Get ready for an extraordinary journey across the digital landscape with our guest, Robert LeBlanc, a fine art and documentary photographer with a unique perspective on the evolving art market. Be prepared to have your mind expanded as Robert takes us through his innovative projects such as his hand-painted book cases, the Tin Lizard project, and the upcoming issue of Comfort Magazine. He also shares his intriguing thoughts on involving collectors in his creative journey.
Life seems to find a way of shaping us, and Robert is no exception. His transition from the world of skateboarding to photography is an inspiring tale of how the seemingly unrelated can converge into a creative powerhouse. From mowing lawns to flipping through fashion racks as a buyer for high-end men's clothing boutiques, Robert's diverse experiences have all fed into his unique approach to digital art. He also shares valuable advice for aspiring artists and emphasizes the importance of pushing boundaries, summed up in his mantra - 'stop being a weenie'.
As an artist, Robert is always one step ahead, leading us into the future of digital art. He shares his insights into the fascinating world of AI and its implications for 3D art, exploring how technology is reshaping our creative landscape. From the changing nature of the art market to projects transitioning into the physical space, Robert's expert analysis is not to be missed. We wrap up this engaging conversation discussing his experiences with North Calgary and Shill Podcasts, the evolution of the digital art space, and even a fun discussion on his alternative food and beverage preferences. Join us for this enriching dialogue, a must-listen for anyone interested in art, photography, and creativity in the digital age.
Get ready for an extraordinary journey across the digital landscape with our guest, Robert LeBlanc, a fine art and documentary photographer with a unique perspective on the evolving art market. Be prepared to have your mind expanded as Robert takes us through his innovative projects such as his hand-painted book cases, the Tin Lizard project, and the upcoming issue of Comfort Magazine. He also shares his intriguing thoughts on involving collectors in his creative journey.
Life seems to find a way of shaping us, and Robert is no exception. His transition from the world of skateboarding to photography is an inspiring tale of how the seemingly unrelated can converge into a creative powerhouse. From mowing lawns to flipping through fashion racks as a buyer for high-end men's clothing boutiques, Robert's diverse experiences have all fed into his unique approach to digital art. He also shares valuable advice for aspiring artists and emphasizes the importance of pushing boundaries, summed up in his mantra - 'stop being a weenie'.
As an artist, Robert is always one step ahead, leading us into the future of digital art. He shares his insights into the fascinating world of AI and its implications for 3D art, exploring how technology is reshaping our creative landscape. From the changing nature of the art market to projects transitioning into the physical space, Robert's expert analysis is not to be missed. We wrap up this engaging conversation discussing his experiences with North Calgary and Shill Podcasts, the evolution of the digital art space, and even a fun discussion on his alternative food and beverage preferences. Join us for this enriching dialogue, a must-listen for anyone interested in art, photography, and creativity in the digital age.
Hey everyone, welcome to this next episode of Know or Cal and Chill. Today we have Robert LeBlanc. Robert is a Los Angeles based fine art and documentary photographer. In this episode we discuss the mindset of people in digital art. Leblanc shares his journey in photography, including his book project with hand-painted cases and unique prints. Leblanc introduces his exciting project called Tin Lizard and mentions his upcoming issue of Comfort Magazine featuring up-and-coming artists. He shares his idea of involving collectors in the project, letting them experience the process and make decisions. This episode touches on the importance of protecting intellectual property and digitally archiving historical photos. Leblanc shares his fascination with train travel and his idea for an interactive project where collectors decide on destinations. He credits skateboarding for opening up a world of art and culture to him. The episode concludes with LeBlanc discussing his process for reviewing and choosing projects, as well as his belief in never taking no for an answer.
NorCal Guy:Overall, this episode explores LeBlanc's creative journey and mindset while diving into various projects and ideas in the digital art space. Everybody, please, welcome Robert LeBlanc. Hey, robert, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today? Good guys, thank you for having me here, dude, I'm excited, me too, me too, me too. The deeper I go into exploring what you've done and the different projects that you've done over, it feels all because we've only been in this space for a couple of years. It feels like there you did all these projects over the last two years, but it's definitely been longer than that pre-the digital blockchain art space. But, man, I am continuously impressed by what you produce.
Robert Lablanc:Thank you, I appreciate it. Yeah, I think it's. I love finding really unique stories and I'm always got a lot of irons in the fire, so it's I'm glad you're getting to kind of dive into it right now. See it, while some of them are finished.
NorCal Guy:Yeah, right, right yeah, because you sent me a book from Gloryland.
Robert Lablanc:Is that?
NorCal Guy:what was the name of it?
Robert Lablanc:Yeah, yeah, gloryland, yeah.
NorCal Guy:All right, because I messed it up earlier From Gloryland. It's just, it's a mind blowing book because you think you're opening a Bible. You know it's this photo book that is made by a Bible manufacturer or a bounder, A Bible print house, Print house. There we go and it's just, you know, it's got the gold edging on the pages. It's just, it's an impressive book, Thank you, and what's funny is like I like, because of how it feels, like I'm like I got to keep it in the box, Got to keep it nice.
NorCal Guy:And because you know I mean partly you know, because I was raised, you know, to be very respectful of like the Bibles and everything, and it feels like a Bible. It's just funny how you just just having something that's tangible like that that reminds you, you feel like it has to have some respect to it.
