Is Brazil the new NFT powerhouse? Reviews of @fiedler_jpg @estelle_flores_ @eventualghost @blackcollage_

We look at 4 Brazilian artists and discuss their art and NFT styles.

Fiedler

Estelle Flores

Gio Mariani

Thais Silva

Transcript below;

[0:05] Sabretooth:

Welcome to the floor is rising, I’m Sabretooth with me is Kizu. Today we’re going

to talk about Brazilian art, Hic et Nunc, was founded by Raphael Lima, who is

Brazilian. And some of the most interesting artists on the platform are also

Brazilian. Definitely not a country that is usually associated with sort of emerging

art or very interesting art. But in the NFT world, and especially Hic et Nunc, they

are a, I would say, a dominant presence on the platform. And none other than

probably one of the most popular artists anywhere, not just on Hic et Nunc but

belting all of NFT is Fiedler, who is a Brazilian artist that from a sales perspective is

basically selling out the moment that he drops anything, his secondary sales is

very, very strong. And not just on Hic et Nunc, but also on ethereum and opensea

as well. And I want to throw it to you Kizu. What do you think of Fiedler?

[1:12] Kizu:

Well, I would dispute what you said about Braziil not being a usual suspect in

terms of contemporary, I think maybe at the moment, early 2020s 2010s. Yeah,

it’s been a bit quieter, I think. But I would say that Brazil has always been a very

strong creative force, maybe not in the fine art world, I just want to give that kind

of overview. I think that there’s obviously a huge country in the pig population, a

lot of intersecting cultures, he’s got a very patchy and checkered history of

colonialism, very kind of tense divide between haves, have nots, black culture,

white culture, kind of that mix. So you know, I think that’s very fertile ground for

creatives and artists. But to come back to 2021 where we are, I think that the the

fact that the founder being Brazilian has a little bit to do with that. So I think that

helps to know that there’s a kind of community that’s sprung out of that. But to

go to the art specifically, I think that it’s an aesthetic that I was trying to put my

finger on. It’s reminiscent of many other both Fine Art idioms, as well as more

poster art, comic art kind of styles. The one thing that actually jumps into my

mind right away actually was, I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Australian

kind of surf brand Mambo, which started out in the 80s. I think it came out of

Australian post punk scene. So there was obviously the music influence. And I

think if you look at a lot of kind of more sub cultural art styles, historically, I think

they always encompass something else, like whether it was skate culture, or punk

music and stuff like that. So obviously, I think the color scheme is a bit different.

The style is obviously a little bit different. Well, it’s the kind of thing that like if as

a 14 year old with a skateboard and you came back home, with a T-shirt with one

of these motifs, your mom would not be very pleased, it’s that kind of thing. I

think Fiedler, obviously he has a very strong kind of technology or like

smartphone addiction, dopamine kind of thing going on. It’s certainly not hyper

sexualized, I think. But there are some very, like crude facial expressions, the way

that the human figures appear and stuff like that. The colors are very appealing,

kind of acid blue, pink, neon yellow. So I think that it’s a very kind of appealing

and it grabs you right away the aesthetic. I think it also translates very well to a

screen. I think that’s one of the key things.

[3:39] Sabretooth:

How do you see Fiedler as sort of art? How do you think that ages, you know, into

the future? I mean, do you think that him being one of the predominant digital

slash NFT artists, do you think that his works will influence people in however

many years that we’re talking about into the future?

[4:03] Kizu:

It’s a good question. In one sense, it’s very contemporary. So in terms of the

motifs and things, there’s a sense that his characters are being inundated or

absorbed by technology. Some of the characters are like half Cyborg, with all

these smartphones wired into their brain that speaks very much to contemporary

kind of digital smartphone screen culture. On the other hand, like his choice of

style, like I said, it goes back to kind of this post punk, comic influenced style. To

connect your question, I think it’s on the one hand, it’s very backward looking

retro in terms of the visual aesthetic, and at the same time, content wise, yeah,

you could argue that it is quite contemporary. I would say that Fiedler is very

popular, but I think that people have not really gotten their heads around what is

possible with NFTs and the idea of tokenization. So yeah, I think that’s something

that you know, we’ll see in the coming months and years, maybe in terms of

whether It’ll age, as you say, well or not.

