Tag: Anthony Sims

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Meaty Graffiti Hosts NFT Showcase and Q&A

Anthony Sims’ NFTs (Photo: Courtesy Anthony Sims)

We can all recognize Memphis as an arts hub, but is it a hub for NFTs? Maybe not yet, but the group NFT Memphis, founded in September by artists and collectors, is working to solidify the city as such.

“There’s a bunch of stuff in Memphis that’s really popular and really influential,” says artist Anthony Sims. “However, it seems to be that the artists here basically in perpetuity have been fucked over by like the rest of the world. … There are so many people that aren’t even from Memphis that have leaned on this area [for artistic inspiration]. And it’s like, why don’t the people of the area actually claim ownership of what we’re doing for everyone else?”

Some, like Sims, hope NFTs will bridge this gap by providing artists with consistent income, since they will receive residuals from every sale their NFTs make on the blockchain. “For artists to be working artists is for us to kill the notion of a starving artist,” adds digital artist Kenneth Wayne Alexander. “That’s the main plan [with NFTs and NFT Memphis] because we need more optional jobs out here. Being an artist can be a lucrative job, but we have to build it.”

Anthony Sims’ NFTs (Photo: Courtesy Anthony Sims)

So far, the Southern arts community does not have as big of an NFT infrastructure as other regions in the U.S. “It’s our chance to be able to kind of say, ‘Oh, okay, Memphis, let’s put the peg there,’” says Meaty Graffiti gallery owner Jennifer Tiscia.

For those who are still confused or just plain curious about the digital medium, NFT Memphis plans to offer classes and showcases, with its second-ever showcase planned for this Thursday. The show will include screens with digital art along with more “traditional” forms of art like paintings and prints — made by locals Sims, Alexander, and Cheeto Ryan, as well as PREACHER, an artist from New Orleans.

“This is going to be more than just an art show,” says Tiscia. “This is gonna be about us having a true community of NFT collectors. This is art for the people. This is making sure that artists are gonna be compensated. This is about supporting our artists, supporting our community.”

As such, the artists will participate in a Q&A not only to share their knowledge, but also to find out what Memphis needs when it comes to becoming an NFT hub and what the group can do to help other artists explore the medium. People can also submit questions through Meaty Graffiti’s website.

Plus, NFT Memphis will distribute POAPs at the showcase. A POAP, which stands for Proof of Attendance Protocol, is essentially a “ticket stub” but in NFT form, explains Justin Hodges, who helped organize the event. “It’s basically proof you were there.” The new food truck, Tender Love, will also be making its debut that evening.

To keep up with NFT Memphis, follow the group on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (@nft_memphis).

NFT Art Showcase and Q&A, Meaty Graffiti, Thursday, November 10, 4:30-7 p.m.

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Art Art Feature

A Gallery of Pixels at Brooks

Karl Erickson, Be Almost Miraculous, still of digital video, 2022 (Photo: Courtesy Karl Erickson)

As a high school student, the last couple years of my life have been hyper-digitized. The pandemic pushed even my freshman year of learning to a digital platform. Like almost every teen I know, out of a combination of boredom and curiosity, I downloaded many apps that allow me to create my own version of digital art — from the photos I curate to post on Instagram to the short videos I make for TikTok. Digital art abounds in today’s world, whether it’s feats of photography, videography, music, dance, or comedy.

“As humans and machines become more enmeshed than ever, digital art once again asks us to consider what art can be and how it can be experienced,” says Patricia Daigle, associate curator of modern and contemporary art at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.

Digital art can be loosely defined as any art that uses technology as part of the creative or presentation process. Artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality, and virtual reality have opened up many possibilities, allowing artists to create surreal, unique experiences and virtual worlds that transcend traditional boundaries.

The “Another Dimension: Digital Art in Memphis” exhibition at the Brooks provides a glimpse into the growing digital art scene in Memphis and features works by Kenneth Wayne Alexander II, Karl Erickson, Coe Lapossy, Sarai Payne, and Anthony Sims. “The exhibition includes works that are purely digital, a combination of the digital and physical, and work that is made digitally for a material existence,” Daigle says.

