Digital artist OSF gives fans a pledge of ‘art until I die’: NFT Creator
nestorsauer8 22. October 2023 0
A self-proclaimed jack of all trades and grasp of none, OSF has change into a prolific determine within the non-fungible token world in simply over two years, buying and selling his former life at Barclay’s to focus full-time on web3, his digital artwork pursuits, his PFP challenge Rekt Guy and dwelling the life of a degen collector.
The self-deprecating 34-year-old Englishman has a Swiss military knife of expertise suited to a trendy world of creating digital objects — being a self-taught coder, understanding web tradition, with a capability to seize consideration and never take himself too critically.
While he wears many hats, OSF, the artist, has been featured at Sotheby’s and has bought a number of items for six figures. He describes himself most as an artist and challenge founder.
“I find it really tough to classify myself as one thing or another, but it’s certainly a question I get asked quite a bit. I do have periods where I’m more focused on certain things like trading but overall, an artist and project founder is the way I would describe myself,” OSF tells NFT Creator.
“I hate the idea of constraining myself to one thing. I think it’s just probably a problem I have in life. My attention gets easily captured by anything really and as you probably can guess, I have ADD and all that kind of stuff. I do feel that I just enjoy lots of different aspects of the [web3] space, and I kind of want to be a part of it all.”
While initially a crypto skeptic, OSF lower his tooth in early 2021 when he purchased some Bitcoin, nevertheless it was his good pal Mando who offered the nudge required for OSF to really catch the NFT curiosity bug.
It wasn’t lengthy until he discovered himself making use of his previous decade of expertise as a dealer in conventional finance to this new rising asset class of NFTs. Originally minting 150 Bored Apes (0.08 ETH every) in late April 2021, OSF bought most of them about a week later for 5 instances the mint worth however remained a giant Ape holder, teaming up with Mando in September 2021 to mix their collections.
The duo made headlines in February 2023, promoting round 70 Apes at a wholesome clip of 78 ETH every into Blur bids as liquidity rushed again into NFTs after Blur Season 1’s airdrop occurred. Apes’ present ground worth sits at 26.7 ETH, with NFT costs being down for many collections since that iconic commerce.
“It’s not like we were bearish on Apes. We weren’t even really bearish on NFTs at this point in time. I know it now looks like a great trade, but I’d be lying if I said at that point in time, I think NFTs are going to go to where they are now. I didn’t really see that; I only think that became clear later on,” OSF says.
“In our old jobs, if someone could tell you you’ve made all this money, but you still have all this risk, and you can clean up that risk in two trades and just take the money, you’d do it. You wouldn’t think twice.”
Crypto tradition, nostalgia and XCOPY
In a related vein to the likes of Josie Bellini and Trevor Jones, OSF has leaned into crypto tradition with a ardour for nostalgia that shines by way of his work.
This is exemplified by his artwork and Rekt Guy, his PFP assortment launched in May 2022, shortly after the demise of Terra. Rekt Guy, a assortment of roughly 8,800, was a free mint that noticed its ground run up as most different PFPs went the alternative means. The ground nonetheless sits at 0.47 ETH.
“I really like nostalgia and capturing moments over time. I’m the sort of person who looks through my photos from 10 years ago just to see what I was doing then. I’ve organized my music into quarterly playlists. I have 2008 Q1, 2008 Q2 and so on. I’ve done that since 2008 Q1, so it’s been 15+ years now,” says OSF.
“When I listen to a playlist from, say, seven years ago, I can remember what I was doing at this time. I really like that idea of nostalgia and capturing moments and looking back on it. I think art is a fantastic way to do that.”
As a fellow Brit, OSF stated XCOPY’s fashion of artwork and his means to seize tradition have performed a important position in his personal creation course of.
“I would say XCOPY is definitely an inspiration — obviously, the style of the art but also the ideologies I love. I love looking at his pieces through 2020. They’re very British pieces that you wouldn’t really get unless you were living in the U.K. during COVID-19; maybe the Aussies would, too,” he stated.
“I think that that’s what I love. That’s what art is. It’s like when you see something and just really connect with it and get it. I think pieces that can capture culture in moments in time end up being the ones that are iconic.”
“With my art, I think I just recognized that, and I saw that’s how XCOPY did it. I guess I wanted to do the same thing, and half of it was because I thought it could be successful. But half of it was really just for myself.”
Red Lite District dedication until I die
OSF likes to experiment, and for holders of his assortment, the “Red Lite District,” it comes with a “till the day I die” dedication, with OSF promising a new piece of artwork each single month until his time on earth concludes.
The story behind RLD, an version of 210 NFTs turning into an airdrop ticket to free artwork, includes his brother-in-law, who actually favored what would change into the primary airdropped piece: “Fuck Cash Grabs.”
OSF wasn’t as bullish on the piece initially however was impressed to create it off the again of many “NFT cash grabs,” reminiscent of Pixelmon. His brother-in-law’s reward finally satisfied him to launch the piece, however as a substitute of promoting it, he determined to airdrop it to everybody who held an RLD.
