Electric Artefacts’ Monthly NFT Picks: Tezos Halloween Special

October 31, 2021

As Halloween rolls around, we’d like to share with you some of our October picks on Tezos. Some spooky, some stunning, some sinister and splendid - take a journey with us through some of our latest finds!
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1. Love Crimegrain by Antonio Reinhard Wisesa
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‘Love Crimegrain’ is an enchanting illustration of a couple floating across a starlit sky. The intricately detailed landscape below them, drowned in greenery and soft lights, is reminiscent of Boston city, as mentioned by the artist. A nod to Chagall’s Over the Town, the artwork leaves us with a lingering feeling of romance.

Antonio Reinhard Wisesa, a freelance illustrator based in Jakarta, creates works that feel deeply intimate and dream-like. Kicking off his career as a children’s books illustrator, Antonio has published a critically-acclaimed storybook that retells an ancient Javanese epic- Kakawin Sutasoma. Influenced by the works of Haruko Ichikawa and Isao Takahata, Wisesa’s personal aesthetic is reflected in the vintage anime look and opalescent colours.

2. Coby by Lola Dupré

‘Coby’ is a paper collage on wood panel (8.2 x 11.6 inches) by Lola Dupré, a Scottish collage artist and illustrator. Dupré seamlessly combines the traditional collage technique of working with paper and scissors with digital manipulation through computer shortcuts and contemporary tech processes. The artist’s work conveys her fascination with animal portraiture, fashion, technology and surrealism. In the true spirit of early 20th century Dada movement - Dupré’s work is iconoclastic - turning her subjects into images that range from being bizarrely humorous to unsettling. One thing for sure, you will definitely want to take another look.

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3. Racing cars, old, ugly and cheap by Juan R Lage

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The motion loop created by Juan R Lage, based in La Plata, Argentina, is the 4th piece of the CIRCUS series. Despite the name, cars, appearing in the loop, almost seem lovable, taking on anthropomorphic forms just like the other characters within a trippy universe created by Lage. Psychedelic tune that accompanies the animation, nostalgic of Bowie’s signature sound, makes the artwork appear all the more quirky and bizarre.

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4. Läsk by SVADA

Merging effortlessly - the look and feel of the analog and speed & flexibility of digital - the works of SVADA are auto generated creations. The artist uses his own custom Extend Script code to control Photoshop via Visual Studio. The inputs are texture captures and inspiration images.

Looking at SVADA’s vibrant and ingenious artworks, one can’t help but wonder if human creativity really withstands in this digital space. Naturally, coming from a background in the Stockholm IT industry, SVADA draws inspiration from AI research and automation and finds that approaching his creative process in a more functional, rational way is what lead him to develop a unique artistic style.

‘Läsk’, Swedish for soda pop, is a unique blend of generative code, painting and textures.

5. 13-16 by Mumu

Mumu is the mind of many talents. Based in Malaysia, they are active as a poet, visual artist as well as songwriter in both the digital and physical worlds. For their visual imagery they are inspired by the blocky and old-school look of pixel-art, reminding us of the past aesthetics and metamorphoses that our digital environments have undergone over the years. Their piece ‘13-16’, for example, shows a teenage bedroom switching from night to day on a loop, discman and pop-magazines on the desk instead of a robotic desktop. As they themselves say: “if you want to talk specifically about my pixel art, I started it really influenced by Nyan cat. I love the chunky pixels.”

Not coincidentally, Mumu is also the creator of tacopixies.

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6. how_far_can_the_soul_swim_out_through_the_eyes_004.gif by sintang_ligalig (Marlon Hacla)

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The poetic title ‘how_far_can_the_soul_swim_out_through_the_eyes_004.gif’ fits one of Marlon Hаcla’s pieces perfectly. The writer, photographer and programmer used GAN to create the constantly morphing image of a doll-like face, looking at us blankly and politely, with some more seemingly anguished expressions fleeting by. With colours ranging from cold blues to warm oranges, the work fits the changing season of autumn perfectly.

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7. Friendly Neighborhood by Lafrich (Ichsan Agung)

Through the series of 3D animated videos, Lafrich’s work explores their very own universe of Red Earth, where humanity has abandoned its home and settled down in cosmic tribes on a faraway planet. Each video animation is a glimpse into the surreal, odd lives of Red Earth’s dwellers.

Despite the glossy, futuristic settings, astronauts appear to engage in casual, mundane activities, like hanging out with their neighbours by the pool. By channeling his observations of daily life into his work, Agung achieves a level of effortlessness and naïveté in his animation that makes it’s fantastic inhabitants that much relatable.

In the times when space exploration is more relevant than ever, in their own words, Lafrich’s work is truly an expression of our era.

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8. Wide open NFT by Zisis Bliatkas

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s a Wide open NFT by Zisis Bliatkas. Much like with an NFT space, who’s to say what’s really going on here? Something’s on fire, red splattered everywhere. There’s definitely a bird in there, a dove perhaps? A beacon of hope, as we’d like to think. An absolute mayhem of a conceptual artwork created via MS Paint. If this doesn’t give you flashbacks to your childhood, then we don’t know what does. The genius behind Bliatkas work is them taking something obsolete, yet nostalgic and bringing it back with a new and elaborate technique.

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9. 041 by seeker (Michal Mann)

The shy little cloud of blue is one of a 100 unique 1/1 abstract ink paintings created by Michal Mann as part of his latest project ‘CryptoStains’. Through ink painting and in some cases animation, Mann tells a visual story of the multitudes of moods and emotions.

The simplicity of Mann’s abstract illustration performed in muted earthy colours makes his inky creatures appear very ethereal and delicate, yet somehow relatable. Look at 041, Monday blues anyone?

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10. Step on the Beast by culture hacker (Lance Weiler)

Lance Weiler a.k.a. culture hacker is an emerging media artist working in film, theatre, games and code. Although fairly new to the NFT scene, the artists must surely be recognised for their novel thinking in the realm of the digital. Named ‘one of the 25 people re-invent entertainment’ by WIRED magazine, Weiler pioneered the all-digital movement when he released a motion picture to theatres via satellite.

Culture hacker’s H=N creations are nothing short of creativity. Derived from the computer code, their works invite the viewers to explore abstract glitch landscapes, empty rooms and deep fake dysmorphic portraits, overflowing with prismatic colours scattered across deep, dark backgrounds.

At the first glance, Step on the Beast appears to look like a cracked egg oozing chromatic stains. The work certainly has an eerie feeling to it due to the contrast between a girl’s unfazed expression and the brutality of distortion. This piece is a beautiful result of the artist's challenging quest to conceive, make and release an artwork within a day, everyday.

Should you like to see an artwork produced on a certain day - feel free to place a request with an artist, as they are reaching the 100th day of this challenge.

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