Exploring NFT Art On Tezos (Part 10) – RubenFro

I’m originally from Italy, but moved to Tokyo more than a decade ago for work.

I’ve always been interested in design and art (mainly digital art, photography and composing music), but only a couple of years ago I decided to quit my career as web and app developer, to focus on digital art and VFX for video productions and music videos.

So far, I’m extremely happy with that choice. I have worked with some amazing artists like Pussy Riot, Deathpact, Dreamers Delight, Ital Tek, and brands like Acronym and Asus.. plus many other cool things still under NDA.

In my artworks I use large particle systems and point cloud technology. I started experimenting with it a couple of years ago, when with a couple of friends we created a series of interactive art installations called Future Cities (rubenfro.com/future-cities).

In 2018 and 2019 we exhibited around Japan, Taiwan and New Zealand.

Then finally concluded with a last installation called Memories of Tsukiji.

Finally just before the pandemic, I started doing 3D scans of small alleys in Hanoi, Vietnam, creating a series of artworks called Dissolving Realities (rubenfro.com/dissolving-realities) that helped me to establish myself as a 3D artist.

Yes, all my pieces are connected by this fictional “DAT” universe.

DAT (Digital AfterLife Network) is a complex network of servers running an endless virtual life simulation. Humanity has transitioned to digital form, moving into this virtual universe and leaving the physical form behind.

While DAT started as a virtual paradise, it slowly accumulated errors and data corruption, turning it into a glitchy hell. I imagine my stories as 3D fragments of a world long gone, only stored in imperfect digital fragments within DAT.

I’m planning to expand on this fictional universe in the near future, but you can find a brief introduction on my website.

Currently, the Atlantis series is concluded, although I may do some new pieces in the future.

I’ve recently started two experimental and more affordable collections, released from time to time without any previous announcements, called Spiritual Molecules (on Kalamint) and DAT Files (HeN), and will soon release a new series uniting volumetric captures to procedural generation.

I admit I was a bit skeptical about NFT at the beginning, not fully understanding how everything worked. But I saw NFTs changing the lives of artist friends, finally able to repay long term debts… all this in the middle of a difficult situation like a global pandemic. I realized it was something that was going to change the world of digital art forever.

The first personal experience with NFTs was actually the Pussy Riot – Panic Attack drop on Foundation. I worked on their music video a few months before  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdw0xjjVFpI), and Nadya from Pussy Riot decided to release it as a 4 piece drop on Foundation. It was amazing to see more than 170ETH raised from those drops, with a large percentage going to help victims of domestic abuse in Russia and activist art.

I really liked the atmosphere around HeN, very focused on art and community, and that’s why I started there. It was also fascinating to see how affordable editions and extremely low gas on tez platforms, created a healthy market where artists invested heavily in other artists.

Majority of my releases are new works, although from time to time I do rework and release pieces from the backlog. I used to make this kind of digital art way before NFT, sharing them on Instagram and Twitter, hoping to get noticed and land a new project. Now fortunately collectors can support art in a concrete way instead of just Likes. 

I’ve always loved sci-fi and cyberpunk, so there are definitely many influences in my work, although I try to avoid the cyberpunk aesthetic that was quite popular a couple of years ago. Hard sci-fi is also another inspiration in creating environments and imagining how a computer-simulated reality would look like. 

All of them! From creating the code and algorithms to move the points clouds, to writing a story and creating the sound design.

I enjoy all the different aspects of the creative process in making a NFT. But if I had to choose the least favorite… probably the promotion aspect.

Yes, all is running in real-time in Unity, using a series of tools and shaders I developed to render point clouds in a more cinematic way. Animations, lighting, effects, and everything you see on screen is managed by these shaders.

I started building this framework a few years ago working on a real-time installation and now it’s what I’m using for my NFT and commercial work. (I talk more in detail here: https://80.lv/articles/creating-immersive-experiences-from-point-data)

Yes. I have a few tests with those scenes running in VR, and the experience is quite powerful. 

I remember trying a scene I scanned inside a busy train in Tokyo. Seeing all those points defining reality, with people in their daily life, some reading a magazine or replying to a message on their phone, in what is essentially a single slice of life, frozen in time with 3D data,  it’s a powerful experience… and something that inspired me to create the DAT universe.

When I’m not creating art or working on commissioned projects I’m constantly adding new features and effects. Recently I’ve been experimenting with procedural generation and complex voxel geometries. I also have some early experiments of interesting biologically inspired looks that I may be using in the future.

I feel the low gas fees allow a model of reasonably priced artworks, with artists releasing multiple editions and still make a good profit. This also creates a healthy secondary market.

My earliest Dissolving Paintings were priced at around 10 Tezos, and now some have reached more than 1200. The same pattern is happening again and again for many artists.

This of course, as you mentioned, means that popular releases are harder to get at release. To be more accessible I’ve created new, more affordable series. At the same time, I started accepting reservations to avoid people hoarding multiple editions.  

Extremely bright. I think we’re just at the beginning and finally in a more mature era of NFT. Artists are pushing the envelope on many fronts, doing extremely interesting experiments, and building experiences that go far beyond the art itself.