NFT art pioneer Coldie creates crypto culture time capsules about Buffett, Buterin and McAfee — and writes lyrics for Snoop Dogg.
Coldie is a real one. Best described as a mixed media artist, the Californian resident is a true OG of the NFT scene, with his work dating back to 2018, including the iconic themed Decentral Eyes, Sellout and, more recently, a collaboration with Snoop Dogg.
His distinct 3D stereoscopic work jumps off the screen, and, similar to the likes of Josie Bellini and Trevor Jones, Coldie leans into crypto culture the good, the bad and everything else in between.
Art is history. Its visual history. As I got deeper into the crypto culture on my journey, I was trying to be somewhat of a historian of the time, creating pieces that were contextual to what was going on, whether it was Vitalik [Buterin] or John McAfee. Or later on, [Edward] Snowden and [Warren] Buffett. To me, it was like a time capsule I was trying to create in real-time.
When I look back to 2018, I remember Andreas Antonopoulos doing speaking tours and McAfee talking about eating his junk. That was amusing to me, so it made it easy to make art about. It was a lot of fun.
Coldie says it didnt take long to understand the basic fundamentals of NFTs and blockchain technology. Then he discovered you could put art on it.
Then the whole unlock of royalties and provenance. Those two things alone are revolutionary. I didnt know if it was going to hit or not, but I felt it was going to give digital artists a chance, and if collectors could understand it, too, then there was a viable chance that it could take off, says Coldie.
Paying homage to other early motion experimenters, Josie Bellini and Trevor Jones, Coldie also emphasized the impact of Beeples NFTs.
Since Beeple came in, theres been so much stuff popping up. That was a major inflection point where there was a lot more motion graphics than the early days where it was more like animated GIFs. Today, theres more long-form storytelling. I guess its just an evolving space.
Personal style
Coldie pioneered 3D stereoscopic work, and the iconic Coldie signature is instantly recognizable.
I consider myself a mixed media artist, but its collage art. Im always searching for the illusion of depth in my art. Ill be layering things but then taking it from the flat plane and then spacing it out so you can get a depth.
A lot of my early stuff I did, I did things with 3D glasses, but when I came into the NFT world, most people didnt have 3D glasses at their computer. So, I kind of evolved my art into 3D animated motion to show people the movement without them having to put the glasses on.
Just two weeks ago, Coldie did a collaboration drop with ClickCreate titled Flow State, which sold out 180 pieces as a relatively inexpensive entry to collecting Coldie art (between 0.042 ETH and 0.069 ETH), but it was a mad dash to the finish line with an impending deadline.
I spent about four hours and retooled the whole thing. Its like a puzzle, you know, so its always evolving, but with a deadline, its great because you have to get it done. This allows for a kind of loose and organic result, says Coldie.
NEW ART RELEASE
Flow State
Edition of 180
Now minting for @clickcreateio sub pass holders
.042 ETHThe remaining will be available tomorrow at 3p ET
.069 ETHhttps://t.co/oHOSBf63EZ pic.twitter.com/rTYpjVs3b3Coldie (@Coldie) May 31, 2023
Decentral 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 on their faces, damaging their reputations in the process by deploying misguided cash grabs from fan bases.
There were, however, a handful of celebrities who got it, and one of those was rap legend Snoop Dogg. Snoop and his inner circle, including his son, Champ Medici and manager Nick Alder, have been big proponents of Web3 culture.
When Coldie was put in touch with Snoop, they vibed, and their values aligned, and as a result, the Decentral Eyes Dogg collaboration was born in November 2021. After some intense bidding on SuperRare, it sold for a staggering 188.8 ETH ($754,300) on Dec. 4, 2021.
Decentral Eyes Dogg by @Coldie x @SnoopDogg
The first ever NFT artwork collaboration between @SnoopDogg and @Coldie, featuring original artwork by both artists + a new audio track by Snoop Dogg
Live for bidding NOW on SuperRare!
Auction ends Dec 3https://t.co/XGHr9SyIuj pic.twitter.com/cqv9NJNTdy
SuperRare (@SuperRare) November 29, 2021
Snoop wanted to do a one-of-one piece of art, and I had got in touch with them it was a very copacetic relationship. To that point even back then, there had been cash grabs with celebrities who just wanted to get a million dollars and leave, Coldie stated.
I told Snoop how I work and wanted none of what had happened with other celebrities previously, 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. When I look back, it was crazy, what an opportunity that 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 that arent associated with NFTs necessarily and tell them I was behind the Snoop piece, and they normally respond holy shit, Ive seen that! so that tells me this artwork found itself outside of the ecosystem bubble that we all live in.
Notable sales to date
Influences
Coldie has his own flavor but cites traditional artists Andy Warhol (American visual artist, producer, and leader in the pop art movement) and Robert Rauschenberg (American painter and graphic artist, pop movement) as having had some influence on his career to date, as well as notable NFT artist and the creator of Gazers, Matt Kane (artist and coder).
Im rooted in and love collage. Artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol, those people who were making pop art, had a pretty big influence on me.
Im a kid in the 90s, and thats a lot of my influence, too. I grew up with grunge music and design. Those types of things were always super important to me. I think I identify with that style gritty and distressed imagery.
I also have to specifically mention Matt Kane; he is just a master of color and movement, and I think hes on his own level.
The evolution of use cases
Always one to be thinking at a deep level, Coldie continues to be bullish on blockchain use cases despite overall market sentiment being in somewhat of a lull.
I really think NFTs are like an attention marketplace, and its 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 range of other things like rewards and ticketing. There are companies working on NFT ticketing right now. Well probably end up sidestepping the word NFT, and itll just be your digital ticket thats on the blockchain.
Coldie also weighed in on the future of music incorporating blockchain tech: I collected a lot of vinyl records when I was younger, so Im a fan of the album itself. I think that we lost that once we went digital. The demand for album liner notes and awesome packaging is gone currently.
Theres certain forerunners like Snoop Dogg who was doing his cc0 music [creative commons], where you could download his music and use it all you want. Hes taken Death Row records fully on the blockchain. To me, thats a signal right?
But that signal takes time to create the ripple. If Snoop Doggs doing it, then other people start saying, Whats this all about? I think its going to bring in different mechanics with royalties and rewards where if you own the NFT, you can get into a show or theres a meet and greet. Theres all kinds of possibilities.
Hot NFT artists to pay attention to
Sutu Artist, writer, director, collector and founder of Neonz.xyz
This guy did the CGI for the Ready Player One movie, and that alone was like, this guy is literally designing the art for our future. Hes doing augmented reality, and his artwork is like Blade Runner on steroids, and its freaking fantastic. Hes wonderful and heavily slept on. I scream it from the mountain tops, and Ill continue to do so.
Die with the most likes Artist from Indiana with his work featured in the first-ever digital art exhibition in Milan.
Die [with the most likes] and I actually just got to hang out recently at VeeCon in Indianapolis. His stuff is so raw. The social context of his art, when you look at it, its kind of gruesome, but theres so much humor baked into it. Its just perfect.
Coldies favorite collector
Basileus Basileus is a longtime supporter and early collector. Hes just a wonderful, kind person with a savvy eye.
Links
Twitter: twitter.com/Coldie
Instagram: instagram.com/coldie3dart/
Website: coldie3d.com/
