For Shahin Tabassi, digital art can traverse the past, present and future, creating an interplay with time alongside feelings of nostalgia. As an early adopter of NFTs and longtime advocate for digital art, Tabassi has curated A Record of Time to spotlight three digital artists – all of whom have a rigorous approach to their craft.
The trio are united through using time as a playful element within their work, all while writing their histories onto the blockchain. They are Sarah Zucker, Grant Riven Yun and Six N. Five.
Sarah Zucker
The tools of our recent past are a way to reflect on how much things are changing, and how much it will continually to exponentially change across our lifetime. Humour is maybe one of the most powerful tools we have available to us in times that are incredibly challenging.
Sarah Zucker
Working in the medium of video art for over a decade, Sarah Zucker playfully confronts the relationship between analogue and digital. She uses video synthesis and feedback techniques, alongside reviving old technologies such as analog VHS tapes. This blend transports the viewer out of their present reality. The result is almost always a vibrant blend of nostalgia.
For more on Sarah Zucker, visit her artist page and watch her interview with Shahin Tabassi on the Avant Arte collective.
THIS IS REAL
Zucker's edition THIS IS REAL explores the paradox of reality, addressing questions that NFT artists regularly face. Does something need to be physical to be real? Is virtual reality a non reality? Zucker confidently concludes that there is no line between real and not real; it is all a matter of perception.
Grant Riven Yun
I do my best to create a sense of ambiguity to help my audience see my art how they see fit, to create their own narratives.
Grant Riven Yun
The simplicity of Grant Riven Yun's work proves beauty can be found in everything. His masterful use of negative space, familiar scenes and pared back palettes evokes nostalgia through the mundane. His landscapes are drawn from his day to day experience whilst paying homage to older works from art history and the industrial revolution. The use of solitude is intentional, a direct result of Riven Yun honing his practice during the pandemic, recording moments in history.
En Route
Riven Yun's first large scale print with accompanying NFT, En Route, allows viewers to fully immerse themselves in the stark solitude of his artwork. A distilled palette and grainy texture is synonymous with his practice. The eye is drawn to a lone lorry charging through the scene into the landscape beyond – a long and lifeless journey lies ahead.
Six N. Five
The soul of connecting things from different worlds is part of my everyday.
Six N. Five
Ezequiel Pini, aka Six N. Five, is known for playing with the rules of space and gravity. He presents a window into new worlds, with environments that allow our imagination to come alive. With a hypnotic use of light and texture, the sun and moon pass seamlessly through utopian landscapes. By taking advantage of the unlimited freedom that CGI allows, boundaries between real and artificial become blurred. For more on Six N.Five, visit his artist page.
Rituals
Rituals, a new edition by Six N. Five, sees day and night pass endlessly through a serene sanctuary set amongst the clouds. While exploring each corner of the futuristic interior, viewers can escape their day to day. The work, like many by the artist, sits somewhere between a tangible future and a meditative dream.