Robert Lablanc:You know it's a tough that was kind of a tough design situation too right, because you don't want to. You know you want to be respectful of what it is and what it represents to people. So trying to like do a design that replicates a Bible, but it really, I mean it is hitting on you know this church and this, you know this congregation and the religion, but it's done in a very kind of you know it's an art book way. So it was definitely like an idea I was bouncing back and forth with for a while. I was like, do I do this? Like how would the church feel if I brought them like a fake Bible? You know what I mean, but with their photos, you know, and but uh, yeah, I think at the end result I'm really happy at how it turned out and I think finding a print house that specifically printed Bibles was kind of the way to really connect those dots right, because you're able to use the Bible paper and like all the trims and all the materials that I source for them it's actually all the materials that they use for the Bibles that they produce too.
Robert Lablanc:So I really wanted to kind of you know, with book design and stuff like that. I think it's really important to give the viewers this kind of experience. That's not only looking at the photos, but the way you interact with the body of work and the way that it's all laid out Like that's. To me that's really important when because books are kind of like my specialty, is what I love to do. So you know, hearing like your reaction and other people's reaction to how they feel like holding this like Bible it's, it's been really nice. I'm glad I think I can. It's the design has been able to kind of connect the dots a little bit, you know.
NorCal Guy:Yeah, for sure, for sure. I know it makes me want to like go pick up your other books now too, like the Moondust. I want to go find that one now yeah yeah yeah, yeah, what do you have any other? I didn't notice any other books, but do you have any?
Robert Lablanc:books so I had. Moondust was my second one and that one's really kind of cool because that, because I was sent out through a government contract to photograph the fires, I was able to just donate all the proceeds to the book sales to go to charity because, like I essentially got paid for that job right.
Robert Lablanc:So I ended up teaming up with this kind of really high end backpack company or they just do a bunch of kind of luggage and bags and stuff called Mystery Ranch and they do, like you know, stuff for firefighters, hunters, military or whatever. But they're very deeply rooted in hotshot firefighters. So I was able to work with them and then they have three foundations that they work with and then so we kind of designed the book together and then we put it out together and then all the money all gets donated to those foundations, which is nice because you know it helps support, you know, people who have lost loved ones and fires who have been injured and stuff like that. So so we did that Moondust, which was cool and I wanted to use like the design of it. I kind of have this like bright orange, almost kind of rubber material that goes on the outside, which you know, and then inside it's all these gray pages. So it was kind of this kind of story of fire and ash, and Moondust is actually a term the hotshot firefighters use when they walk around. When all the ash dust kind of floats up, they call it Moondust.
Robert Lablanc:So that was the second one, and then I released my first book. I released it's called Unlawful Conduct and that was kind of me finding myself as a photographer. It was a lot of like point and shoot and I was still skating at time, so a lot of it was just kind of me out skating with around, like you know, all my friends who painted graffiti and stuff like that. So that book was kind of you know, it was somewhat of a street photography book, you know, but it was also kind of this, this catalog of me finding myself as a photographer. You know, kind of going through these changes in life, of like I used to skate a lot and I have my knee blown out, so I had to. It's when I really started to lean in the photography, because I was the only other thing I love. So I was in this stage in life where it's like all right done with one chapter and onto the next, and that book kind of mashed them together. So we did the.
Robert Lablanc:I did that one in 2015 and that was cool. I like manufactured this like this big die that cut out a case that the book was wrapped in and all the material that we use for the case. We put it all up on a wall and we painted like a big graffiti piece over it and then we actually stamped the case out of each big sheet of material. So every book is like wrapped in a hand painted case that like everyone is unique to itself, like there's no replicas of each other. So and that was cool I came with a little four by six print and I only did like a hundred of them and yeah, it was. It was pretty fun project. So it was cool because when you opened it up you'd get like chrome paint flakes on you and you can smell the paint a little bit. So it kind of gives you a little bit of a sensory, an extra sensory hit before you dive into the book and start flipping through it and stuff like that.
NorCal Guy:Yeah.
Robert Lablanc:Yeah, it was fun Sweet.
NorCal Guy:Well, kind of jumping into some questions.
Robert Lablanc:Yeah shoot.
NorCal Guy:Do you have a hardware wallet and do you use it Absolutely?
Robert Lablanc:dude. Of course, bro, you gotta have your cold wallet, dude.
NorCal Guy:Yeah.
Robert Lablanc:I gotta have your little vault. You know what I mean. So, yeah, definitely got one of those. All right, Good good Past.
NorCal Guy:What were your first thoughts when you heard about crypto art, this art on chain?
Robert Lablanc:I thought it was cool. I definitely I knew like right away it was an obvious generation. You know, because, like, we're already experiencing especially photography. You know, for me, books and exhibitions are always to me kind of the like, the top tier of how you could present work, right, there's something about like seeing a print, if it's like a silver, gelatin or what kind of paper is printed on or how it's framed, or you know even the way that you set up an exhibition. It's like you step into a world right. But you know, those are kind of a traditional space where obviously the rest of the world is very much digital.
Robert Lablanc:And you know, 95% of all the time we consume art, and especially photography, it's usually on our phones. So to me, when I saw that happening, it made sense but I wasn't really quite sure like where I'd fit in right, because it's I kind of balanced between the both worlds of the exhibition, the fine art and the physical prints. And then you know, whatever I had just digitally, like websites or Instagram or whatnot, but I remember someone calling me and explaining to me about IP and that's kind of like when the light bulb clicked a little bit for me was I've had my images stolen. I've had other people reuse them and not get credit, or you don't really know where they're going once they're off on the internet, right, it's kind of into the abyss. So I remember someone explained it to me where you can track your image, you can see where it's used, you were able to hold the fact that you own this and have kind of a digital COI for the image. That's kind of the moment where I was like all right, cool, this really makes sense For me, because a lot of the photos I take too is there is some historical value to it, Right, like there's the firefighting that's California's biggest forest fire in history, right.