[5:02] Sabretooth:

Let’s move on to the second artist, this Brazilian artist that we want to talk about.

And this is one that I think is one of the more interesting artists, both in terms of

her backstory, but also in terms of her art. Let me set the ground here. So Estelle

Flores, she’s been interviewed in a lot of articles about Hic et Nunc. And you

know, the story is she was kind of struggling to pay rent. And then she discovered

the platform, and she was able to sell NFT art on the platform. Kind of created an

income that she was able to sustain herself. That’s kind of the backstory. And

that’s, I would say, that’s probably one of the dream stories, so to speak for a lot

of creatives who sort of see NFT as being an outlet to be able to sort of monetize

their creativity. So that’s one side of it. But the second side of which I thought was

very interesting is the kind of art that she does. Her art on the platform is

exclusively arts generated from inside the Sims Four game. So she knows she

takes her game and she positions a character does like a setting, and then sort of

creates a piece she sells. So I thought it was pretty unique and interested to hear

what your thoughts are on that.

[6:15] Kizu:

Yeah, so there’s something there I think that is very powerful. The idea that, you

know, the underdog, or artists that, artists from less developed parts of the world

that may have been excluded from a traditional art infrastructure, that includes

things like galleries and auction houses, I think that’s very powerful narrative. You

know, I think that first bit about her identity as a kind of more marginalized artist,

in terms of her background, I think it’s something that’s familiar to all of us. The

second part, she got her start making pieces entirely out of a game, right, is again,

I would say that’s a natural extension of how these creative industries work,

right? I mean, if you look at for example, I think Japan provides a very good

historical case on that fact. So in Japan, there’s this acronym, they call it ACG,

right? Animation comics game, ACG. And it refers to this kind of trio of creative

industries that traditionally have always kind of spawned versions of each other in

the sense that you might have an original manga comic, then, you know, someone

made an animated movie feature film, like out of it, and then you know, there’s a

game that came out of it. And that’s not discounting the merch that comes later

on or theme parks spawn entire empires based on a few characters from what

was originally like a comic, right. So I think that now we’re seeing obviously, that

artists are well not taking advantage of that, but I think that the logic of NFTs, as a

lot of people have noted already is has been embedded in gaming, they

incentivize players. So I think that artists that are working within this idiom, it

makes a lot of sense, because in games, you design characters, and it provides a

ready-made kind of visual style, right? In this age where a lot of people have

commented that I think, with NFTs is that the lack of that local context, but of

course, it’s not a physical one. It’s all the twitterverse that pops up around it. In

Estelle’s case, the Sims actually is the context in the sense that you know, it exists

entirely online. Sabretooth I don’t know if you are a big gamer yourself and

whether you agree with that in terms of how games can actually provide the

context for NFT artists. What do you think of that?

[8:38] Sabretooth:

I’m not sure that’s the thing because in the Japanese animated example, it’s all

about, you know, fans of that particular franchise. In Estelle’s case, she’s not

licensed by Sims Four to create NFTs, it seems to be that the game is some sort of

Canvas for her to exercise her her creativity and that the consumers of those NFTs

might not necessarily be super fans of the game. I mean, this is conjecture so I’m

not really sure.

[9:10] Kizu:

Yeah, even if you were able to speak to collectors of her work and ask why, what

drew you to her and whether or not they’re aware of the game that she’s born

from. But I think again, that’s really not our business. I think it’s, I put that point

across more to suggest what art scenes might look like, in the age of NFTs. In the

absence of a physical context. So online on Hic et Nunc and all these platforms,

what are the kind of references. All these artists that you know, you look at the

Twitter and you follow on Instagram and things like that. And then so if she says

that, you know, she’s a visual artist painting on Sims Four, like, Oh, what is that

and you’re not familiar with the game you check it out. So it’s just one other thing

I think that people can, that potential collectors can find out more about and

whether or not it then figures into their decision it’s, you know, that’s a separate

question.

