NorCal and Shill

Efdot - Artist

• NorCal Guy • Season 1 • Episode 155

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What happens when traditional and digital art worlds collide? Our guest Efdot opens up about his fascinating journey from a family of artists to the innovative realm of crypto art. Discover how his initial reactions to NFTs fueled his passion for digital art on the blockchain and the unique opportunities and challenges that arose from this convergence. We discuss the art valuation and collection process, the intertwining of art with investment, and the vital role of community in this emerging space.

Efdot also takes us through his career evolution, navigating parental expectations and finding refuge in graphic design while staying true to his artistic roots. Get inspired by his experiences within the New York City's vibrant Web3 community, the potential of platforms like Ethereum for broader art dissemination, and the predicted integration of digital art into mainstream institutions over the next five years. Technological advancements and legal hurdles are also dissected, offering a comprehensive look at the future of digital art.

From the practicalities of launching art collections to managing family life amid market uncertainties, Efdot provides invaluable advice for artists looking to enter the crypto art scene. We discuss favorite foods, dream living locations, and an inspiring retreat in Mexico, adding a personal touch to the episode. Don't miss Efdot's insights on the importance of meaningful connections to art, the role of blockchain in maintaining provenance, and the impact of AI on artistic standards. Join us for a thought-provoking conversation that will leave you excited about the future of digital art.

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NorCal Guy:

Who is this? Who is this guy? Who is this guy?

Efdot:

Who is this guy? Norcal guy. Norcal guy. Norcal guy. Norcal guy. Norcal guy. Norcal guy. Norcal guy. Norcal guy. Norcal and chill podcast. So it's chill time. Norcal and chill podcast. What the sh-, what the sh-? Norcal and chill podcast. What the sh-, what the sh-? Norcal and Shill Podcast. So it's Shill time.

NorCal Guy:

NorCal and Shill Podcast what the sh what the sh-. Welcome everyone to another episode of NorCal and Shill. Today we're diving deep into the future of digital and crypto art with our special guest, the talented FDOT. Digital and crypto art with our special guest, the talented FDOT. Join us as we explore FDOT's visionary outlook on digital art exhibitions, the evolving landscape of the crypto art space and the delicate balance between art supply and demand. Discover how FDOT navigates physical and digital additions, shares insights from his creative journey and emphasizes community and genuine connection over economic gains. We'll also touch on his experimental projects and his inspirations from ancient art. Plus, we'll hear amusing anecdotes, favorite foods and mantras that keep him grounded. This episode promises to be a compelling mix of reflective insights and forward-thinking ideas.

NorCal Guy:

Tune in for an engaging conversation you won't want to miss Everybody. Please welcome FDOT. Hey, FDOT, welcome to the podcast. How you doing today.

Efdot:

Yo, what's going on, man? Good to see you Doing well today. How about you? What's?

NorCal Guy:

going on, man, good to see you Doing well today. How about you Good? Good, it's a nice day, you know, starting to cool off, just a little bit Bearable outside and family's doing good, nothing to complain about.

Efdot:

So life is good and I get to chat with you now, nice man, yeah, nowhere. I'd rather be right now on this end of summer New York, york days than just hanging out with NorCal and chill. So thanks for having me on.

NorCal Guy:

Yeah, my pleasure, my pleasure, but I guess just jumping right in. Uh, what were your first thoughts when you heard about this digital art, this NFT space?

Efdot:

My first thoughts when I heard about the digital art NFT space. I think I was always attracted to digital art because it was a part of my process, even for physical art, like I would do these large scale murals, and a lot of times I was going around with my phone taking pictures of walls and capturing the walls and then drawing digitally over them on my iPad. So when I found out that people were collecting digital art on the block chain and having like sort of treating it as physical art is treated with with value, with care, with scarcity of certain items, like that was just really interesting to me because I knew I had this backlog of work that I didn't know how to share or or to get sort of the right eyes on and to value it. So that was really interesting. I was a little bit confused, cause there was just so much happening in 2021 when I first saw it and I wasn't real already into crypto, so I was also confused by that. Oh yeah, so I had to learn the ropes.

