UNDRGRND DIGS 035
JULY 25TH, 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.
Motion artists often are the best evaluators of GIF art. Xponential, who we featured previously, has been creating Twitter threads of other talented motion artists. One of those artists that caught our eye was Kian Hossein, with his piece Loop #13: Bleeding Dots. Creative coders are taking abstract art to new heights in the digital world. No one seems to understand this better than Kian, whose series Abstrakt brings to life an array of color combinations and motion. F(x)hash and Art Blocks have brought a lot of attention to deserving creative coders. However, those sites have only scratched the surface of what amazing talents, like Kian Hossein, remain out there waiting to be discovered.
Psykhotik is an interesting name choice for an artist depicting such beautiful, colorful, child-like fantasy scenes in their art. The creative ability of the artist bursts from the screen in the wonderland of the main character Lula. Showcasing a wild imagination such as this perhaps could make anyone feel “psychotic” or bizarre, but other creatives and art enthusiasts simply admire someone with such abilities. The variety of characters in this world is refreshingly new. In the piece Don’t Fight, Lula and her friend, the boy with an astronaut helmet and a pet devil, are met by a group of bullies comprised of a tiger genie, a yellow-spotted creature with six eyes, another spotted creature with a brown bag over their head and what can only be assumed is a distant relative of a giraffe holding an umbrella over the other three. These characters all set the groundwork for what could be a wonderful new fantasy children’s book.
Snapout uses block figures represented in real life situations in hopes to snap us out of our autopilot. Using children’s toys to imagine a world that represents real life more accurately is an interesting juxtaposition. Rather than the fantastical it highlights the mundane, reminding us of the limitless possibilitles and dreams we once had as children. An obvious comparison will be made to The Lego Movie, while a more accurate connection would be to artist Chris Thompson’s surreal paintings depicting another children’s toy in real life scenarios. Snapout’s work could be a spiritual successor to Thompson’s work from the 1994 album Diary by Sunny Day Real Estate. The scenes Snapout creates are much less bleak and more optimisitic in their intent but Snapout’s use of childhood toys in hopes to inspire us all to return to a life of wonder and creation is still wonderfully impactful.
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IIn a digital world organic life will exist only in familiar representations to remind us of the outside world. The ability to create something like flowers without the limitations of nature will allow artists to create bizarre alien plant life. Another creative coder, V4w.enko, uses algorithms to create both still-life images of MAGNTC_FLOWERs while also sending them in a beautiful endless blooming loop. The algorithms used in multiple pieces create mesmerizing patterns that are ever-changing shapes, lines, colors and space; with a plethora of variations for collectors to find something they connect with.
UNDRGRND writer and motion artist David Koblesky would be happy to see so many motion artists featured. We’ve said multiple times throughout our publications that NFTs have brought about the means for motion artists to finally be appreciated in a transient world of endless digital replication. David has taught us that gifs are meant to be enjoyed repeatedly, almost endlessly, to fully grasp and appreciate the artist’s work. Sanchismo blends an urban-street style with motion to create strange, some could say gross, short gifs that pop off whatever ever screen the viewer experiences these perfect loops. In Music, the sound bleeds out of the headphones enveloping the round figure walking. In Feed On Line, the same figure is seen filling up on everything digital their phone can provide. It’s fitting that it is presented in an endless loop as well as we are often consumed by our phones to the point of being stuck in a loop of constant scrolling and ingestion of information. Perhaps all this digital consumption would Juicy Head a reality.
