When New York-based artist WhIsBe — quick for “What’s magnificence?” — first reignited the then-dormant flames of his artistic hearth in 2011, he was principally involved with following within the footsteps of his heroes within the conventional artwork world. By means of graffiti, he thought, he may iterate on the works of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The consequence was industrial imagery intent on the disruption of public areas — WhIsBe’s tackle graffiti artwork.
However amidst all of WhIsBe’s subversive iconography, one recurring character in his works stands out in its biting critique of the US legal justice system: the Vandal Gummy. Initially, this character — an anthropomorphized gummy bear draped in jail garb — discovered itself on partitions hidden in New York alleyways. Ultimately, sculptures of the Vandal Gummy had been produced, with one such sculpture discovering its approach into the personal gallery of billionaire New York actual property developer Larry Silverstein.
WhIsBe’s unifying power in Web3
At the moment, the Vandal Gummy now lives on the blockchain as effectively, with WhIsBe providing his work as a canvas for twenty-four of the NFT area’s main artists. In our newest episode of Behind The Drop, WhIsBe mentioned his future plans for the long-lasting Vandal Gummy character, and the worth of collaboration within the NFT area.
Following the success of WhIsBe’s unique Vandals assortment, which noticed him convey over the Vandal Gummy into the NFT area through an 11,111-piece assortment, the New York-based artist is ready so as to add to that preliminary assortment with the Vandalized Version: a 600-piece drop that includes collaborations with a few of the NFT area’s greatest and brightest artists. “If we’re going to observe and preach neighborhood, […] we’ve obtained to stroll the stroll and never simply speak the speak,” WhIsBe stated in an interview with nft now.
Headlining the 600-piece drop are reinterpretations of the Vandal Gummy character by Steve Aoki, Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova, FVCKRENDER, Mad Canine Jones, XCOPY, and extra. With this initiative, WhIsBe hopes to pay homage to a few of the NFT area’s most essential voices and artists, whereas fostering its continued development. Talking on the NFT area, WhIsBe acknowledged: “I believe it’s looking for its identification. I believe all people’s looking for their identification however forgetting to neglect being the cool, well-liked child in school and keep on with what they consider in.” Working collectively is unquestionably a step in that route. Vandal Gummy’s Vandalized Version is ready to go reside on September 28.