NorCal Guy:

No, that's fair. That's fair. There's a lot to to man. It's a lot to that hits you all at once when you just jump right in. So why did you have any experiences with that like?

Efdot:

advice for that. Yeah, there was just people collecting things that didn't really feel like art to me. So I was really like what's going on? What's the motivator? Is it just a quick get in, get out kind of thing where people are investing and flipping, or is there some real patronage going on? Is there a bit of a mix? What about the auctions versus the larger drops and the projects? I couldn't really draw the line between a project and an art collection at the time because there weren't enough examples for me, so I was just trying to. I was on Clubhouse, listening in, learning the ropes of how the tech worked and why to do certain things over others, and a lot of hype and BS as well, just like trying to sift through that. Find the good people, good times Good times.

NorCal Guy:

So what brought you to?

Efdot:

art. Well, I think I was always creative. As a kid, I was always wanting to stay late in art class, and my grandmother herself was an artist, so she always would buy me books and supplies for the holidays. Really, really grateful for that, because if I didn't have that early influence, I don't think I would be as comfortable doing the mediums that I do today or the ones I've been focusing on over the last decade or so. Um, and then at a certain point in the United States, your parents sometimes pressure you to going into college, and so choosing a major was something that you kind of have to do at the end of high school and, uh, and I wanted to do art, something art related. My father kind of pushed me into graphic design, felt like it was more of a marketable skill, but I always held on to art being my main motivator for doing that, and I loved every single art class that I took in that college and outside, so it just felt like that was the natural thing to pursue.

NorCal Guy:

Sure, I like that. Did you do any grunge jobs along the way, like in high school, right after high school?

Efdot:

Different kinds of jobs. Yeah, I worked at an ice cream shop for a while. I worked at a pizza shop for a while. Those were the two main ones that I did, yeah I like the ice cream shop, because my best friend worked there, so we were always just like getting into trouble and going downstairs and like making our own flavors and eating way too much ice cream.

NorCal Guy:

Yeah, that's awesome it's always great when you work with a friend, someone you can like hate the job with or enjoy the job with. I mean it's kind of like a win-win Either hate it together, love it together, but you have a good time together. That's what matters. What do you like best about Web3 today?

Efdot:

What do I like best about Web3 today? I really love the connectedness that there is across the network that I'm a part of, which is mainly Ethereum, like I love that you can put art out there and it just automatically populates in many, many different places, many different platforms, and sometimes there's even a bot that tweets it after you mint it, and it's like people are wanting to share art in this time, and I like that. This is a very efficient way to do it just to share it. Get it out there in more places, not just in this black hole of, like one social media app or a portfolio website. So that's the first thing, and then the other one I really feel like in New York City right now, there's a community forming around art and digital art and Web3, curious people, and I just really like the people that I've met.

Efdot:

There's brilliant minds flocking to this technology, even in this slower period compared to 2021. And I can feel like energy just building around those few hundred people that stuck around, right, right, a few hundred people I feel like in New York that I've like crossed paths with, specifically, oh, wow, yeah, a few hundred people I feel like in new york that I've like crossed paths with, specifically, oh, wow, yeah, wow. I mean not all living in new york, but I feel like it's. It's a hub. We have a show coming up, we're doing these, there's a culture around it and I feel like before web3, I didn't, I couldn't, I didn't fit into the new york art scene, I didn't have a gallery, I didn't have people organizing events where I was be featured or where I could curate, and it just it wasn't there. And now there's real support for that, there's infrastructure for that being built, wow.

NorCal Guy:

Well, that's good to hear. Yeah, because I'm not involved. I mean, I see, like I guess it would be mainly through Instagram, like the meetups here and there in New York from like either your feed or like OVEC or someone along those lines Red Beard. So, yeah, it's good because it does definitely seems like New York is the one place that there are consistent meetups and there are consistent artists, a group of people getting together and doing things, which is really awesome, because I I don't, I haven't seen that anywhere else currently I think it's happening in la with irl alpha.

