Hey everybody - I am back in Mexico City and after a week of taking it a little easy (for me) I think I’m finally recuperated. NYC was a whirl wind where I attended 3-6 events daily, hung out with new and old friends alike, and had the pleasure of seeing my works exhibited across the city in the Pussy Riot, Pepe, Tezos, Makersplace, Crypto Gallery and Sotheby’s shows. It was surreal to say the least, and so thankful to all the people who have been helping me navigate all this mentally.

Here are some photo highlights:

In an unprecedented turn with the glitch show, Sotheby’s paused, approached Dawnia (Letsglitchit) and Dina Chang to recurate the show, put together an exhibition at Sotheby’s NYC HQ and relaunched the auction. Read complete details here at NFTNOW

When Dawnia first told me she was approached by Sotheby’s to re-curate, I told her I would support whatever decision she made to move forward. As someone who used to work as an art appraiser, authenticator and curator, being in a big auction house was not actually a goal of mine. I came to cryptoart to escape it, because I saw it as an opportunity to contribute ideologically to a new system that is more equitable and less exploitative to artists. However, supporting my friends is more important to me and I saw it as an opportunity to create a piece of work with a clear message about the state of everything. If I didn’t take the seat at the table, I know someone else would, so was mindful in my approach.

I created Human Rights//Down Bad thinking of all this - woman’s rights, human rights, devaluation of non-male art, financial markets, glitch art, ai art, crypto and activism. Initially I took this iconic photo of Pussy Riot in chains and fed it through Midjourney mixed with my art and prompts to create a base collage image.

I chose this photo to pay homage to the activist group and all the work they have done to highlight human right’s issues globally. Through working in AI, the Handmaid’s Tale imagery started to emerge which I leaned into knowing the visuals of it would hit on a subconscious pop culture mental vein. The downward trending financial graph emerged in another composition, so I collaged elements together for each 60 individual frame of the base animation and added different glitchy touches to each frame in Photoshop. Once I had a smooth looping gif, I ran it through Photomosh and After Effects to achieve the vintage glitch aesthetic I’ve honed into over the last few months.

Here is the fancy write-up I gave to Sotheby’s:

"Human Rights//Down Bad," is a mesmerizing animated collage that seamlessly blends AI and video editing software to produce a unique Vintage Glitch aesthetic Empress Trash has developed through synthesis of multiple different digital processes. The core theme of all works in Vintage Glitch style is a commentary on the impact of early mass media and technology on our perception of society and revisits the past to recode and contextualize its implications in modern times. Empress Trash utilized a photo of three Pussy Riot members in chains as the primary source image, paying homage to the renowned Feminist Art Activists, and applied AI processing combined with her visual work to generate various striking compositions. The artist skillfully combined these elements to create the final composition which she then processed through Photomosh and Adobe After Effects to achieve the half-tone, psychedelic loop. Initially conceived to be named "Women's Rights//Down Bad," the artwork's title was finalized to "Human Rights" to emphasize that women's rights are a fundamental aspect of human rights, not a separate right to question, and their violation affects humanity as a whole. The artist's use of the graph and "down bad" language highlights how financial market dynamics can evoke strong emotions, whereas stripping away someone's rights doesn't always have the same visceral response to some, pointing to the need for greater advocacy and action for human rights overall.

On 4/20 I decided to drop my first piece on SuperRare after being properly onboarded. I’ve been dealing with a lot of anger at the state of things in general so thought I would channel it through a Divine portrait saying Eat Shit.

I’m thankful there was a smol bidding war with Batsoupyum getting the piece for .69 $ETH which is my new finalized ATH. You can view the piece and complete details here on SuperRare.

I will be minting some more work soon to SuperRare including some more Vintage Glitches.

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