“After a couple of days of the first piece [Fuck Cash Grabs] being airdropped, I was like, wow, the price of this piece is almost the same as the price of the Red Lite District. I thought it would literally just be one of those things that was worth zero. People really valued it, and I thought that was really powerful,” says OSF.
“That’s where I thought I would just do it as a monthly thing for anyone that holds an RLD edition. After I airdropped the second piece, “Professional Degen 3,” which is actually good and was imagined to be a 1 of 1, I assume that’s the purpose the place individuals realized. They have been like, ‘Oh shit, this RLD should be worth quite a lot’ since you’re going to get this stream of cool artwork.”
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Following the dedication of artwork ceaselessly to RLD holders in April 2022, OSF continues to get requested if he can actually hold that promise.
“I have zero doubt in my mind if I can keep it going or not. I don’t feel like creating a new piece every month is a strain on me; I really enjoy it. I have hundreds of ideas written down, and it’s probably my favorite part of the month. And it’s also my favorite way to release art because [when] contrasted with a 1 of 1 or an edition, there’s an expectation. For example, what price will it sell for? Will the edition sell out? Have you looked after your collectors and all that kind of stuff,” OSF tells NFT Creator.
“I can’t guarantee that when I’m 105, the quality of my art is going to be as good as it is now; who knows? Going back to the nostalgia thing, I love that in 10 years’ time, I’m going to look through seasons one and two of airdrops. Right now, in season two, it is so early, but I’m going to be able to look back on all these things, and it’ll be like a monthly document of either my life or the crypto space or whatever it is that I’ve drawn for the rest of time.”
From an early morning health club session to Sotheby’s
OSF has a whole lot of artwork concepts in notes however loves the spontaneous nature that artwork can carry out of him, just like the piece he did titled “Carnaby Street,” which ended up promoting at Sotheby’s for $75,600 in December 2022.
“The origins of “Carnaby Street” is a nice instance of how issues typically occur within the second for me. I rocked as much as a Barry’s boot camp class and turned up too early. It was about 5 am, and I was simply sitting outdoors Soho in London, which is often extraordinarily busy. It was useless. There was nobody there. Sunrise was approaching, and there have been all these purple lights, and I keep in mind pondering, I have to attract this now,” says OSF.
1. As if this yr wasn’t already so surreal for me, I am extremely stoked to have the ability to end it off with a 1/1 public sale at @Sothebys!
“Carnaby Street” is now open for bidding, with a $1 reserve, hyperlink under 👇 pic.twitter.com/n27S4mSfVj
— OSF (@osf_rekt) December 15, 2022
“I had about an hour to kill, so I pulled out my iPad and sat down on this bench in my running gear, drawing this thing while people were coming through collecting the bins and stuff. That “Carnaby Street” piece solely would have labored in that setting as a result of I was truly simply drawing it within the second.”
“The reality is, though, occasions like that are few and far between. They can be magical pieces when it happens, but often there are blocks in the artistic process.”
Notable gross sales to this point
Rapid fireplace Q&A
Influences:
“I really like Alpha Centauri Kid. I think the reason why I really like him is because I think he is someone who just puts out art based on his own personal feelings or emotions or whatever he’s going through without really caring about what anyone else will think.”
I see a piece of his, and it simply goes deep. He does issues on his personal phrases and his personal guidelines. He’s similar to, ‘I’m simply creating stuff that I wish to create, and right here it’s on my phrases, and if you wish to purchase it, you should purchase it. If not, then not.’”
“I also like the way he gamifies things and makes people feel a bit uneasy sometimes. I think it’s brilliant. He’s definitely a massive inspiration. I love his stuff, but just the way that he goes about conducting his art, I think it’s amazing.”
Which scorching NFT artist ought to we be listening to?
“I think die with the most likes is amazing. I don’t know if he’s still upcoming or not because he’s been on the timeline quite a lot. But that guy is incredible. He is a performance artist, and people haven’t seen his performance art yet because some of the stuff is in real life. It’s just incredible.”
“He’s a writer as well. He writes amazingly, and he just captures this theme of a memetic that no one else does. His stuff is different from any other artist. You could say, here are the animated artists, here are all the glitch artists, here are the neo-precision artists or whatever, but there’s no one like die with the most likes.”
“His stuff is just so in your face and crass; I think it’s brilliant, and honestly, I really think he is going to big big places. He’s quite a well-known artist now, but in a year’s time, I think he could be up there with the biggest people in the space.”
Favorite NFTs in your pockets that aren’t your individual
“I am my own suffering” by ACK, and “Retention pond baptism” by die with probably the most likes.
What do you take heed to when creating artwork:
“I have a really weird and wide taste in music. It might be Taylor Swift one day. It might be like Creed the other day. It’s just really random based on what I feel like listening to. It could be as random as piano covers of popular songs or reggae covers of popular songs. It’s just the most random stuff. It’s probably a testament to how scatty I am in general.”
Links:
X: https://twitter.com/osf_rekt
Website: https://www.osf.art/
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Greg Oakford
Greg Oakford is the co-founder of NFT Fest Australia. A former advertising and communications specialist within the sports activities world, Greg now focuses his time on working occasions, creating content material and consulting in web3. He is an avid NFT collector and hosts a weekly podcast overlaying all issues NFTs.