Efdot:

oh yeah, then there's, yeah, yeah, there's a few other cities that have a community um starting to form. Excuse me, um, the yeah, it's just smaller. I think new New York has the highest concentration of people who want to do events, because I think in some cities people are just homebodies, especially in the north, like as, as you go in the Midwest, this is not as much as many events going on. Uh, even in NorCal, like, I was out there this summer and I met some artists, but there weren't like events happening, right, right For sure.

NorCal Guy:

Definitely not so, but there weren't like events happening Right right For sure. Definitely not so. Where do you see digital art in five years?

Efdot:

Well, I was talking to my friend the other day about how Rafiq Anadol's piece in the MoMA made a pretty big impact here in New York in conversations at least, feeling like there was a ripple effect, wondering how many more of those moments it's going to take before people can not hear the words Web3 or tokenized art and just think of the sort of scammy stuff that gets headlines. It's going to take more exhibitions that are on that level, or just highly curated moments that the public can come in and see. So I think that's going to continue to happen at places like the Whitney, the New Museum, these sort of more forward-thinking art museums in New York and then beyond there's a bunch of new museums opening up as well. So in five years I think there'll be more of those exhibits and museums and it'll be treated just a little bit more like a real art medium than it is today.

Efdot:

For me in my practice I am messing around with different types of digital art. So first it was procreate, just drawing digitally, and then like photo editing. Now I'm messing around with generative and playing with AI. Really can't tell where that one's going to go, because there's all these lawsuits in the works right now that might be completely banned in five years in terms of, like, using Midjourney's pool of images that they just sort of scraped, oh yeah, and so all that's hard to tell where it's going.

Efdot:

But I think there's going to be this flourishing of of the art movement and what's happening now, but on a much bigger scale, with these events that I mentioned, and hopefully the mid tier won't be as eroded as it feels right now. It feels like this, this sort of moment where a lot of collectors are playing it safe, not exactly risking on new artists all the time. Um, so I think in in a few years that'll change and go back to, uh, some more of those vibes of not as tight and and people, people collecting great art more for for what it is right, rather than just to get a quick return For sure. Yeah.

NorCal Guy:

And you kind of answer this. Is there anything you'd like to see?

Efdot:

more of in the crypto art space. More patronage, more true collectors partnering with artists to help them evangelize their work. Get it seen in these contexts, like in museums, where it can really be valued and appreciated by the public. I'd like to see more physical and digital pairings of objects or crossovers. There was that really beautiful crossover from MP Cause recently. That was a sculpture that moved, but it was inspired by a generative output. So that crossover of mediums is what I'm hoping to see more of.

NorCal Guy:

Yeah, yeah, that'd be cool, that'd be awesome. Does supply matter? Matter at all, you mean well, you know it'd be interesting. So I'd like to hear your thoughts on supply in your thoughts of how much you release and then like how you work additions and one on ones together and even the physicals in there.

Efdot:

So I think supply does matter and I've seen it in real time in physical and digital places or collections where the collection size just feels way too big or too small for the demand. If it's too small, all the marketing is going to be for a smaller reward than it probably could have been for the artists or a smaller community than it could have been. My first collection was just 10 pieces and I feel like I sometimes wondered what it would have been like if I had gone a little bit bigger for my first collection. But I think that you can't go wrong keeping things slow and steady and tight. The art is better for it. Sometimes, when the collection is too big, sometimes pieces make it in that just aren't as good as others and it's very clear that those could have been cut from the curation. So I think supply matters in that way, curation matters and if you're an artist, it really depends on what level you're at. Because if you're a brand new artist like just getting your first sales is very important and you know, don't be too concerned about supply. But I also at the same time wouldn't do an edition of 1000 of one of one piece, because that's going to be a lot harder to to grow from right Versus like starting with some one of ones or starting with a small addition. So yeah, it matters. It plays into psychology, which also matters. It drives behavior. I try not to think about these things too much because it takes me out of the moment. It takes me out of the creative headspace where I want to spend a lot of my time in. I get help on some of these decisions as well. I have an advisor that I work with on drops from time to time, so I think it matters enough for me to have an advisor to help me with it occasionally. And pricing you know it's not easy to find the right combo of supply and price and the collection.

