To cite a meme, we stay in a society. However the multidisciplinary artist Gossamer Rozen will get this higher than most. A seeming jack-of-all-trades, the trail to notoriety for the transgender, nonbinary, femme, Filipino/Black fine-art creator has been very sophisticated. However, regardless of almost a decade of not being profitable from their artwork, Rozen continued creating, not within the hopes of buying greatness, however to attain a special form of success, via being true to who they’re.
“Rising up with quite a lot of completely different psychological well being points and having come out as transgender once I was 24, artwork actually helped me perceive and relate to folks, and to myself,” Rozen stated in an interview with nft now. “The method of making artwork, for me, may be very therapeutic and really meditative. It truly is one thing that I have to do as an individual.”
Rozen says artwork is one thing they might do no matter reception, and this perspective helped their work develop from Web2 to Web3. Leveraging their abilities as a tattoo artist, illustrator, crypto-artist, mission founder, has introduced them plain affect within the NFT house.
Rozen’s well-liked Tigerbob collection blazed a path via the PFP NFT market, solidifying their title on the brief listing of influential NFT innovators. And now greater than ever, their lengthy highway to prosperity, compounded by their want to create change via NFTs, has illuminated the necessity for a humanistic and individualized method to creating and consuming content material within the Web3 house.
Charting a path via the artistic business
For Rozen, arriving within the NFT house got here after years {of professional} growth. As a person, they’ve lengthy centered their id on artwork, initially buying a love for artistic expression through manga, anime, and sequential artwork that, in flip, led them to develop into a self-taught illustrator.
All through grade faculty, Rozen developed their abilities however later modified instructions to increase their horizons by venturing into sculpting in school, receiving a level within the subject whereas nonetheless retaining their abilities with pen and paper. This creative flexibility would inevitably develop into a function of their id that grew out of a want to translate concepts throughout varied mediums.
“The aim [of sculpting] was to increase the completely different mediums of labor that I may create in. From summary sculptures to illustrative items whereas looking for different methods to create,” stated Rozen. “So once I introduced that work into Web3, I may look again at a protracted historical past of iteration on each summary works, primarily based very closely on textiles and sample, and illustrative, extra conventional storybook comedian book-type artwork.”
All through their continuously growing catalog of NFT drops and collections, Rozen’s “historical past of iteration” and creation throughout mediums is on full show. However even earlier than slicing their enamel within the NFT house, this knack for intertwining self-discipline and id drove them to develop into a tattoo artist, the place their first huge break within the artistic business occurred.
They grew up in a house the place East Asian artwork abounds, so it was simple for Rozen to channel their heritage into their visible works. Their distinctive type of stick-and-poke, which is closely impressed by each their African and Filipino roots, along with the historical past of tattooing itself, would finally seize the eye of Dr. Martens, Squarespace, Inked Magazine, and extra — additional solidifying their standing as an business skilled.
Just a few years after Rozen had develop into a full-time artist, their efforts led them into an unusual profession trajectory. However their journey into self-expression would solely proceed to evolve, as the journey entered the bizarre vast world of NFTs.
Setting sail within the NFT house
After changing into /concerned in NFTs round early 2021, it took Rozen roughly a yr to interrupt into the higher echelon of NFT founders. But their understanding of getting ready and presenting their works throughout each bodily and digital levels absolutely gave them a leg up from the beginning.
Whereas many have ventured into the NFT house on a whim, Rozen gave critical thought to the thought of coming into the ecosystem. “One of many first issues I needed to spend time analyzing was, what sort of work is marketable on this house, and the way can I work with that components to additionally create work that may be very real to myself,” they stated.
Rozen examined the waters with a small-batch assortment referred to as SQUISHIN KITTIES, which laid the groundwork for his or her tiger-centric NFT empire. From tattoo-themed initiatives on the Tezos blockchain to considerate, hand-drawn interpretations of West African currencies, each launch acted as a brick within the full-scale renovation of Rozen’s id as a Web3 creator.
