Empress Trash - Artist

Ever wondered about the enigmatic realm of digital and crypto art? Let us enlighten you as we venture into this dynamic world with an early adopter of this innovative medium, Empress Trash. Listen as she traverses her journey with us – from her first interaction to her fascination with NFTs, and her dive into the intriguing world of glitch art. The candid discussion also explores her various jobs including, a stint at a dairy plant, a motel maid, and her struggle with conventional employment. Empress Trash's story is not only about art but also a testament to resilience and the power of community in overcoming life's challenges.

The conversation intensifies as Empress Trash unravels her attraction towards glitch art and her desire to disrupt systems through her work. You'll get a peek into her past, which includes unconventional occupations, a traditional art background, and her passion for breaking the mold. Further, she shares her personal reflections on her diverse past jobs, love for animals and pizza, and lessons from her great grandma. All of this adds more layers to our understanding of her as an artist and as an individual navigating through life's complexities.

Lastly, we talk about Empress Trash's future plans in the art world and her anticipation for upcoming events in Miami, despite the city's navigation challenges. This episode is a treasure trove of insights into crypto art, glitch art, and the life journey of an artist who has truly embraced the digital era. So, tune in for an unforgettable conversation that will leave you with a deeper understanding of the art world's latest frontier and the power of community within it.

https://twitter.com/EmpressTrash

Transcript

NorCal Guy: 0:02

Hey, Empress Trash, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today?

Empress Trash: 0:06

Great Thanks for having me. How are you doing?

NorCal Guy: 0:09

I'm good, I'm good. It's a great day Sunny out, rain last night, fresh air all around. I was out on a walk with my son earlier and then we played some like little soccer slash shoot some hoops in the basket. It's all I've been. Oh, and then I fed him some lunch Amazing. And then I said go to bed.

Empress Trash: 0:33

At like two in the afternoon.

NorCal Guy: 0:36

Well, nap time, nap time.

Empress Trash: 0:37

Nap time, okay, okay.

NorCal Guy: 0:39

Yeah, yeah, yeah. How are you doing? How's your day going?

Empress Trash: 0:44

Pretty well, I slept. I'm sleepy, I'm just always sleepy. I was last night. I had dinner with someone. Some people talked about NFT stuff and we ate like really good seafood. It was super good. It was like the place that supplies the fish to like all the other restaurants in Mexico city, but it's like you can go straight to the source and they serve food there too. It's just like more low key, and so it was super good Like they had seasonal stuff that like you know, it's just like it's just flown in.

Empress Trash: 1:25

Wow, yeah, it was really good. And then I was working last night because my friend NFT murder, nft line arts, like his house burnt down, super duper, catastrophic sadness. Yeah, like it's I still don't have words for it but just putting a fundraiser last, like you know, trying to get a fundraiser for like a foundation world together so like artists can meet, working that. So that like came up and I was like working on that last night to get that organized because we want to come together and help him, because losing everything is not cool and as an artist, like a lot of times we don't have the ability like to like I don't know file for different things Like we're living off of our art sales. So I just feel it's important for like artists to support artists when things happen, that's awesome.

NorCal Guy: 2:26

Mutual aid type of stuff, so yeah.

Empress Trash: 2:28

Right, yeah, wow yeah, so good and bad. Like it sucks when I mean bad things are happening all the time, but it's just like it's different when it's. It's always different when it's someone you care about.

NorCal Guy: 2:46

For sure Bad stuff happens. Yeah Well, changing gears a little bit.

Empress Trash: 2:52

Yeah.

NorCal Guy: 2:55

Do you have a hardware wallet and do you use it?

Empress Trash: 2:58

Yeah, I do Okay.

NorCal Guy: 3:01

I thought you might.

Empress Trash: 3:02

Are you going to hack me? Oh, not today. Okay, thanks.

NorCal Guy: 3:14

What were your first thoughts when you heard about this digital art, this crypto, native art?

Empress Trash: 3:22

Well, I mean like crypto native art specifically. Um, I was like hot damn, like that meme from walking dead, like hot damn. This place is amazing.