Robert Lablanc:And then you have the snake church, which is a culture that's about to go out of existence. So the idea of digitally archiving this kind of history to me was like really what you know drawn me into it. And then, obviously, the more you dive into it, the more the possibilities you start to realize and understanding, like how projects work and how you can involve collectors and how you can make this an experience beyond just buying a book or going to an exhibition. And that was kind of the end result of the journey you know originally, which is protecting my images, but at the end it's like well, I can give a whole another layer of experience to an audience, you know, through these platforms and this technology, for them to understand the body of work, maybe just a little bit deeper and work together. So you know, Right.
NorCal Guy:Well, like your 10 Lizards project, right. It's kind of I completely missed it, but it is involved with 10 collectors or 11 collectors, I don't remember exactly 10 all together, yeah, yeah, can you go? Like how did that start, like how did you decide to go down that path with these 10 collectors and what exactly are they doing with you on that?
Robert Lablanc:I've been wanting to do a project that explored train travel for a while. Like there's always been a romance for me for traveling on the train. I used to travel a lot like in my late teens, early 20s a bunch, and it was kind of my preferred way to get around and there's always been a romance to trains and train travel. You know what I mean. You think of like old noir films and stuff. Like you have the train station that's full of steam and like you know, like there's a vibe, the train that I've always been really pulled to, and you know it's off the freeways. You kind of cut through the country and you find these small little towns, these little train station towns that you would never go to unless you were really on those back roads or on the train right, Because they're so separated from the freeway. So you know, I've been kind of thinking about how do I do this project, what would be a really cool way to kind of make this a little bit different than me just traveling around it, and that kind of came up with the idea is like how cool would it be to have a group of collectors be kind of the start of the project and they would actually be able to hold a vote on deciding on where do I go, what towns do I stop in, what restaurants do I eat in, what hotel do I stay in. You know like kind of make this an experience almost like a, you know, choose your own adventure. You know, like those novels.
Robert Lablanc:So that was kind of the premise of the idea and I was like, oh, this is really cool because I'm able to show. You know, here's a group of people who are really interested and devoted in the collecting, photography and collecting, you know, supporting these projects and believing in these projects. So what if I let them experience the project with me, like let them experience, you know, the complications, the delays, the things that happen, or you know, like just kind of these like little choices I have to choose while I'm working on these projects. That could take a year, two year, three year or whatnot, and it went well.
Robert Lablanc:So we end up making this digital ticket that you could buy, and then there's only 10 tickets available and then, from there on out, what we would do is we would kind of Snapchat I think it's not on our Snapchat, it's what's it called Snapshot and then we would have them all vote on the snapshot platform and they would choose like, hey, where do I go, what town am I going to? Like all these choices. I kind of give them right. And then at the end of all the trip, at the end of the trip, I have these little galleries of each trip, of the photographs. So at the end we're all going to sit down together and everybody's going to vote on the edit and as a collective we're going to put out the body of work as like one kind of one group of people.
Robert Lablanc:Yeah, yeah, pretty, fun, pretty fun and I can do fun stuff too. Like you know, like some towns have their little downtown like live webcams and stuff. So, like you know, like because most of everything on that project is done through a community, a Twitter community, that I just kind of update all the time and like sometimes I'll do random like votes that other people can vote in on too, that aren't collectors Like do I take a left at this road, do I take a right at this road? Like kind of fun stuff like that. But that'd be funny things. I'm like hey, check, check, uh, you know, check the community in like five minutes and I'll be in that town like waving at the little downtown web cam and stuff like that. So this is fun, you know. I think it's just giving these people an extra experience and understand, like what it takes to put together a body of work like this. You know, yeah, thanks, yeah.
NorCal Guy:So what brought you to photography? How did? You get into photography.
Robert Lablanc:Well, I got through it through skateboarding. Skateboarding I always say skateboarding is the only thing in my life. Like you know, I grew up in Montana with a little nothing. You know what I mean. There's like not much culture, not much art, not like museums to go to. You know, it's a very rural part of the country.
Robert Lablanc:So I, you know, I started skateboarding when I was like nine years old and that was really my window to the world, you know, watching all these old skate videos and looking at the magazines. And it was kind of a way for me, being in the middle of nowhere, to really connect with that world and skateboarding. So I, so I'd always just kind of, you know, mull over these magazines and just stare at the photos and just think about traveling. And then, you know, get a little older, you go skating with all your friends and I always take photos of skating, you know, and so that was like always part of me growing up, as I'd always had like a disposable camera on me when I was out skateboarding around and you know all that, those worlds of art and music, it would just influence me so much. And then, when I finally finally moved in, I lived in Seattle for a while skating a bunch. I ended up blowing out both of my knees.
Robert Lablanc:So it was kind of one of those moments in life where like all right, you know, skating isn't really like I could still do it, but it's not going to be like my forefront of my attention. You know what I mean. And I was like what's the only other thing that I love? It's taking photos. So then it kind of turned into me just like skating around the city, using that as like a means of transportation to go do like street photography, and ran, you know, just kind of snowballed from there. You know, I put out that first book and it sold out and I remember just being like, oh wow, I can actually like do this. This is, this is pretty cool. And then ever since then I've just never looked back.
