5 artists to watch at the NFT Event

This Wednesday marks the start of the highly anticipated NFC Lisbon, also known as the Non-Fungible Conference. Building on the success of the previous edition, this event is set to light up the world of art once again. The lineup this year is even more prestigious. It features well-known figures in the blockchain art space, including Pak, Claire Silver and pioneering French artist Pascal Boyart.

“Art should be at the heart of any NFT project,” John Karp, the organizer of the NFC, told the NFT Evening. “Companies must first understand this artistic movement before embarking on a project.”

We selected five artists who will undoubtedly leave their mark on this second edition of NFC Lisboa. Let’s discover them!

TL; DR

• Pak, one of the most notable NFT artists, is known for his high-profile works, including “The Fungible,” which sold for $16.8 million at Sotheby’s, and “The Merge,” which brought a record $91.8 million. He will be one of the main attractions of this year’s NFC Lisbon Event.
• Other notable figures who will be present at NFC include Trevor Jones, a crypto art pioneer who will participate in the AI ​​Art Hackathon at NFC Lisbon; Claire Silver, who combines artificial intelligence and traditional art; and Pascal Boyart, a French artist known for merging street art with crypto.
• The generative artist Mgxs is another main figure, known for his project “X Evolutions” and the GNSS project. He will unveil the MEM experience at NFC Lisbon, offering attendees a chance to contribute to a living, evolving work of art known as the “Tree of MEM.”

Pak: NFC Lisbon’s headliner

Considered one of the most distinguished NFT artists along with Beeple and XCopy, Pak has been relatively low-key of late. The anonymous artist seems to have taken a step back for almost a year.

Despite this recent quiet period, Pak’s influence in the NFT art world is undeniable. By April 2021, Pak’s work had already attracted considerable attention during a landmark sale at Sotheby’s. This event, which marked a significant milestone in Sotheby’s involvement with NFTs, witnessed the sale of Pak’s collection known as “The Fungible.”

The event raised $16.8 million and established two records on the Nifty Gateway: the highest number of open issues sold and the most bids for an auction item.

Another of Pak’s significant undertakings was the creation of “The Lost Poets”. This gamified NFT project mixed literature and digital art, and explored the possibilities blockchain offers to involve the community of his collectors.

Pak also launched the “Censored” collection, a collaboration with Julian Assange, the jailed founder of Wikileaks. The sale helped raise over $54 million, a sum dedicated to supporting Assange’s legal defense.

Still, arguably Pak’s most impressive achievement to date was the sale of “The Merge”, an NFT series auctioned in December 2021. It has raised $91.8 million on the Nifty Gateway, with 28,983 collectors capturing 312,686 NFTs representing mass units. The price was a record for a work of art sold publicly by a living artist.

Pak’s participation in NFC could indicate that an announcement could be coming, and why not a new project?

Trevor Jones, a true OG artist

Crypto Art pioneer Trevor Jones is set to make waves at the NFC Lisbon event. As part of the AI ​​Art Hackathon, hosted by MakersPlace this Wednesday, Jones will collaborate with a team of artists to create unique 1/1 pieces that will be auctioned off later in June.

Once a traditional painter, Trevor Jones has always been at the intersection of art and technology. His journey began with QR code oil paintings in 2012 and took a deeper dive into AR art a year later. But it was his investment in Bitcoin in 2017 that really ignited his fascination with the crypto universe.

In 2018, when crypto art was virtually unheard of in traditional art circles, Jones took matters into his own hands. He rented a commercial gallery to host a crypto-themed exhibition, the Crypto Disruption Exhibition, where he displayed his first original crypto art.

After being introduced to NFTs in 2019, Jones minted his first NFT a few months later. “EthGirl”, a collaboration with NFT art legend Alotta Money, was an instant success, breaking the record for the highest sale on SuperRare.

At NFC Lisboa, he brings his artistic journey and forward-looking vision to the fore, promising an event as groundbreaking as his art.

Collectors of the NFTs that will be created during the event will stand a chance to win physical artwork, as well as an invitation to Jones’ Bitcoin Angels Castle Party. This event brings artists and collectors together for a two-night celebration and will be held in France next September.