Empress Trash: 3:38

Um digital art in general. I mean, like I've been in it for a while, like since high school. I had like my first computer and was doing that stuff. Um, yeah, when I first heard about crypto art, it was I was working as an art appraiser and I was miserable. And I took the job because it was like a COVID situation of like I couldn't run events and sell art. So I found a job to supplement and I was lucky enough to find a job related to art. I'm not like I'm thankful for that, but it was like an over glorified warehouse job and I was like miserable, um, because it was just moving art around and like, yeah, I would research it, but it was mostly like also logistics of it too.

Empress Trash: 4:29

Um, and one of my coworkers, um, she, her boyfriend, was like super in a crypto and so she, like I'm, she could tell like I was not happy and she was just like, have you heard of crypto art? Like have you heard of NFTs? And I was like no, um, I haven't. I mean I've heard of crypto. I had friends like previously who like told me a crypto stuff, but at that time when they told me I was actually pretty anti technology. Like I had a stint where I was like fuck all technology. Um cause I was in the Bay Area working in tech for a while and I just got like, I was like.

Empress Trash: 5:14

I got angry and jaded like I can, um, but I was like, no, yeah, I mean I've heard of crypto, but what's up with art stuff? And then she's like, well, like, look like people are like making and selling an art, like digital art, and she's like, and it's selling for a lot of money, sometimes, not always, but it is and like she like showed me some stuff like her boyfriend collected and, um, it was like mostly naked women, which I was like I'm in it, like I love it, um and um. So, yeah, then I went home that weekend and I researched, like I just Googled, like the typical questions like what's an NFT, what's? And then I like dove into crypto and a blockchain and like, like, what's that all about? Like why do I have to deal with crypto to be able to do any of this? And, um, I understood it pretty quickly, like all of it.

Empress Trash: 6:18

And I remember like my roommates are like what's that? Cause I had roommates at the time and they're like I'm like, oh, I'm like like I don't have teas and I'm like learning about crypto and like this is really cool. And they're like what? And like.

Empress Trash: 6:34

I was trying to cause I like to explain things to people to like submit my own learning of it.

Empress Trash: 6:40

So I was like in the kitchen cooking, like talking to them about, and they're like what are you even going on about? And I'm like I'm doing it, I'm going to like make art and I'm going to mint it, and I was like totally stoked so, like everyone's, like what is wrong with you? Like I have no idea what you're even talking about. Um, but yeah, that's. And then, like I minted my first piece and I was completely ignored and I was like, cool, this sucks.

Empress Trash: 7:08

I dipped out, like I pull back my enthusiasm a little bit. And then I'm like, well, I'm just going to watch what's going on. And like I watched for like a couple of weeks, a few weeks, and like, just you know, tried to find artists that I liked and, um, that I felt like I, I felt like ethologically that's not even over Ethos like we get along, or aesthetically, like I admire, and, um, like I was just watching and lurking. And then I like started interacting more. And then, within actually then a month of when I actually started interacting, right two days before my birthday, I sold my first piece.

NorCal Guy: 7:50

that year that night, and that was 2021.

Empress Trash: 7:53

So, um, yeah, and then it went crazy from there, so nice. So what brought you to glitch art, specifically, Well, I always did it Um okay In my like for me, and I never really shared it Um cause I was like trying to make physical art to sell and make my living that way.

Empress Trash: 8:26

So I was a painter focused mostly and um, sometimes prints, but I didn't have very much success with prints and so I never like really put my good shirt out there. Um, and it really didn't put my digital art out there a lot, but I would make it.

NorCal Guy: 8:48

And I just have.

Empress Trash: 8:49

Like I actually just recently finally plugged in my old old archival hard drive so I was going to pull some of that stuff out and like rework it, cause I mean, I've matured so much as an artist since then, right, so I don't want to just like straight mint it, but like I want to look at like what I was making and revisit it and maybe either remake it or remix Um or something Um, to like I think of it as like collaborating with my past self.

NorCal Guy: 9:20

But true, true, um cause I was such in a different mindset back then.