NorCal Guy:So what I was like to ask jobs. Have you done away like in high school, like bus boy or newspaper route? What kind of fun job or not fun jobs? But the little jobs have you done along the way?
Robert Lablanc:Oh dude my very first job I ever had. I was oh man, I don't know how it had to be like 13 years old, 14 years old, and I convinced the post office to pay me once a, once a it was like once every other week, or maybe a couple times a month to to mow their yard.
Robert Lablanc:So I would like go, I roll up there with my, with the push mower. You know, my mom would drive me there, my dad would drive me in his truck and I'd have gas and the weed eater and I'd go and I'd take care of the little local post office, and then that's also where we skated all the time too. So it's kind of like my little skate park, you know. So I was like I got to take care of the skate park and then. So that was that's kind of where it all started, and then you had to.
Robert Lablanc:I've had some fun ones, like I worked on golf courses for a while. I actually fell kind of into the fashion industry for almost like 10 years when I got, when I was like 18. I was a buyer and I kind of ran a chain of like really high end men's like clothing boutiques. So I was like doing that for a while, buying for all these stores, going to, like meeting with these brands and kind of looking at all these collections and kind of curating all these buys and everything like that. So that was like a nice little long run for a while. Yeah.
NorCal Guy:Nice. So if you were an animal, what would you be and why?
Robert Lablanc:That's a good question. I'd be a dog, because dogs are so happy and carefree.
NorCal Guy:Yeah, that's. True, that's true.
Robert Lablanc:Life's too stressful, bro. I just want to be like that, like I want to. I just look at my, my puppy, and he's just like always stoked all the time. I was like, if I could be that happy all the time, like I'll take it, man, I'll take it. That's true, that's true.
NorCal Guy:Man, you know that was funny. There was a. I think it was bona fide or no. Yeah, Boona Boona, that's who it was. He was like a golden retriever in a well well to do home. Basically, he's like living the dream.
Robert Lablanc:Seriously dude. So if I could have been our golden retriever, our golden lab, when I was like 13, in a big ass yard in Montana running around just like chasing squirrels and deer, like dude, it's a rat, it's done. I'll go out like that. Has anybody asked you yet what do?
NorCal Guy:you want? Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure, octopus, octopus is what I got too. Yeah, that's a good one.
Robert Lablanc:That's a good one, that's a smart answer.
NorCal Guy:That's smart. They like because they like, can like blend in. They just don't. They don't have to be a part of anything. But then they're kind of social like with at least humans. That can be like social and whatnot, and I was one of one as a pet, so yeah.
Robert Lablanc:I mean if I believe that we are living in existence with aliens. Octopuses are for sure alien, they're definitely different.
NorCal Guy:For sure, do you have a favorite food?
Robert Lablanc:Favorite food Steak. I can't, I can't be the steak. Well, you give me a good, medium rare, bloody steak covered in like salt and pepper. That's, that's. It's all I need. Man, I'm a simple human, just like simple things.
NorCal Guy:Sure, you can't beat like a. Well, like just perfectly cooked, like nice tender, just salt and peppers all you need. Yeah, it's solid.
Robert Lablanc:It's solid. Yeah, yeah, the classic. For a reason, for sure, sure.
NorCal Guy:Do you have a piece of advice or like a mantra that you kind of like repeat in your head or live by?
Robert Lablanc:Stop being a weenie. That's probably mine. I like it. I like it, you know. I mean, I think it's. I think a practice that I preach is just never take no for an answer, right.
Robert Lablanc:I mean, you know I think, when you're in a situation if you're, if you're a creative person and you have to run your own business and you're self sustaining, you know like you're going to hear no. You know a million times before you hear yes, right, so it's like you know. For me it was always just like never take no for an answer, like if this didn't approach, didn't work, there's another approach to it, there's another person who might see, you know an idea for a project or a pitch or something. You know you just because, I mean I, you know Gloria land for a good example. Right, it's getting a lot of love right now, but at the time when I was developing it, like no one would want to touch it, right.
Robert Lablanc:It was either it's kind of extreme Christianity or you know it's this religion that kind of scared a lot of people off. And you know I would hear a lot of people be like, oh, this is cool, but we can't do this, or we can't be attached to this, or you know whatever reason it was. And now, like in hindsight, you know it's done. Well, it's, the book was just added to the Getty Museum. They're like research Institute library. You know I've, you know it's had like full exhibitions, it's, it's, it's done its thing, which is it's really exciting. But you know it's for me it was never to say no, but if it has to be a mantra while I'm taking photos, it's like stop being scared, just get in there, because you only got one shot, man, and that's. You know the suffering of being scared and not doing it is. It causes more turmoil than just going in there and, and you know, just risking it.
Robert Lablanc:For sure, for sure. Might not be great advice, but that's, that's kind of what I'm going to run into the fire kind of person. Do you know what I mean?
NorCal Guy:Do you have advice for artists joining this digital art space?
Robert Lablanc:I think, specifically for the digital art space, I think it's really about crafting a project. I think you know I it's the same way that I would treat a book project or any sort of other photo project, but I think you have this ability to add so much more. I don't know the great word for it, but it's you just add something, more layers to it. So like, for example, for like 10 lizards, right, like I could have treated it like a very simple, you know, photography, book exhibition process. I go out, I do the work, everybody sees it at the end result, right, but being able to try to look at it as a more of an experience and something that's more creative, I think that's really where the digital space thrives for photographers or anybody in the creative process right, like you're able to be able to do more and express more and show more of what all the work goes into that. Because I think that's the one thing that a lot of people who aren't creatives don't understand is the amount of work, right, the amount of, like, failures or retamps and trial errors, and and you have these expectations on a trip or you have these expectations on a shoot, but they never meet and you have to kind of, you know, be creative and work quick on your feet, and I think that's a really cool thing for people to experience, you know. I think it's a really cool thing to make you appreciate the value of the images a little bit more.