📣 Set the reminders for our room about the ‘AI Art Hackathon’ at @NFCsummit Lisbon w/ @illustrata_ai, @TheDigitalCoy, @sashastiles, @Coldie, @trevorjonesart, @bl_artcult, @DVKtheartist, @obscuradao, @artmatrcoand @johnkarp

— MakersPlace ⚪️⚫️ (@makersplace) 24 May 2023

Claire Silver, combines AI and traditional art

Claire Silver uses artificial intelligence as a tool to explore human creativity. “I collaborate with AI to produce art that is transcendental art that evokes a wordless truth in the viewer,” she says on her website. “Together we create works that are greater than either of us could create alone, neither more important than the other to the process.”

Silver’s work seamlessly intertwines the physical and digital domains. In addition to AI-powered works, she also produces hand-painted versions of selected digital artworks. In doing so, she further blurs the boundaries between the material and virtual worlds.

Silver uses a wide range of tools including oil, acrylic, GAN (Artbreeder), Procreate, collage and photography. She brings her classical style to the art and myths and trains GAN in a traditional painting style.

At the NFC Lisbon event, Silver will be giving an AI talk alongside Dadagan, the neo-Dadaist AI Artist bot, on the main stage. She intends to delve into the relationship between AI art and other artistic fields such as literature and introduce her new work, “artifacts”.

This new collection asks thought-provoking questions about the changing perceptions of ourselves and society as AI continues to augment our skills and our work. It also explores how we will navigate the complex terrain of an increasingly transhumanist future.

Pascal Boyart, from street art to crypto art

Another pioneer of the Crypto Art movement, French artist Pascal Boyart has been challenging the boundaries of traditional art since 2018. One of the first to merge street art with crypto, he ingeniously incorporated a QR code into one of his murals. This allowed viewers to interact with his art by offering Bitcoin donations directly to the artist.

His art also builds bridges between past and present, between the struggles of historical artists and modern creators. His mural ‘Rembrandt dos au mur’, a piece located on the Rue Riquet in Paris, is a good illustration of this.

The mural shows the Dutch Golden Age master Rembrandt van Rijn struggling with a large tax bill. This reflected Boyart’s own journey in the art world and a commentary on the financial challenges artists face today.

In 2021, Boyart carried out an ambitious project: “The underground Sistine Chapel”. This modern reinterpretation of the iconic Sistine Chapel is located in a former gold foundry on the outskirts of Paris.

Completed over five months during the 2020 quarantine, the project culminated in the release of non-fungible NFTs of the work, highlighting Boyart’s commitment to exploring the potential of blockchain technology in art.

In Lisbon, Pascal Boyart will reflect on his journey and share the experience he gained from it. Entitled “Pioneering Street Art NFTs: pushing the Limits”, this session is an opportunity to learn from one of the pioneers of the Crypto Art movement.

Mgxs: an interactive experience in NFC Lisbon

Acclaimed generative artist Mgxs has quickly gained a significant reputation in the NFT Art World. His portfolio shows a number of notable collaborations, with a standout project being the “X Evolutions” sneaker. This unique piece was born from his collaboration with RTFKT.

The final feather in Mgsx’s cap is the GNSS project. This venture shows his enduring exploration of the aesthetic dimension of machines. GNSS reflects Mgxs’ fascination for the harmonious coexistence of technology and artistry. The artist describes it as an attempt to “replicate nature, but from a different timeline.”

For those interested in owning a piece of this innovative project, GNSS is offering seeds to buy on their website at 0.33 ETH each. Buying a seed gives the right to imprint a new digital being.

At NFC Lisbon, Mgxs will unveil the MEM experience. It will invite participants to shape the memories of GNSS beings. These contributions will be ingrained into a living, evolving work of art known as the “Tree of MEM.”

The MEM experience is a new opportunity for community involvement at the intersection of art and technology. Whether you are present at NFC Lisboa or joining from afar, you can take part in this experience until 9 June.

MEM off @mgxs_co:

Learn more about how to create Machine-Embedded Memories (MEMs) for real-time GNSS beings. The opportunity starts on 7 June at 9 a.m. GMT/5 a.m. ET, and it will be available both online and in person at @NFCsummit Lisbon. pic.twitter.com/x7X8NLTfND

— GNSS – GENERATIVE NATURE SYNTHETIC SPECIES (@mgxs_gnss) 5 June 2023