Empress Trash: 9:23

But, yeah, like glitch art specifically, um it is, I have like an innate need to break things and I like disrupting, like disrupting systems that I feel are not just any system, but like specifically, systems that may be inequitable or corrupt, um cause, like it helps highlight where issues are in my mind and, um, I think, like glitch art in general, like there is that like like general vibe of like just being like kind of like we just want to break systems, um to different levels and um, just being disruptive in general, and that attracts me. Like I'm an old punker, I'm uh, you know, like just always been in like the underground outsider Scenes, in any creative scene that I'm in, and it's just like natural for me to fall in with that. And like, actually, early on, like my first Works that I minted was just like remixing Traditional works that I just created like recently in that time frame, but remixing them as glitch and then, okay, um, minting them so like they were like drawings and paintings and stuff that I would remix and that, like early on, the artists who took me in Immediately were like all the glitch artists, so like Kate cursed max capacity, patrick Cameron on let's glitch it. Even Rob Ness, even though I don't think he like will identify himself as a glitch artist, he definitely does do glitch art, like in his repertoire of everything and yeah, and I got like Taking in.

Empress Trash: 11:20

I feel like I was just like, yeah, lost little bird Come child. Like this is where you belong, like, and I like and I'm still friends with all of them and like it's just like there's something that like binds us all together, that we just have like a mutual respect and that goes deep, I feel, because of like, like I said, the ethos that like good chart has in general.

NorCal Guy: 11:49

Thanks, yeah so you kind of touched on some of your previous jobs. Are there any any fun? Well, not fun necessarily fun. Some of those classic jobs, yeah, you know when you were younger, what, what were those?

Empress Trash: 12:08

I have a horrible time working for other people. I've never been fired ever ever, but I always quit, always like varying degrees of like politeness to like nod.

NorCal Guy: 12:26

Yeah, if all of this like you all suck.

Empress Trash: 12:30

But I also like I actually was talking to a friend about this recently because I'm like I've lived so many lives. It feels like I've because I've done like my high school job was Working for a dairy plane.

Empress Trash: 12:43

Man and then I have, like I've been a maid in like a CD truck stop motel, which that was like oh, there's so many stories from that that like I actually want to like make a series about just that time frame because it was so crazy wild, I just being a maid like no one even in like a truck stop motel, like people just don't.

Empress Trash: 13:11

Even register you exist and they just like act as if no one's observing them. It's so crazy. I've worked with dependent adults, taking care of them. I've been a cab driver. I've worked as a photography assistant. I've worked as an assistant for many different artists in the Bay Area, like three or four different artists in the Bay Area. For a long time I was a barista like. That was probably the one job I held the longest funny and Lee enough because I was only a part-time and I was doing it. As for Phil's coffee in the Bay Area, and they would actually display my art in their stores and.

Empress Trash: 13:59

I actually to the stores I painted murals in. So, yeah, like as a part-time employee and you got full like full health benefits being part-time there. So I don't know if it's like that anymore. Um, I'm not gonna Shit talk too much, but when I was when Phil himself owned the chain it was a great place to be an artist, because they didn't expect you to devote your whole life to like, oh, coffee is everything like that cult mentality. It was just like, yeah, you make coffee, but you're a human and you can.

Empress Trash: 14:38

Like you do other things, like nobody just makes coffee, like no one's just a barista, all right and so I spent quite a few years there and I'm still friends with, like people I worked with there and people who Came in, like oh, yeah, I still talk to them like yeah, like Probably my favorite jobs, and I think about like, well, if I have to get a job again, I would just like try to find a cool coffee shop to be a barista, because yeah it really.

Empress Trash: 15:09

And one thing that ties a lot of the jobs together is all of it is like kind of like really being in humanity and like Working with humans but like you're still like kind of this NPC in a way, where people are just doing life around you right and you're just like a Moment in their day.

Empress Trash: 15:35

Yeah but, like you see, your whole day is seeing thousands of those moments and so it's like I felt like it really helped inform me just about, like like humans In general, especially cab driving and being a barista, oh yeah, and the motel like those three like really stick out to me. It's like I've saw so many different parts of humanity and like didn't have to get Actively involved in it but, just getting to see the stories.