Robert Lablanc:You know, I think there's I always kind of I wish I could have done this.
Robert Lablanc:I did a, I worked on this assignment in 2020, where I went in when Los Angeles was the worst in the world for COVID deaths and just kind of like spikes. I actually went into a mortuary here in LA and spent two weeks in a mortuary, which was like a really, you know, intense experience in the sense of you just seeing so much death and you seem so much kind of like fear combed in with it. Right, and I wish I would have been able to illustrate that experience more because, like, the photos have their own weight to them and and an experience, but that, that feeling of being in that environment, I thought was like almost more powerful than the images themselves. So, you know that kind of failure I wanted to turn into them like, okay, now I can with these digital projects, I can bring that experience in, I can bring the collectors in to understand, you know, not just the end result but also the buildup that went to get to that end result too.
NorCal Guy:Yeah sure. Yeah.
Robert Lablanc:Yeah, and one of those photos I think it's I put in the New America series. I'm not sure exactly what number it is, but there's like one of the photos in the series where it's kind of the shot and this like kind of empty the section of mortuary where usually they meet with people and they kind of discuss the funerals and stuff, but it's it's the place is so overwhelmed with bodies that the bodies are kind of like flooding into this back room. Yeah, it's number 75. You know, and it's it's. It's kind of just one of those moments where you know it's such a surreal moment to experience it, so it's like I want to. That's that's, that's that's least. My advice for digital space is like think about how much more you can bring in the people who are interested and want to support your work and understanding why and how you created it.
NorCal Guy:Yeah, I like that If you could live or move anywhere, where would? You live and why?
Robert Lablanc:I love LA, man, it's a hard. It's a hard one to pull me out. I spent, you know, for the new America thing. I spent 10 years going around the country working on that project and I was always in back room where I was like, where do I move? And we had Los Angeles, got it all. It's pretty nice. But if I had to pick a second place, probably Tokyo.
NorCal Guy:I love Japan.
Robert Lablanc:Okay yeah, japan was probably one of my. It's definitely the my favorite place I've been outside of Los Angeles. It's really dope.
NorCal Guy:Nice yeah, do you have any questions for me?
Robert Lablanc:Questions for you. Huh? Well, yeah, I do for sure, definitely. Let's grill you a little bit, let's do it so. So it must be an interesting situation being, you know, like you're a pretty prominent collector inside the space, and how, how, how do you like, as and I'm guilty of this, and I'm sure a lot of other people are too I've kind of just given you, showing you projects and kind of flooding you with stuff that you're probably just like it's hard to keep track of. What are things that you see in series or collections or projects that, like you, find intriguing to you as as as a through a perspective of a collector.
NorCal Guy:Ooh, I mean, that's hard, that's a hard one, you know, I guess it's it's got to like visually stand out to me somehow, like I, I like your Gloryland project, but it's not like the photos aren't like something that I would probably collect, right, you know, but some of your other work, going through some of those projects, I was like, oh yeah, I like this here, you know, and I don't know if that's just aesthetics or is it. You know my background and different things, who knows. But it's hard to say. I mean, honestly, like a lot of it is, you know, going through the notifications and if something like pops off the page and you're like, okay, there's probably something here, even though it's like the small little image it popped somehow, I mean and I guess that's the best way for to describe it is if, like, I am like scrolling through notifications or whatever, and if something happens to grab me, then there's probably something there. So that what draws me in Probably not the best way to look at things, but you know, but I mean that's.
NorCal Guy:I mean the sad thing is that's like kind of the reality of the, of the space is it's all based on Twitter. It's not like some visual platform, like hopefully that whatever you person posted is something that happens to pop off the page. Like it's hard to say. Deca definitely is helping with that, you know, but still it's not like the easiest. You got to like go to that artist page or whatever. But I think Deca's got a lot of promise though a lot of things going for it.
Robert Lablanc:I mean, I like the fact that it's really it's just the art for you. You know, in the sense of like, how you're experiencing it, right Like it's. I know how you say it's like not, the might not be the best way, but I think it would be because it's like you see something and like that's usually how visual art should appeal to people. Right Like it's. You have a connection somehow. So, just like the fact that it in itself is what grabs you and I think that's kind of cool. You don't even feel like that's a little bit more of a, an honest approach to it, because there's yeah, that's the most impressive shill you've ever shill. Yeah, yeah, like, who came out of the DMs with like you're like all right, that was. That was pretty clever and we have you have any that stand out.
NorCal Guy:No, there was. There was one oh man, I'm blinking on her name and she like sent like an invitation type thing to like some event online event type thing. I thought that was interesting. She sent like a digital like invitation to your wallet, so I thought that was interesting. There's another one that was kind of similar and but she used it was another and I don't remember who it was. She she like invited you to something, but she used another voice Like she used like an AI voice and I was like it probably would have been better if you just like did your own voice record like hey, I'd like to like have you come to this thing or check out this thing, or whatever. You know, I guess when they have like kind of like a personal touch kind of helps a lot. But man, I had that's a good question. I those are the two that just like initially stand out that I remember. Yeah, I can't think of anything else right now.