“They range from finely rendered animations to the decidedly low-tech or intentionally glitched. In this context, the digital is not only a tool but a space in which artists can create alternative physical and psychological environments or states of being.

“For this exhibition,” continues Daigle, “I wanted to feature [Memphis] artists who were working in digital mediums. There are several artists in our community engaging with digital art in different, interesting ways. Several of the artists in the exhibition — Kenneth Wayne Alexander II, Sarai Payne, and Anthony Sims — were born and raised in the Memphis area and had wonderful, influential art teachers in the public schools they attended.”

The works in the exhibit mark a shift away from traditional art forms and mix the traditional and the digital — the style and content of which reflect changes in society.

As part of the exhibition, viewers can peer through a “trapdoor” — a sewer cap on the floor — to watch a video of choreographed art. Another piece, King, features a skull wearing a crown and is a 16-panel digital collage inspired by Memphis street art. “I [thought I] should try and do something to recognize and commemorate the city that really helped me become an artist,” says King creator Anthony Sims.

“This city and the community mean a lot to me. The background in the artwork, I actually made it in 2019 when I was living in Memphis,” Sims says. “The character is kind of an ode to street artist Birdcap. And I usually like throwing an ode to Latin-American culture in my art. The blue squares I liked because that’s the color of Memphis: blues [music], Grizzlies is blue, the University of Memphis is blue — that’s Memphis. I titled the piece King because of the crown, which was inspired by an Inca crown.”

With a boom in everything digital, artists can release their artistic skills through many mediums. There are creative tools from open-source programming to apps that artists can use to hone their skills digitally.

“I started as a physical artist, that is my realm,” Sims says. “I am a physical painter. Just because you are passionate about something doesn’t mean that you need to put yourself in a box and stay in that box. Once I started making digital art, everything in my life changed. I made the most money and [was] met with the most media success through digital art. Never limit yourself as an artist. Don’t be scared of new technologies.”

“Another Dimension: Digital Art in Memphis” runs through September 11th at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. Visit brooksmuseum.org for more info.

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Brooks Museum Hosts Panels on Digital Art and NFTs

Tower of Babel, 2021. (Photo: Courtesy Kenneth Wayne Alexander)

When Beeple sold an NFT for $69 million in March 2021, I can bet $69 million that you hadn’t heard of NFTs before then. Okay, maybe that’s just me. But digital art has been around since the 1960s as artists experimented with early computer art. Today, though, after a pandemic-induced shift toward virtual environments, digital art seems more mainstream than ever. “Whether or not you think this is valid art,” says Patricia Daigle, “the way we use digital, it’s just part of who we are. I think you’ll just increasingly see [digital] art in general.”

Daigle, who has curated the Brooks’ latest exhibition “Another Dimension: Digital Art in Memphis,” points out that digital art is not just “a tiny GIF or something you can view on the screen, that the digital can be thought of as a tool or space.” In this exhibit, artists like Kenneth Wayne Alexander II, Karl Erickson, and Anthony Sims, do turn to animation and NFTs as their preferred medium, but Coe Lapossy and Sarai Payne demonstrate the use of digital in sculpture featuring video and collage using online images and Photoshop.

“I find it really interesting how artists of all backgrounds are using these digital tools,” Daigle says. “I think it’s really interesting and exciting we’re living in this moment where [a new art movement is] being developed. … The market and sort of the attitudes are always shifting. What you’re looking at isn’t staying static.”

To speak on our constantly changing, hyper-digitized world, the Brooks is hosting two panels this weekend, the first of which will touch on how and why artists engage with digital forms, the second of which will delve into NFTs. “We’re almost at a point where we feel overwhelmed by technology,” Daigle says, but she hopes that by engaging with the exhibition we can find pleasure in the digital and perhaps reflect on our connection to technology, “whether it’s positive or negative or neither.”

“Another Dimension: Digital Art in Memphis,” Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, on Display through September 11. Artists’ Talk: Art in the Digital Age, Friday, July 15, 6 p.m. | NFTs: Beyond Boom or Bust, Saturday, July 16, 2 p.m.