Empress Trash: 16:08

So sure, yeah, that's crazy, yeah yeah, and I mean I've worked tech too, like I said, and I've worked in our archives. I've worked, like I mean I've my resume is insane because, like, generally, I would keep a job about a year, maybe two years, because I was at a certain point I'm like well, I've learned everything. I came with this job time to move on.

Empress Trash: 16:33

I'm just one of those people. So and like out for a while I felt like really like damn. Like I really have a hard time working for people. But Enough people said to me is like no, you're just being an artist. Like you're just like this is what artists do. Like they don't, they can't do the nine to five. They can't like like it's okay, you wanna keep experiencing new things. Like people like kept saying that to me Equally, like some people being like damn, you can't keep a job. But I tried to listen to the positive story of what I was doing.

NorCal Guy: 17:14

So yeah, so if you were an animal, what would you be?

Empress Trash: 17:21

and why, why, and that's why I love all animals. Today, today, today. Okay, I'm gonna go with the first one that came into my head because I've been obsessing, and that's a worm. All right all right, because they have taste buds all over their body and I keep thinking about that since I learned that, and I wanna know what it's like to like. What does soil taste like to a worm? Like it has to taste good because you're in it all the time or does it taste horrible.

Empress Trash: 18:00

So I've been thinking about that like way too much. So the first thing that came into my head is I'd be a worm, just so I could answer all those questions about being a worm. But is it because I wanna?

NorCal Guy: 18:13

be a worm? Not really, it's just my intrusive thought.

Empress Trash: 18:17

All right, all right, yeah, today. Animal of the day.

NorCal Guy: 18:21

Yeah, yeah, all right, that's fair. Moving on from talking about tasting, what is your favorite food.

Empress Trash: 18:33

A pizza, because it can be like any food, that's true.

NorCal Guy: 18:39

you can like put almost anything on it.

Empress Trash: 18:41

Yeah, I've had pizza like normal pizza. I've had like Asian style pizza where it's like I had like a crab and goon pizza once. I've had like macaroni cheese pizza here, like taco pizza here they have like even like it's like a mix of like American and European style pizza here in Mexico. So it's like even more different pizzas, like there's pears on pizza with like gorgonzola, like fancy stuff and I'm like yeah, so I just I think pizza can be like any food and it's the perfect food.

NorCal Guy: 19:20

True, I've had some good Like you'd be like what, but it's like oh, that's actually is good.

Empress Trash: 19:27

Yeah.

NorCal Guy: 19:29

What is the best piece of advice you have been given, or do you have a motto that you like kind of live by?

Empress Trash: 19:42

I mean people like to give me advice all the time because it seems like I don't know what I'm doing. It's just true. In some ways I always like I the first, I'm just gonna go with the first thing I think of. Again, I'm not gonna overthink it, but like my great grandma is one of the best people, was one of the best people in my life and she like, cause I'm like my, I'm the oldest of the oldest, so like I had the privilege of knowing her for like 10 years of my life. Like, and she took care of me Like a lot of times. Like when none of my other family wanted me around, like they always kind of dumped me with her. She was like in a wheelchair but like and so she was kind of like oh, the burden, and I was kind of the burden when we got thrown together a lot, but she was like one of the most like stable people in my life.

Empress Trash: 20:45

And like she just loved me endlessly. And she like would tell me so many things. And but the one that keeps coming up is cause people are like, oh, should I buy this, should I buy that? And my great grandma used to cause she survived the depression she had, like she was in a, she was married to, like a fisherman in Lake Superior, like she was never a rich woman. She always was like kind of living that, like right at poverty, if not in poverty life.

Empress Trash: 21:21

And she would say to me, like you know, always like, don't worry about money. Like it, they're always making more money, they're always making it more, they're always printing more. But she would be like, make sure, though, to always invest in what's between you and the ground, because you can't stop gravity, like no matter how much you want to Like. And I think about it like I mean, people are just like, oh, what should I like buy? Like should I buy these new pair of shoes, or should I buy this, like you know, like a new bed? Or like you know, like people, just normal conversations, like it comes up so much Like her telling me like they're always printing more money.