NorCal Guy:That's a good one.
Robert Lablanc:I like the invitation. That's clever for sure. Yeah, it was, it was clever. I think we've seen a lot of change over the year, right Like in the space, you know, for someone who's so involved in it, and you have your own projects and your own brands and your companies that are kind of, you know, incubating artists as well. It's not only collecting. I mean, what are you? Is there some, Is there like a movement? Or you've seen an energy or like is there a trend that's going to get you really excited, or do you wish that you could start seeing? Now that you know, maybe quote unquote the hype rush has has calmed down a little bit, you know.
NorCal Guy:Um you, well, it's interesting. I mean like we're in this, like it's pretty tough market. Um, you know, we we're like what. I think it's hard to say Cause I say more people getting. We definitely had like this whole scarcity thing, which I thought was BS, um people worrying about minting too much stuff, and I'm like we're, do you guys like you know you got to have like several hundred pieces out there to even like maybe have a secondary start, right.
NorCal Guy:If you're talking about cause. You know part of that, like oh, royalties, royalties, royalties. You're not going to get royalties unless you have secondaries, and you're not going to have secondaries unless you have a few hundred pieces out there.
Robert Lablanc:Right.
NorCal Guy:So the whole scarcity thing always was kind of funny to me and I always was like trying to push back on that because it never made sense to me to and I think people are getting over that and also the being afraid of having additions. Um, I feel some people worry too much about that when I think additions are probably the best way to even have start a secondary. You know there's a more liquid market for additions, um, so I feel like we are kind of going towards that way. I mean, the market is terrible though so it's. You know there's additions just sitting out there that are are unsold, right.
NorCal Guy:So it's hard to say like, yeah, you should go do additions and then you just go sit there and have stuff unsold, um, but you know everyone's having a rough go at selling stuff unless you know there's some big name about behind it, like DK and cause had the the federal reserve thing, which you know it was a cool addition. It was, like you know, kind of everyone like, oh, let's go support this type thing, right, um, I mean, beyond that, it's hard. Um. I mean we have our additions project which, um, I think it's doing all right, but you know we still are. It's hard to sell out a decent amount of additions. It's hard, right, right, it's.
Robert Lablanc:It's funny that you say that, because I would get a lot of flack for that, for my stuff, because I have a lot of. I have a lot of, because I have a lot of work, right, you know what I mean. But like, for me it was, you know, I remember people being like, if you go to the super rare page, if you look at like how many I forget how, how it's laid out, but like glory, I mean I knew America was 89 pieces in itself. You know what I mean. And and um, I'd always get a lot of people ask me like, wow, you sure have a lot out. I think all together I have.
Robert Lablanc:I don't know how it really shows, but like, you know, you know there's probably about 130 images, right, right, and I remember a lot of people giving me a hard time for it too, like, oh, you know, that's, that's a lot of stuff.
Robert Lablanc:You're sure putting out a lot of work and it's I always kind of had the same attitude about it as you did.
Robert Lablanc:You know, it's not I don't know much about like additions, but the fact that, like, I don't feel like scarcity, like I understand the idea of like supply and demand, right, and like there is just like the raw reality of like less is more. But I think, if you really wanted to, it's hard to show what you're capable of as a creative If you only have like five or four things up. You know what I mean. Or like how do you tell a story, or how, what, if someone wants to, you know, have a collection of three or four images from a single story. Like it seemed like it was a big disadvantage to kind of hold all that in and, just like you know, kind of just like you know, hoard it in a sense. You know what I mean and I think there's, like you know you don't want to just dump shit out all the time either, but I think that I'm I like to see that that kind of scarcity mindset it seems to be kind of going away a little bit more too.
NorCal Guy:Yeah, I think so and you know it's, it's like I get it. But also, you know like a classic case is like these O OG artists, the blockchain artists they had a lot of them have a sec, had the secondary market in like 21 because they had a couple hundred pieces out there. If they didn't have that many pieces out there, they would never have sold for what they what they did. Right, right, totally. What do you?
Robert Lablanc:think about. Um, it's interesting seeing like cause, like huge players like that. You know, we saw like Damien Hurst did his thing and now there's a cause and you starting to see these really big name artists coming into the space. Um, you know, remember, at the beginning of all this, everybody was really talking about it not being like gatekeeper, you right, oh right Right.
Robert Lablanc:Which is like how do you, how do you avoid that with people? I don't know how that's possible. You know what I mean People are just like people and and I think that kind of counts with like human nature is a little bit of like trying to keep things in their own lane, in a sense. Um, so I kind of feel like we're going from that initial conversation of it being like, you know, not gatekeeper. So now I feel like we're kind of back into the normal swing of things like how the traditional market works now. Um, I mean, have you had any feelings about that? Seeing like people like that, like cause, damien Hurst, adidas getting in on stuff like that has that ever like crossed your mind as someone who's been watching this for so long?
NorCal Guy:I mean, yeah, it's me, it's. I mean it's interesting. It's interesting for sure, cause it's it's just money grabs. You know, for the most part Right, and so it's as far as I'm like, yeah, anyone can go in the market, I'm fine with that, and just people need to realize that money grabs happen and you know people be in and out Um once they got that bag.
Robert Lablanc:So you just got to.
NorCal Guy:you just got to pay attention, um, and and get a feel for if they are here beyond. You know that that drop, the initial drop, um, you know cause? We've seen it with different celebrities and whatnot come in and drop something and people like, oh, this is awesome. And then they're gone, like they only tweeted about like here's the droppling. Hey, there's a new project and they never tweeted after it sells out, right, right.
