Artist title: Grant Riven Yun
Location: Milwaukee
Date minted first NFT: Feb. 3, 2021
Which blockchains? Ethereum, Counterparty (Bitcoin)
Who’s he?
Grant Yun has all the time been an artist at coronary heart with an early aspiration to have his work featured at a serious public sale home. A curious and motivated particular person, Yun is learning drugs whereas juggling his work as an artist and performing as a breakdancer who has competed everywhere in the United States.
Since discovering NFTs a bit over two years in the past, the Wisconsin resident has propelled his artwork and private model into the stratosphere a lot faster than he’d imagined. With a minimalist fashion that elicits nostalgic vibes amongst collectors and his witty persona on Twitter, Yun is slicing out a big share of mindshare amongst digital artwork followers.
“Earlier than NFTs, I informed myself I might change into an artist who sells at a big public sale home someday as a result of, on the time, that was my solely metric by way of which I knew what it meant to be a profitable artist. I had no expertise being an artist general, in order that was the one metric I needed to measure.”
He reached the metric in October 2022:
“Having my work be put up at Sotheby’s was surreal. I feel essentially the most pivotal second for me was after I signed the contract… It simply felt like such a monumental second.”
Yun paid homage to NFTs because the accelerant that helped him obtain what may in any other case have taken a decade.
“It’s actually been surreal. I feel that the expansion of artists on this house is hyper accelerated. To have achieved what I’ve achieved shouldn’t occur inside a decade. For me, it occurred inside two years of me becoming a member of the house. However, right here we’re.”
Private fashion
Describing his personal distinct fashion, Yun acknowledges the impression of simplicity to evoke recollections and the impression of old-fashioned video video games.
“I see my work as minimalist and nostalgic,” he says. “I feel my artwork is actually centered on being ambiguous sufficient to the place folks can relate to it with their very own private experiences, however particular sufficient to the place it will possibly elicit sure recollections from folks’s lives.”
“I attempt to restrict the quantity of particulars and muddle. It’s actually a much less in additional form of mentality.”
“With the gaming vibes in my artwork, it’s largely based mostly round Nintendo video games — significantly the Tremendous Nintendo period, Nintendo 64 and GameCube. I really feel like Nintendo video games, particularly those that have been printed by Nintendo themselves, have a really particular coloration palette — a bit like Pokemon and The Legend of Zelda. All of these have a really distinctive and related form of set of colours.”
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Notable gross sales so far:
“The Alien” from the sequence “Area” offered for 136.9 ETH on July 28, 2022 ($236,217 equal on date of sale).
“Laundry” from the sequence “Northeast” offered for 70 ETH on Jan. 28, 2023 ($115,182 equal on date of sale).
“Casa Roja” from “Grant Yun Early Works” offered for 25 ETH on Jan. 8, 2023 ($31,596.50 equal on date of sale).
“En Route #7” from the “Grant Yun x Avant Arte” assortment offered for 16 ETH on Jan. 3, 2023 ($19,426 equal on date of sale).
Influences
Conventional artwork continues to supply inspiration, significantly established painters from the early to mid-Twentieth century, reminiscent of American Gothic painter Grant Wooden or the pop artist Ed Ruscha.
“Most of my inspiration comes from painters like Grant and Ed and learning portray from the standard artwork world.”
Yun added, “I ought to point out, I do like to go away easter egg, crypto-related issues in my illustrations. However the imaginative and prescient for the place my artwork goes I feel has remained the identical.”
What ought to artists be listening to?
As a scholar of the digital artwork recreation and an enormous fan of generative artwork specifically, Yun says Mpkoz is one to be careful for. Mpkoz is the artist behind the notable assortment “Chimera.”
Additionally receiving props from Yun is Summer season Wagner, an rising NFT photographer who Justin Aversano additionally rated in a current NFT Creator.
“Two of my favorites proper now are positively Summer season and Mpkoz. There’s so many others I do know I’m leaving out although.”
Course of
Recognized for his skill to uncover the appeal in commonplace environment, Yun can be a fan of classes and creating work in a sequence.
“After I create an illustration, I strive for essentially the most half to sub-categorize them into sure sequence. I feel I do my greatest work in a sequence,” Yun stated.
“To me, it helps as a result of I prefer to view the world in a categorical method. I additionally assume lots of people do the identical subconsciously or consciously. I consider that is why we all the time place an enormous emphasis on accumulating a set and even accumulating basically. For continuity’s sake for myself and likewise for accumulating,” he says. “I attempt to work with very related themes from previous illustrations.”
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Having moved from the hustle and bustle of California to the quieter fields of Wisconsin, Yun is keen about telling a narrative inside his artwork just by being current and observing what is correct in entrance of him.
“All of my themes come from my experiences, like the place I’ve lived and specific recollections I’ve had. After I got down to create an illustration, I form of dwell and consider a composition in my head. For instance, if I’m driving someplace and I see a random factor on the facet of the highway, I’ll have a composition come to my head, however I then attempt to form that composition right into a sequence that I’m engaged on.”
“One other instance may be, if I look out of the window and I see a constructing, I’ll attempt to guarantee that I’ll use that constructing as a reference, however the illustration itself will attempt to embody one of many completely different themes that I’ve happening.”
Musings on the brand new artist/collector relationship through NFTs
Yun says the artist-collector relationship is totally completely different within the NFT world than within the conventional artwork world. “Previous to NFTs, artists have been represented by galleries, and the galleries have been the road of communication for collectors and consumers. It was nearly discouraged — and it nonetheless is sort of discouraged — for artists to do direct transactions or communications with collectors. That is in full distinction to what’s taking place proper now within the Web3 house,” Yun says.
Like different creators, he attributes his presence on social media to build up a following. “If I’m being trustworthy, I do assume a part of my success is because of how lively I’m on Twitter and the way prepared and keen I’m to speak to folks.” He provides that he doesn’t assume “the worth of artwork ought to be completely dictated by one’s willingness to be lively on Twitter.”
“I do really feel for individuals who may not be of their 20s like I’m, or who may not be technologically savvy sufficient or have the expertise like I do being round expertise primarily since start.”
Hyperlinks:
Grant Yun website
Breakdance record and video
Grails III Artist Reveal Show
SuperRare
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