Empress Trash: 22:12

but you can't stop gravity, Like it's always there. I don't know if it's a life motto, but I mean and also, like there's so many other things that she said to me, it always like taps into, like that wisdom that she shared with me, like that really old old school, like no bullshit wisdom. So it's like it's that same, but then, like everything else that she's, she ever told me, so yeah, I like it.

NorCal Guy: 22:44

So if you could live or move anywhere, where would you live and what?

Empress Trash: 22:49

Mexico city, anywhere, anywhere. I mean, like I love here, I love Mexico city. So so, so much I do want to like travel and see the world more but like I just still feel very drawn and love here a lot.

Empress Trash: 23:12

I really want to like go to Asia and I really want to go to like Japan and Korea. I want to. I mean I want to go where like a lot of my friends are, so I also have like a lot of friends in like Eastern Europe and like I'm trying to think of where else. I really want to go to Iceland. I'm gonna go to Chile. Yeah, like I'm there's places I want to visit, but like when I think about like where I want to live, like I want to, I hear like Mexico City. It's like the perfect mix of, yeah, everything like.

Empress Trash: 23:50

Culture, affordability, location for travel, food, art which goes into the culture, but like the art here is just insane and the people here awesome, so I like. The longer I stay here, the less I want to leave.

NorCal Guy: 24:13

Which that's good for someone who has.

Empress Trash: 24:16

I have a bad wanderlust, like that's the statement. If a place makes you want to keep staying there, so right yeah.

NorCal Guy: 24:26

Do you have any questions for me?

Empress Trash: 24:29

Oh my gosh, I didn't know. I had to prepare that. If you I Think I know they answer this, but this is always my go-to question if you could be any food in your fridge right now, what would you be in? Why?

NorCal Guy: 24:47

in my fridge right now. Yeah, so my wife made Some mushroom type soup or a chili. I haven't had the chili egg, it's just made it. And then we have some pumpkin pie, we have some milk man. What would I be Such a random question? No, I would you know it. We also have Parmesan cheese. That's just like my ultimate favorite food. So I just said Parmesan cheese I can always like. It's my go-to snack.

Empress Trash: 25:30

Like is it chunk or in a can?

NorCal Guy: 25:33

Oh, it's chunk. I don't do the powder stuff.

Empress Trash: 25:46

Um, and why? Just because it's your favorite cheese.

NorCal Guy: 25:50

Yeah, it's like. So I used like a Parmesan cheese growing up was like Because the restaurant you know they come out you want any cheese on your pasta. Yeah, I want some Parmesan cheese. Now Can I have some more, please? Like you don't understand, I need that cheese on my pasta. And we found at like Safeway, this like brand that sells like little cubes of Parmesan cheese.

NorCal Guy: 26:21

Like individual servings and like man Game over. I don't have to like I just like get a snack whenever I want it. Now I don't have to like get out a knife, cut off some cheese. I just open up some plastic Delicious like the baby bells.

Empress Trash: 26:37

Yes, yeah, yeah but a Parmesan, yeah, okay.

NorCal Guy: 26:44

I love it. It's my go-to.

Empress Trash: 26:46

I love it so much I mean you could say, like cuz, you can Spice not spice up but you can add to any food or dish.

NorCal Guy: 26:57

That's true, I mean top of a lot of dishes, like I'll throw it on pasta. My wife makes this like lentil soup, but like lentils, soup with lentils and. Faro and potatoes. So I'll put Parmesan on it and then I'll also put a like what is it called when those chili chili hot sauces on it, and it's just really good together. That's right. No, it's like a man. What do they call it? It's from Mamofuku.

Empress Trash: 27:36

I just like happen to try it.

NorCal Guy: 27:38

I was just like man, this is a good hot sauce. It's like a black truffle Chili crunch sauce. Whoa, it's really good.

Empress Trash: 27:49

That sounds amazing.