Robert Lablanc:I've always kind of never, really, I can't tell if it's a bad thing or a good thing.
Robert Lablanc:You know what I mean.
Robert Lablanc:Cause I think, like you know it's, you don't expect somebody who's, let's say, of that, let's say cause, for example, right, like he's a busy guy, I'm sure a super busy guy, right, he's always got tons of projects, tons of exhibitions, tons of shows all the time, right.
Robert Lablanc:So, like someone with that kind of caliber and like that busy of a of a schedule trying to balance everything, it's like you could never really expect them to spend a whole lot of time engaging with the community, right, cause that was always a tough thing that I even dealt with as an artist was, you know, commercial work would kind of take a little bit of a hit because I was spending so much time focusing energy in this space, right. So I wonder if that's going to have that mindset of saying, like you know, they're in and out or they're not engaging in the space a lot. I wonder if that will ever go away, because I just feel like for us to have, you know, people who are earlier adopters of this. You know this idea of of being engaged with this kind of digital currency and how we, how we give art out. You know, I I feel like that this idea of having to stick around is like it's not realistic in a way.
Robert Lablanc:I don't know if that makes sense to you know what I mean, but I can feel like having that weight of someone of that caliber brings in a new audience still and brings in like a whole kind of I mean, you know, like Magnum, for example, right, like I don't see Magnum really really involved you know what I mean. Like they you know less, I don't know if they've done many Twitter spaces anymore, or like you know, but like I feel like just having them involved in you know releasing photos as NFTs through like Magnum as such prestigious you know photographers like I feel like that alone just adds a lot of value to it. You know what I mean, right, right, yeah.
NorCal Guy:Yeah, it's, you know. I guess it's just yeah, there's definitely you know the yeah I don't know the best way to answer that or the thought on it. I mean, it definitely goes both ways, I think you know. I guess you just see, you know, long term, who's benefits the space versus extracts from it or brings people in and whatnot? You know they don't have to be, you know, like daily participants. It's just whether they're extracting value or adding value. I guess, long term, Totally, absolutely.
Robert Lablanc:I mean, I kind of always like that about Adidas is like when they did their thing, they made sure they pulled people from the community, Right. It wasn't just like, hey, we're Adidas, we're doing this by the, by the stuff, but it was like we're going to put these people, who are prominent figures in the community as, like, the focal point of this project and like kind of give credit where credit's due. You know what I mean, which I think is really nice. Should I just have a good question for you and I forgot what it was? That was a good one. Oh yeah, what do you think of AI? Let me get your opinion on AI. It's just a tool. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
NorCal Guy:You know. Okay, so I get you know. It's just a tool and I don't know for me at this point I just want to know your process. You know, I don't like it kind of being hidden, cause there are 3D artists out there that do some good work and they are, you know, making it all in this program and then there's other artists that have this 3D art that looks like it's 3D art but it's all prompted. So I just want to know, like the process I guess Not saying that in the heart the other hard part is is like you know the value of it, like how much do you value someone's prompting skills versus designing skills?
NorCal Guy:you know, and I don't know how to answer that one at all. Right Cause there's definitely it's a skill level to being a prompt engineer. I don't know how to value that.
Robert Lablanc:Right for sure, there's a little too new still right.
NorCal Guy:Yeah, yeah I mean. And then there's like the different levels, like if you have, like your Jenny Pasanen or Claire Silver or oh man, I'm blinking on the other ones name. Anyways, they develop.
Robert Lablanc:The guy that did the America West, or what was that? Was that who you think it was? I always forget his name.
NorCal Guy:No, no, no, no, but like so, claire Silver, jenny Pasanen oh, she dropped with us at Click Create. Anyways, they develop their own GANs, they're training their own AI's with their own artwork to produce more artwork like their own artwork, which I think is you know, adds a layer of complexity and value, versus like straight mid journey and then maybe a little bit of Photoshop or something.
Robert Lablanc:Right for sure. Now, that's really cool way to to. I like the idea of creating art through referencing like their existing art. That's pretty neat. It's kind of like this is kind of evolution of the same or not the same, but like that, the creation, you know, giving birth to a new creation, which is pretty cool.
Robert Lablanc:I got one more for you. Let's see, this is kind of a I'm gonna riff this off you too, because I did this and I want to get a collector's response for this but like, how do you feel about projects, that kind of transition into the physical space? Like, have you, does it get you excited to see, let's say, like for the tin lizards, right, I did like a short film on it, right? Or Gloryland, like that was all collected. Like you know, gloryland started as an NFT drop and ended up being a full exhibition. Like, do you see, do you get excited when you see, say, like you discover a body of work and you've seen that it's actually had a physical presence to in the history of it? Is that, as a collector, does that get exciting?
NorCal Guy:Yeah, yeah, I actually think that's awesome. I mean because you know you, however you go about doing it, it's definitely, you know, getting more eyes on it. It's getting out there and seeing beyond the screen. No I think that's great. I mean, if people have that ability or can work towards doing something like that, I think that's amazing and something that should be done if possible.
Robert Lablanc:Okay, yeah, I've never understood it. See, if I've like to, my mind was like does it add more value to the pieces that exist digitally? If you see the fact that it's having some sort of like significance in the physical space, outside of the digital space, you know what I mean. Like as a collector, would you, let's say like, even if, say, like, a body of work didn't really resonate with you like really deeply, but you like it. But then you see as like, oh cool, this is going to be shown at Mocha or MoMA, or this has another life that it's taking on outside of the space. Like, as a collector, do you see value in that Like? Would you say like, oh, this would give me more courage to hold this or add this to an archive?
