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Artists ‘Crossing Over’ to NFTs During Seattle’s Art Fair

There's Bound to be Digital Fireworks Crossing the Streams

Matthew Denis
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Crossing Over is almost too on point for the upcoming July 22 show at the Seattle NFT Museum. The exhibition kicks off at the same time as the Seattle Art Fair (July 21-24). The title is less a play on words than a declaration for the digital art scene.

Crossing Over will highlight artists whose work predates NFTs, moving from the physical form into blockchain technology. Eleven well-established creators help to blaze the trail into the fine art world. This show aims to not only uplift the utility of digital art for artists, but also bring this new visual art realm to art enthusiasts.

An abstract work from Richard Jacobs
Richard Jacobs/Seattle NFT Museum

“We hope this exhibition helps to bridge the conversation between what is happening in Web3 and the rich history of fine art,” said Peter Hamilton, co-founder of the SNFTM.

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Cubism, contemporary art, portraiture, scientific, 3D, naturalist, and sacred geometric are just a few of the digital forms the Crossing Over visitors can expect to find. It’s an expression in an entirely new dialect from well-known creative minds.

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“We wanted to create an exhibition devoted to talents that are moving into the NFT space,” Hamilton said. “This show is about their stories and experiences in crossing over. By stepping into NFT sales, so many artists are experiencing newfound relationships with audiences and collectors on a global stage.”

A painting by Jake Fried
Jake Fried/Seattle NFT Museum

The show is curated in collaboration with Joana Kawahara Lino. Lino’s experience in traditional galleries and auction houses merges with her love for impactful artists finding new ways to express art with NFTs.

“In terms of curation, I wanted to showcase the incredibly high caliber of art you can now find in the NFT space. These artists have worked on their craft for years, and this is reflected (in) the outcome,” Lino said in an email.

Not only is this an innovative form for these craftspeople, it’s also a novel way of hanging a show, which for Lino, is exactly where she wants to be.

“Curation of digital art/NFTs is a rather new discipline, and developing a voice and style has been a privilege and joy I never thought I’d have the access to, and for which I am incredibly grateful,” Lino said.

Showing Seattle NFT Museum artists include Norman Harman, who combines analog and an autonomous digital painting process “to achieve a Baconian grotesqueness in a POST-COVID, consumer-driven world.”

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Title: Limo Guyhttps://t.co/14ZCYhrOw9#cryptoart #painting pic.twitter.com/OgCaNjMEWj

— Norman Harman 💎 (@NorrieHarman) July 12, 2022

Visithra Manikam, a.k.a. VISSYART, is a self-taught visual artist and photographer from Malaysia. Her modern Indian expressionist and pop art/surrealist painting art has been exhibited in L.A., New York, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, and more. Stretching her imaginative muscles, Manikam’s work evolved to iPad digital drawings and eventually digital animations.

“I started off seriously doing art as a traditional artist working with acrylic on canvas,” she said in a press release. “Being in this (NFT) space allows me to explore and push boundaries that existed in the traditional world.”

Vissyuga is the age of Ikari faces.

Vissy is my nickname while the three letters at the back have dual meaning. In Tamil/ Sanskrit – Yuga means age or a period of time.

Vissy-uga also refers to Mugam in Tamil which means faces. https://t.co/dGNey4TyzX pic.twitter.com/HJ0ELxNJhk

— Vissyarts (@vissyarts) June 5, 2022

Interestingly, Manikam finds the virtual world to be freer from expectation.

“There is more freedom and a lot of inspiration to create any kind of art without thinking (about) what is collected by a certain country,” Manikam said. “All kinds of art find acceptance here and this allows endless creativity.”

Tickets are now on sale for the Crossing Over VIP preview event from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday, July 22, at the Seattle NFT Museum. Attendees can hear about work and inspiration from several exhibiting artists on display.

This promises to be a happening artistic weekend in the Emerald City, as hundreds of contemporary and modern artists will converge at Lumen Field for the aforementioned Seattle Art Fair.

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Matthew Denis
Matthew Denis
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Matt Denis is an on-the-go remote multimedia reporter, exploring arts, culture, and the existential in the Pacific Northwest…
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