Pushing Pixels - DotPigeon, Art’s NFT Trailblazer

Right clicked saved image, ok’d by the artist

This week we bring you a special interview with DotPigeon, the prolific artist provocateur and NFT pioneer. Few artists have had his success in bridging the divide between the physical and digital worlds. But none of this is new to the mixed media artist, he has always told his outrageous stories through paint and pixels.

DotPigeon’s meteoric rise into an NFT powerhouse was no accident. In fact, you could argue that he was made for this moment. The Milan based visual artist’s defiant paintings violently smash the art culture’s status quo whilst teleporting us into his dark twisted world he creates with digital animations. Crypto and traditional collectors alike clamor for his rousing works that sell out on NFT platforms like Nifty Gateway almost instantly. As of this writing has sold an astonishing 1,700+ digital works of art worth over $5.2 million.

Perhaps what’s more impressive is DotPigeon’s perpetual inclusion in many of the world’s most important NFT events including “Lost In Crypto” with Plan X Gallery, “Crypto Kiosk” at Art Basel, “Trespassing” at Christies New York, and most recently “The Gateway” at Art Basel Miami in collaboration with Christies, NFT Now, Noah Davis and Ronnie Pirovino. It’s still early, but DotPigeon seems to have already carved out a permanent place for himself in NFT art history.

You can expect more of the same from DotPigeon in 2022 starting off with his first exhibition of the year in collaboration with Lorin Gallery in Los Angeles and Nifty Gateway on February 18th. Keep it posted here for more information on the show and available works. Now onto the interview.

WAGMI

“Shut up and fill these shelves” (2021)

LOTO: NFT space seems to have fully embraced you. You're a favorite of NFT curators and you've experienced some remarkable commercial success. What is it about your art that you think translates so well to this new medium?

DP: I’d like to answer you by quoting Colombeat, one of my most beloved collectors and art director of Mad Rabbits Riot Club.

“DotPigeon's art hits a special place in our hearts because it seems to encapsulate so many aspects of what's going on in our world today; socially, economically, and politically. You have a very defiant attitude towards the very superficial and "easy" form of collecting fancy houses, art, and material possessions as a signifier of class or taste. The work seeks to rebuke and critique that type of "cultural emptiness" that has permeated the ruling class. The "Balaclava Guy" is all of us, tired and angry at the old and fat wealth hoarding our culture and taste. We're taking it back, and we're burning this shit down on our terms. DotPigeon is a type of punk art that relies not on dirt, trash, or noise aesthetics, but on class and elegance. DotPigeon's work relies on understanding the tenets of classical art, and tearing the foundations down from the inside. An artistic "FUCK YOU" to all those who thought they could get away with keeping art and culture away from US. DotPigeon is where we take back the wealth and taste that we were told for so long that we couldn't have. By collecting Dot, we raise a middle finger to all the institutions and gatekeepers that don't want us here. "Fuck you, we're here to stay.”

LOTO: How have NFTs changed your approach, process and opinion on art?
DP: NFTs changed almost everything actually.

From the creation process that didn’t consider the whole animation part, to the launch of a drop that is a completely new thing I wasn’t used to; I now spend so much time thinking about the concept of a trailer and then in making it, the self promotion has become more important than ever.

While in the physical world when an artwork is sold it is just…gone, in NFT world I have to think about specific utilities of artworks, I have to think on how to create value for previous artworks and how to find a balance between rewarding old collectors and giving chances of collecting my art to new ones.

Also the opinion on art changed, I saw acclaimed physical artists doing flops with NFTs and very young people with no previous experience breaking this new world. I saw pfp projects going literally to the moon, breaking records and institutions and brands coming into this world. I saw collectors becoming artists and artists becoming collectors, I saw artists really empowering each other. All this in one year.

LOTO: You’re a rare artist that has had success in both the physical and digital art worlds. In what ways do these worlds differ? How are they the same? Do you think they'll ever come together?

DP: Art is art, if you paint on a canvas or on an iPad makes no difference.

It has always been a choice to be an hybrid between the digital and physical world: all my physical pieces were digital paintings even before NFTs, excluding the aesthetic and the message for a moment, in my opinion the winning approach for my physical pieces always laid in the choice of “making digital stuff becoming rare”. Every artwork is 1/1, printed on canvas and framed as an actual physical artwork. The digital artwork with a non-digital approach created interest amongst traditional collectors and it was of course super easy to translate all the body of work into NFTs. The only difference that counts between traditional and crypto art is the medium that in this new scenario is giving artists the chance to create things that were unimaginable before. Using blockchain as a medium is super interesting, I dove into this with my “Nothing beats a gang”, an artwork that gets more and more vandalized when a resale happens creating new collectors dynamics.

Overall I think these two worlds already came together. Traditional artists are making NFTs and digital artists are making physical pieces, traditional art collectors are purchasing NFTs while blockchain lovers are putting traditional artworks into their houses. We all saw how Art Basel Miami last December was influenced by NFTs and we witnessed what Christie’s and other auction houses did last year to empower digital artists. We then saw institutions, museums and brands going all in with NFTs. We’re here all together.

LOTO: How are NFT collectors different? Do you personally collect NFTs? If so, who are some of your favorite artists right now?

DP: I do collect NFTs, both art and collectibles. I’m a proud owner of BAYC, MAYC, BAKC, Doodles, Mad Rabbits Riot Club, Crypto Mories and many other collectibles while from the art side I have pieces from Fvckrender, Pak, Friends With You, Daniel Arsham, Lushsux along with other incredibly talented artists.

I admire many artists, for sure all of those that I feature in my artworks. If I have to pick one, I would pick Fvckrender, he’s super passionate, he empowers other artists, he pushes boundaries, he’s vegan, he’s committed to do good.

The big behavioral difference between traditional and NFT collectors is the economic approach, I only know of one traditional collector that “flipped” my physical art while many collectors purchased my digital artwork with the intent of reselling them immediately or some days after.

Another big difference regards the interaction: digital collectors are an active part of my daily routine, I chat with them in my discord (http://discord.gg/dotpigeon), I ask for their opinion regarding drop mechanisms and stuff.

One of the most interesting things about NFTs is that the age of people that are getting into art is shifting to younger generations. Thanks to NFTs younger people are growing their interest in art and culture and to be honest this is a fucking beautiful thing.

LOTO: You've been controversial figure in the physical art world and a pioneer of sorts for aspiring NFT artists. When it's all said and done, what's the legacy you'd like to leave behind? What do your critics have wrong?

DP: My controversy probably stems from the fact that I've always believed that digital art should have been recognized as real art, not something that has no right to be in a contemporary gallery or museum.

My whole body of work intent went in this direction and everything I did had the purpose to mix and blend these two worlds. NFTs empowered this message, my physicals and my NFTs share the same soul (the difference is obviously the animation part and the artists that I include: contemporary ones on physicals and crypto ones on NFTs); my March drop on NiftyGateway was on the same day of the opening of my solo physical show in Milan, there was an auctioned artwork on the NG collection and the winning bidder brought home the correspondent piece from the physical show, I’ve curated the first Italian crypto show in a traditional gallery (Plan X Art Gallery) and so on.

What do my critics have wrong? I’ve been rejected from traditional galleries because “we don’t accept digital paintings”.

“Fly me to the moon” - Courtesy of the artist

LOTO: What advice would you give artists looking to break into the NFT space?

DP: First of all to stay true and don’t follow trends.

Be active in the space, talk with people, listen to them, learn from them, be on Twitter and Discord.

Things take time. Stay humble and thankful