NorCal Guy:Yeah, yeah, for sure, it definitely does. I think, definitely having that physical presence somewhere and also like being able to if you're able to actually go see it as well physically, if they're printed or even on screens at a larger scale, I mean it definitely changes how the pieces look. I mean I've noticed that myself. Well, like oh, yeah, I love this piece on my phone, and then you see it in big grade, you're like wow, it looks so good up on this screen or whatever. Like in our basil last year, the monolith that they had at anyways, there was like five of us that sponsored it and we had art on there from different artists and it was just like really cool to see this like 20 foot tower with art scrolling around it. It's pretty sweet.
Robert Lablanc:Yeah, yeah, it makes a size, makes a different experience, doesn't it?
NorCal Guy:Yeah, it's pretty wild, it does it does.
Robert Lablanc:Yeah, and then last one. If you couldn't drink beer anymore and you couldn't make biscuits, what would you drink and what would you have to cook? Oh man, so no Sierra Nevada and no biscuits. I guess that's the question.
NorCal Guy:What would I do if I could only do one?
Robert Lablanc:Well, you know, swap one for another one. Yeah, Right, I know.
NorCal Guy:I'm trying to think what I would like. The first thing that comes to mind I don't know I feel like I'd go with like a bourbon or a port. And then, as far as like a food if I can't do biscuits, that's a hard one, because biscuits are so versatile, like for me at least, like I could eat them like breakfast, lunch, dinner I feel like maybe I would just get good at making like a corned beef, just corned beef.
NorCal Guy:And then you could do like corned beef hash or corned beef sandwiches, or I love some good corned beef or pastrami, I guess corned beef pastrami. They're like the same thing one smoked, one's boiled, but delicious.
Robert Lablanc:For sure. Good answers, bad good answers. All right, that's all I got for the hot seat for you.
NorCal Guy:All right, all right, that was good, that was solid. Do you have any upcoming projects you'd like to talk about?
Robert Lablanc:Nothing too major. I think we're gonna get this tin lizard project wrapped up. So the plan on that is we'll finish the trips, we'll select the body of work, all the collectors will get the imagers, so essentially this collection sold out, because every collector gets an X amount of images for reserving a ticket. So we'll release those to all the collectors and then I think the plan as of now is this will probably be my fourth book, so we'll end up I'll go into that process of finishing the book for that and then we'll probably do an exhibition as well. So I'm kind of I have this a new America body of work which is just like my baby. Right, I said it's been 10 years working on this thing, so that was kind of. The idea was maybe to finally release that that I'm really loving where this tin lizard stuff goes. So I think it's kind of now it's which one gets the little extra loving, care and who's gonna be like unless like a kid sending them off into the college or something like that. You know what I mean. It's probably let them be an adult in itself. So I think that's the plan.
Robert Lablanc:And then you know comfort magazines always cranking. I know I didn't really talk much about it. But you know the magazine is a really a big, important project that we've just been working on for three years and being able to give these you know, up and coming artists and people who we think are the next generation that like feature them in these magazines and do these projects with them and stuff, it's been really fulfilling as well. So you know, we have the new issue coming out in the next few weeks and then onto the next one, so those things are those things are a beast to put together and make. So that's been really fun.
NorCal Guy:Yeah, nice Sounds awesome.
Robert Lablanc:Do you have any?
NorCal Guy:shout outs you wanna throw out there.
Robert Lablanc:Shout out to Barry man, barry from 96 Studios. Like you know, he's been a big mover and shaker, I feel like, in the space and it's been really helpful to a lot of artists and kind of putting projects together. And he was a huge, a huge part of getting this tin lizard project kind of like off the ground and giving it a home, you know, as a kind of collaboration project for us. So you know, shout out to Barry. He's an amazing dude and always is doing some cool stuff. And then you know fellowship. I always wanna give love to the guys Alejandro and Cooper and Chowick and all those guys in fellowship for doing the stuff.
Robert Lablanc:You know, like, gloria Land was a recipient of one of the fellowship grants. So it's like you know, a lot of that body of work. You know, finishing the book and the other trips are going out there with the church and getting this stuff finalized. Like you know, their support was a huge, a huge, you know, a really important process for getting this body of work finalized. And then obviously, all the collectors you know Freddie and Pete and Alpha and Jacqueline and you know everybody who's just been like just mad supportive of doing this stuff because, honestly, like a lot of these projects that I would have that I've put now. You know it was their support and them believing into this body of work that really kind of helped, you know, keep the momentum going and keeping the work coming out. So you know, I mean always much love to the collectors because you know it's the fine people who really believe in your work and wanna support your work. It's a blessing for sure.
NorCal Guy:Definitely Cool man, robert. Thank you so much for your time today. I really enjoyed our chat and I can't wait to chat some more. Man, thank you.
Robert Lablanc:Awesome. Yeah, thank you again. I really appreciate the opportunity. Thank you.
NorCal Guy:Who is this guy? Who is this guy? Who is this guy, who is this guy? North Calgary.
Robert Lablanc:North Calhavet, north Calgary, north Calgary, north Calgary, north Calgary, north Calgary, north Calgary, north Calgary and Chilp.
NorCal Guy:So it's show time. Norcal and Shill Podcasts put the shoo the shoo. Norcal and Shill Podcasts show time. Norcal and Shill Podcasts put the shoo the shoo.