[10:08] Sabretooth:

Let’s talk about another Brazilian artist Gio Mariani. So he outwardly identifies as

queer and he’s art is probably I would say one of the sort of the most popular

forms of art in NFTs, which is pixel art. Right. But he approaches pixel art in a

pretty different way than most. It’s not really into sort of characters or that sort of

thing, but more about using pixel art to demonstrate concepts, emotions, some of

it political and some of it socio-political, what do you think of Gio Mariani’s art?

[10:43] Kizu:

So I think in the traditional art world, a lot of times when we talk about queer

artists, the understanding is that these artists make work about their identity, or

rather, that they actually center it on their queer identities. So you know, it’s hard

to run away from that. I think that you have people like Gio here who showcase

their work on this platform, and I’m not familiar with his work, so based on what

I’ve seen here it doesn’t address those queer specific issues in that sense. And of

course, it’s not something that is somehow de rigueur or expected of the artist.

The work itself, I think, is interesting in the sense that the motifs are a bit more

opaque, I would say in the sense that there are figurative elements. I’m not saying

that it’s abstract, but what I’m saying is that it’s as compared to someone like

Fiedler where it’s more in your face, obviously, and the message is quite clear.

There’s something very quiet and like, kind of ambiguous about . the way that Gio

creates his work. I think it’s not entirely clear what the subjects are, what the

inspirations are, the motifs are a bit opaque to the casual observer. So yeah, I

think he’s got a quite an interesting style. And maybe it would be the kind of thing

that would reward someone who is interested in decoding what this kind of

personal symbolism might mean as an art.

[12:05] Sabretooth:

Cool. And our final artist that we want to talk about today is Thais Silva. So she’s a

Afrofuturist type of art, which I believe is kind of in vogue right now. What do you

think of her?

[12:20] Kizu:

Again, just to put it out there in terms of terminology, Afrofuturism. Sabretooth, I

think maybe what you’re thinking about is more of, kind of 2010s vogue for both

African Americans, black artists, as well as African artists from Africa, that have

done very well in the traditional art world in US and Europe, and was a definite

narrative in the past 10 years. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that ambitious

gallerists were looking for the next big thing. And even though Asian art was a

thing, they were looking for more, you know, like, artists from the Caribbean,

from Kenya, basically, the African countries that were less on the radar. And that

did happen. And there were many kind of retrospectives that have top galleries,

and then secondary sales were strong as well. But that was not really, I think,

where the term Arofuturism came from. I believe it dates from the 60s jazz scene,

actually and to a certain extent, visual artists that, you know, for example, design

the posters and the visuals for these artists. It’s kind of like, well, I think not so

much John Coltrane but people like Sun Ra and more. I think a lot of it was kind of

a mix of jazz and funk. Obviously, this is when the more you had synthesizers and

stuff like that, so the kind of sound of music was changing to more electronic one.

And I think that the musicians that were active in the scene, were going for a

sound that to them conveyed a future where, you know, African identity, African

Americans in particular could really fulfill their, you know, creative potential and

become very successful. So I think that’s the context. But again, obviously, in a

visual art context, there were all these artists that did produce division, you know,

this is a time when the album art was a huge thing, like it made or broke the

album, if you had very strong. Because the, the consumer would be buying the

music, but who would be buying the LP and then you have this very interesting

graphic design for the poster, for example. So I think that maybe that’s where Thais Silva’s

coming from. I can already see how some of the works on hand here

might make a very strong album cover in terms of the kind of simplifying

geometric forms kind of restricted color palette, but very strong kind of graphic,

sharp graphic sensibility, I think. So yeah, I’m not sure exactly like what her

political position is in terms of like how she sees herself as a black Brazilian artist.

And in the Brazilian context, obviously, I think that’s a very powerful political, or

social, economic and political narrative. But just based purely on her work, I think,

yeah, it draws on that legacy of historical Afrofuturism.