Efdot:

But with the physicals I love screen printing and traditional printing methods. They feel like a lot more special than a typical inkjet print or a plotter. Drawing is sort of a similar process where it just goes like color by color, puts the ink down and then switches colors, does the next color and you get these really cool overlaps sometimes and new colors emerge because of the overlap of inks. New colors emerge because of the overlap of inks and I find those to be like sculptural in a way, because if you really start to layer it up, you can see the depth, especially when you kind of shine the light from the side and even using transparent inks to highlight certain things. I just love those additions and I treat them as well as I treat my one of ones in terms of how they're shipped and packed, and they come with a certificate and everything. So the the, the physical additions are a key part of my, my practice. Still, I haven't made, uh, any new ones this year, but last year I made some. The year before I made some and I like to.

Efdot:

In terms of like scheduling, I got some great advice from Brian Brinkman about this. He said every six to eight months, do something big, like a big project or collection, if you're ready for it. Then every one to two months, do something small to kind of keep your collectors excited and maybe experiment with a new medium or a collaboration, and I think that cadence works really well for managing supply. I don't think about the exact numbers too often, but I think he was talking about putting out 500 to 1,000 tokens total in a year, and so making those tokens really count, whether they're additions or one-of-ones, is something that I was thinking about. If you're going to put your effort into something, make sure that the way that you're releasing it is going to attract attention and add value to it.

Efdot:

Um then, on the other hand, I have friends that tell me you know, all that stuff is noise and the only thing that matters this is also in me. Like the artist in me says, the only thing that's important is people's connection to the art, and everything else will sort itself out. Uh then it doesn't really matter, as long as someone really resonates with the art. But having less available work creates the perception of, oh wow, this artist is in hot demand. So a lot of people like to manipulate that and I think I under. I understand that it's. It's a part of the game for a lot of a lot of us, right, right that's some good things to think about, some good advice from brinkman for sure.

NorCal Guy:

Yeah, thank you for expanding on that. So a fun one. If you were an animal, what would you be? Why?

Efdot:

I just want to add a distinction on that last question. Oh yeah, um, because I think the reason I went into detail on the screen prints and the physical editions is because I treat them differently than digital editions. Digital editions are usually an image. Sometimes I use multiple pieces of media to show the process or show you know, and I just think that the physical editions, they, have a lot more love and care and also like money put into the process. So I think about those as like a separate tier than digital editions. I don't usually sell them together. The piece is usually better viewed physical or digital and a lot of times my digital work I'll just do an inkjet print because the screen printing is impossible, there's too many colors, et cetera. But yeah, I think that's an interesting note is like you can make additions but go premium on the physical and it sits in its own tier, right, separate from maybe some larger digital editions that are just for growing the community. Um, okay, so what?

NorCal Guy:

was the next question, sorry, yeah, no, no, I like that approach. Um, it definitely. Um is appreciated when you get a nice piece, a physical piece. I love it getting that physical piece, opening it up and frying a little bit sometimes when you don't have space on the wall, but I love it.

Efdot:

I love looking at these pieces because it is really something and it's different to see it in person and have that of my physical wall of some friends pieces um all really meaningful to me for sure, sure, yeah dude.

NorCal Guy:

Yeah, so it was. If you were an animal, what would you be and why?

Efdot:

okay, this is. I have a good answer for this because I was thinking about it. I saw a video recently of a turtle okay on a on a miniature tech deck skateboard and it was on a wood floor and and as soon as he was placed on the skateboard he was able to use his turtle arms and legs to like push off the floor, so he was going like super fast. So call it fast turtle or speed turtle. I would be that because I think the contrast is what makes it funny and what makes life interesting too nice, all right, perfect.

NorCal Guy:

That's a good one. Do you have a favorite food?