Together with solo releases, Rozen additionally grew to become a collaborator on quite a few modern and fan-favorite NFT initiatives like Deadfellaz and A.N.I.M.O. However once they had been tapped to be the lead artist and artwork director of Woodies NFT, their id would shift but once more as they had been introduced into the highlight of NFT philanthropy.
By Woodies, Rozen helped raise more than $200,000 for reforestation efforts. This enabled Woodies to plant a million bushes — a serious milestone for an business that’s usually unjustifiably criticized as unhealthy for the setting.
When it got here time for Rozen to take pause and reinvest of their private endeavors to launch their very own large-scale mission, Tigerbob, the spirit of collaboration and philanthropy seemingly helped dictate each choice they made.
“I feel I’ve all the time needed to have the ability to give again to the world not directly. In the identical method that the world has been very variety to me as I’ve gone via so many various sorts of struggles on the subject of psychological well being and being a marginalized individual in a number of other ways,” Rozen instructed nft now. “Having the ability to lastly make funds that I can’t solely give again to myself but additionally to others — I feel it’s actually vital to pay it ahead.”
Throughout the first few months of Tigerbob’s existence, Rozen had already donated funds to each the Trevor Project and the National Network of Abortion Funds. Whereas this additional solidified their title as a pacesetter within the NFT philanthropy house, it additionally mirrored their prosperity and satisfaction as a trans individual with a uterus — one thing that showcased each the variety and individuality that may be achieved within the NFT house.
An individualistic method to NFT success
Typically talking, among the milestones inside Rozen’s Web3 profession really feel ambiguous when taken at face worth. As an impartial artist who paved their very own method via the NFT market, they undoubtedly have a kinship with others which have achieved the identical. However regardless of sharing boot-strapping origins, their story is a reminder that individualism stays a salient theme, even inside the NFT house.
It goes with out saying that there is no such thing as a secret components for NFT success. Whereas a choose few artists and initiatives have helped outline what accomplishment can appear to be, these aiming to observe within the precise footsteps of their predecessors are more likely to discover the market tired of repeat endeavors.
Rozen didn’t discover success as a fluke, however because of months of trial and error. By quite a few initiatives, they realized and grew, gaining belief within the market and a grasp of their strengths. And whereas some initiatives lack lasting success due to hype, Rozen’s Tigerbob was a calculated execution. One which was impressed by, however not a spinoff of, another person’s mission.
“The mission is just one,000 items, each I hand-made myself so that they weren’t generative by any means. It was a really time-consuming mission,” Rozen recalled concerning the early levels of making Tigerbob. “I really feel just like the work is so nicely obtained as a result of it’s so distinctive in the truth that it’s not like different initiatives which are generative, it’s nearer to a high-quality artwork mission.”
But, for any singular NFT success, there absolutely exists a dozen monumental failures. Whether or not that be lacking alternatives to money out, dropping cash on an funding, or failing to get traction after a mission launch, the NFT house might be disheartening. Briefly, not everybody who creates, sells, or trades NFTs goes to get wealthy.
The very fact of the matter is that success tales usually serve to create unrealistic expectations. And for Rozen, these unrealistic expectations are one of many main pitfalls of the NFT house. Whereas NFT fame and riches are extremely attractive to each creators and customers, normally, these indicators of accomplishment are unattainable.
For this reason Rozen’s story is so inspiring. Not as a result of it attracts on the rags-to-riches themes that always abound the NFT house, however as a result of it exhibits how tuning out the noise and taking an individualistic method to your personal endeavors often is the one true path to Web3 success.
Deep down, many people knew this from the beginning. In spite of everything, the Beeple’s and XCOPY’s of the world didn’t achieve a foothold by following another person’s routine. Prime NFT gross sales, even these on Rozen’s roster, are only a reminder of large potential, not a subject information to success.