[15:27] Sabretooth:

In the NFT sort of crypto context, sort o f Afrofuturism is a more literal thing

recently. I mean, because you know, the dominant, I would say, theme in crypto

art, currently is futurism. Right? If you browse the top sales of any platform, you’ll

find most of it dominated by sort of futuristic looking art, whether it’s futuristic

looking world, futuristic, looking 3d renders futuristic looking spaceships, or cars

always about futurism, for certain extent. And it’s a self fulfilling sort of loop in

the sense that if a futuristic themed art sells well, then it either attracts artists

who were into that kind of thing, or, you know, artists who want to sell, produce

those kind of works, and those works definitely do kind of sell. But then at the

same time, it merges with artists who bring their own sort of political slash, sort

of social history with them. And part of that is, is a lot of the sort of the racial

politics of the racial tensions that’s occurring, not just in creative world but just

also in society in general, over the past few years, you know, with Black Lives

Matter, and Trump and all that kind of stuff. I think Afrofuturism in the NFT world

is just a more literal combination of those two kind of things.

[16:58] Kizu:

Yeah, I think you’re absolutely right. I just wanted to point out the kind of

historical etimology specific of the term. I think that what’s been happening in the

past 10 years and the truth our and right now, as we speak, in the NFT space is

absolutely an extension of what happened in the jazz and funk scene in the 60s,

right? Obviously, the mediums have shifted, and it’s not always been about visual

art, specifically, but I think it’s been definitely a very strong questioning of like,

what is African and African American creativity, right. And the platforms that are

available today, and the fact that we’re talking about Brazil on Hic et Nunc today,

testifies to that, in the sense that the Brazilian presence on this platform speaks

to the fact that, you know, it is the artists from not just like African or countries

with the kind of considerable indigenous or population of African origin. I think it’s

absolutely about that identity and how it comes to bear in the ways that these

artists engage with their market, with their audience with their collectors.

[18:07] Sabretooth:

Cool. So let’s wrap up this episode about Brazilian artists. Is there anything you

want to say to sort of sum up? Is there a Brazilian sort of aesthetic? Is there a

Brazilian style? What do you think?

[18:21] Kizu:

Yeah, well, I think we mentioned a little bit, especially in relation to Fiedler at the

start. In terms of influences and then obviously Estelle Flores who draws from the

visual idiom of game, and Gio Mariani, the queer artist whose work isn’t

superficially isn’t very queer issue focused, and then Thais Silva obviously has this

afrofuturism narrative. So I think we’ve looked at a very interesting mix of styles,

just within this group of four artists, so it’s really hard to generalize. I think one

thing that’s come up, though, is that, and I think, with the last discussion about Thais Silva, and afrofuturism, is that it is very Brazilian in the sense that, you know, it’s

tied to a lot of issues facing Brazil as a country in 2021. And whether that’s got to

do mostly with an emerging, less developed country that you know, is rapidly

becoming an international force in, in many areas, or whether that’s a coming of

age, or if it’s artists that are engaging this as as ties along with with issues of, you

know, the identity of its artists. I think that there are a lot of ways in which you

can see, I wouldn’t call it maybe a Brazilian aesthetic. I think it’s something that

can be gleaned from the place of Brazil in the world today. If you want to talk

about the Brazilian aesthetic. I think it does help to think about it in terms of the

current status of the countries that we’re talking about. Because it’s always the

case that the culture and the art is a reflection, I think of the kind of social,

political and economic position of the country. It may not be explicitly about

those issues but I think it’s always the larger context that we need to be. So yeah,

in that sense I think, you know, Brazil, NFTs 2021. Yeah, it’s a good starting point

to think about what that identity or that Brazilianess, and where that comes from.

[20:37] Sabretooth:

Good episode. Let’s do it again sometime.

[20:38] Kizu:

Cool. Thanks, Sabretooth.

[20:38] Sabretooth:

Thanks, Kizu.