Efdot:

I really love new york pizza, uh, but I've been searching for the perfect one, oh. In addition, I just love sushi. Anything japanese food is my, my jam.

NorCal Guy:

So pizza and sushi, it's I mean those are two good combos.

Efdot:

Yeah, can't go wrong yeah, and I don't I don't mess with like too many crazy toppings on the pizza either. I just like a good balance of cheese and tomato sauce and maybe a little bit of extra tomato on top or a little extra cheese on top. Yeah, but the crust, I think, is where it's at and people don't people outside new york don't really understand that, so sorry for them. Maybe outside of certain, I mean, there's exceptions, italy, you know, but I think, yeah, I feel very, very spoiled with that here.

NorCal Guy:

What's the best piece of advice you've been given, or do you have like a mantra that is in your head? You kind of live by?

Efdot:

I have a lot of different mantras, that kind of sit with me for a season and then they come and go. Yeah, but the one that just came to me when you said that was very simple. It's just two words let go. And it's tied to an experience where I went on this retreat.

Efdot:

Uh, it was like a craft retreat in mexico where we went around and we got to like see all these traditional crafts people and hear their stories, see their process, even for like making things from from very, very raw materials, and at the end of the day we had done this clay workshop and I was standing in a circle it was mostly women and there and one of the women just kept repeating that phrase in Spanish suelte, suelte, let, let go, let go. And there was a fire in the middle, and so that's tied to that experience for me. So that's the one that came up Helps me let go of all the stuff I don't need to keep with me, and the stress any second guessing of things or overthinking it always applies in the situation that I'm in.

NorCal Guy:

Right, you have. Would this be the same advice for artists joining the crypto art space?

Efdot:

Yeah, I mean that advice does apply Let go of what you expect, Let go of expectations, let go of what you see yourself as like the ego. Letting go of a lot of things has served me well in this journey, but if I had to add any more advice, I would say find the communities that you're really passionate about. That you can connect with others and it helps make this roller coaster a lot more fun and a lot more bearable, because it is a roller coaster even without the web 3 aspect. Making art is a roller coaster and this adds a whole faster dynamic to it and a lot of more uh information coming at you. So find the communities where you like the pace.

Efdot:

It's just the same thing when you go to school, like you end up going to this, these, uh, these events and you end up seeing the same people around at the events and you're like okay, this, this is the community that I'm a part of. It's like tribes in this space, for sure. And don't feel like you have to be in every single community, because for a while I think I was really trying to. I had so many different like Discord channels that I was trying to stay up to date with and I wanted to build community everywhere because it felt like one giant community. And after a while you realize, like you know, you got to figure out like your top three and maybe your top one that you really want to contribute to if you're not starting your own Right, but it is a lot easier to join one than it is to start your own.

NorCal Guy:

Right, for sure, discord man, yeah Crazy place oh.

Efdot:

I still got my Discord going. Well, that's good you guys do too, right? Yeah, I pop in there.

NorCal Guy:

Yeah, yeah, definitely do so if you could live or move anywhere, where would you live and why?

Efdot:

so when I was younger, I always wanted to live in barcelona and, yeah, it was one of those things where I grew up skateboarding and watching skate videos. I still skate not as much as I'd like to but I always wanted to live there for the skateboarding spots, because it's just built into the city. There's a beach next to the city, which I love. That vibe, kind of like a more condensed version of LA. So, yeah, barcelona.

Efdot:

I also feel like I just did that residency in Rio de Janeiro and that's another city that has, like the beach and city tropical vibe, although I don't I actually don't speak either of the languages like Catalan or Portuguese that are not in my vocabulary. I can speak Spanish. That kind of gets me by, uh, but I'd love to live in one of those coastal cities and and just do a bunch of extreme sports. If, really, if, uh, if I was just just like, didn't have to worry about running a studio and having a business, I would just go live over there. I guess I could do both, but it feels like I would just be out in the ocean all the time or like out skating all the time, right for sure do you have any questions for me?

Efdot:

Yeah, I would love to know just what was one highlight for you this year that you really didn't expect to happen, like it was unplanned.