NorCal Guy: 27:52

So yeah, I love it.

Empress Trash: 27:55

I love Parmesan cheese Anything else I have to ask more questions oh.

NorCal Guy: 28:07

I'm just saying this is your chance.

Empress Trash: 28:15

Dude, I didn't know I would have a chance. I Didn't prepare anything and I'm really bad at thinking questions off the top of my head.

NorCal Guy: 28:24

Well, it's alright, we can move on.

Empress Trash: 28:30

Yeah.

NorCal Guy: 28:32

Do you have any upcoming projects or anything you'd like to talk about that you released as projects?

Empress Trash: 28:40

Yeah, I'm going to talk about you this week I mean, I don't know when, this is our castle show, but this week, like I'm in like three different shows Nice, so my work is in Tokyo and Monterey, mexico, not California, for Knox Gallery. Tokyo, solid Mexico so it's like Mexican artists or people living in Mexico are in the show and it's like it's a lot of great artists in it, like Karen Medina, ygriga, kotama, kapur, sita, like a lot of great, great artists. And I wonder Mundo's in it too, who's like a good friend of mine, and then little Gringamee. So, but I'm really super honored to be like with, like accepted and with like all this mega talent that's here in Mexico in general. And so, yeah, shout out to Knox Gallery for that. And I'm also my work will be in Rome on Saturday for an AI thing, like an AI like conference. But then it's like the art. There's a whole bunch of AI artists that will be on display there too, and that's pretty exciting. And also I'm in like a super chief cyberpunk thing again.

Empress Trash: 30:17

So cyberpunk volume five, but the next part. So it's like another piece in that and I have an open edition on Monday for rareable front page which is super excited and I also. I'm like debating if I can say the last one, but I'm pretty sure I can. I'm pretty sure it's, everything's okay. So my art will be in art crush for Belgium their billboards there so it'll be on like almost 800 billboards around.

NorCal Guy: 30:51

Nice yeah.

Empress Trash: 30:52

So I'm super excited for that. Otherwise, like I'm doing Miami and I am still I now know for sure like my art will be in a few places in Miami, but we're still, as of right now, figuring out the final details of a lot of that and I may be on a couple panels in Miami, which, again, like it's still too early. Everything is always so freaking last minute.

Empress Trash: 31:22

Cause we're at like we're recording this the 16th and it's like Miami is like three, not even three weeks away. It's like pretty much two weeks away and it's like details are still being figured out for a lot of these things of being included. So yeah, like, but I'll be at Miami, so come find me and hang out with me or not, I don't know. I'll be at the click create event, though, for sure, like I already keep. I tell everyone that I keep saying that.

NorCal Guy: 31:54

I'll be there too, yeah, if you make it across the bridge.

Empress Trash: 31:58

I'll make it. I'll make it. I'll leave early enough, I swear.

NorCal Guy: 32:04

Ridiculous, that was bridges.

Empress Trash: 32:07

I know, I wish they just had one train Right.

NorCal Guy: 32:13

Yeah.

Empress Trash: 32:14

Like that's, all you would need is like one train going back and forth and it would alleviate like so many issues. But I think they like in my mind, for some reason I think Miami Beach likes it because, like they don't, it's so rich and it almost feels like a way to gate it Like there's only like two ways on the island and it's always and it's like when there's a ton of people it's horrible traffic. So I kind of think that Interesting that's. I'm suspicious of Miami Beach in general even though I'm standing there.

NorCal Guy: 32:51

I love the beach.

Empress Trash: 32:52

Just like it's an island with only two bridges. Right, I feel like they have the resources to do more, but who am I to say anything? I'm not a city planner. Awesome.

NorCal Guy: 33:07

Well impressed. I look forward to seeing you saying hi to you, meeting you in Miami in a couple weeks. Definitely, and thank you so much for being a guest and coming on the show today.

Empress Trash: 33:23

Yeah, thank you for having me and my weird warmness. It's awesome.

NorCal Guy: 33:35

Well, on that note later.

Empress Trash: 33:40

Bye.