her son and attempts to give others the strength to simply say that things aren’t ok. And yet, in each painting, the faces are obscured, out of focus, or abstract enough that they barely resemble a human look. It’s as if the vulnerability comes at the cost of being able to see a clear-cut view of the person sharing intimate details of their life, protecting at least some part of themselves that the viewer does not get to see.
COMMUNITY DIGS: MONS24
UNDRGRND community members we refer to as “diggers”, nominate their favorite undiscovered artists to be featured in weekly DIGS. UNDRGRND empowers its community to dig for bold, innovative, under valued NFT artists.
Most of Mons24’s work depicts the finds of a faceless nomad, wandering a mysterious realm and discovering ruins with little explanation: a door in the mist, a ruin made of stone, steps, and a boat. We know nothing of the journey or the nomad, but one could easily begin to tell a story between these images. These feel like the early sketches of a longer narrative, perhaps even a graphic novel if ever Mons24 decides to go that route, early collectors would be happy.