NorCal Guy:

Oh well, I mean just, or since starting, click Create.

Efdot:

Oh, since right Well.

NorCal Guy:

I guess I could give at least one that's not related to click create, which is the, the hash mark piece that I got on secondary. They got lost in the mail and then made its way back to me, which was kind of crazy. Uh, that was awesome, totally unexpected. Um, like I didn't expect any even that to be on a secondary market for me to even get that, so that was awesome. And just for it to randomly get lost and then show up online.

NorCal Guy:

People end up getting it. That was awesome, um yeah, I saw that.

Efdot:

I can imagine like someone finding that on the side of the road and just being like what is this thing? It looks so not like something that is tied to an art project, if you just see it out of nowhere.

NorCal Guy:

Right, right, I'd be like oh, it's a cool piece of metal. I'm like no idea I'd throw it on my shelf or something. Where would you start to look?

NorCal Guy:

to look like I'm surprised well, that's why you had the hash on the back right yeah, there is a hash on the back, but like, that's true, but the neighbor like, or whoever found it was just like what happened, to post it in their like Facebook neighborhood thing. And then some other person was like, oh, I think I know what that is so. So, yeah, it was just people having to be, you know, like a good Samaritan and like, look for a return on it, find the owner Really cool, pretty cool.

Efdot:

Yeah, makes you give you some hope. Yeah, for sure, those stories need to circulate more. I feel like the the negative stories end up drowning out the positive stories, like that. Uh, just because our brains process negativity differently and it's like you need 10 times the amount of positivity or something to right to balance it.

NorCal Guy:

yeah, for sure. Uh, man, with click, click create um, I don't know man, it just um. You know we had, you know what? We had a couple curators that had to back out last minute, and so I stepped in for one of those months and managed to make it happen in an unknown collector did, and those turned those two months turned out to be really good, solid months. We really enjoyed them. We had a great time with the artists, so that was a nice surprise that you know was unexpected and unplanned.

Efdot:

Loved it yeah, shout out to unknown collector. I like their telegram that they do, where it's just a read only and they just post art, oh, yeah and uh. It's just always finding gems and sharing them that's awesome.

NorCal Guy:

Yeah, he's a good guy. Good guy for sure. Glad he is in the space, for sure definitely a good one.

Efdot:

Here's another question for you um, who are you interviewing upcoming that you're excited about?

NorCal Guy:

Oh man, joke's on you. Man, I only have like none in the works right now. Like you're like the last one for right now. Um, I have to get more scheduled. Uh, I did just before you interview already hands, so that was pretty fun.

Efdot:

Cool, cool. Yeah, I don't know them too well, but they just did a docs episode, right yeah with og.

NorCal Guy:

Yeah, like I think that was a week ago, maybe two weeks ago, but yeah that was fun.

Efdot:

Yeah, speaking of og, I got to see his place a couple weeks ago. I was out, uh, yeah, in that, in that neck of the woods. My partner's family lives out in northern california but specific spots and we're always just like running around seeing her family because it's pretty big uh. But I did get a chance to meet up with og and blake jameson and some see his place. It's beautiful yeah nice, I haven't.

NorCal Guy:

I haven't even been to his spot. Um, he's invited me over a few times, but I'm like man, I got kids and I'm watching them, so it's a little bit hard to get out. It's a little bit of a drive to get to where you are.

Efdot:

Well, man, I commend you for doing everything that you do while also raising kids and yeah.

NorCal Guy:

Yeah, thanks, yeah, it's, I mean, yeah, it mean, yeah, it's, it's hard, but also, you know, you just gotta, certain days are for this, certain days are for that, certain hours for this, certain hours for that. That's gotta do it. Yep, you have any other questions.

Efdot:

Did you ever expect, did you ever expect, that you'd be interviewing artists and collecting like you do and distributing art like you do?

NorCal Guy:

No, definitely not no, I don't even know why. Like it was so weird, like I was talking to artists in 21, and for some reason I'm like I feel like I should be like talking to them and recording it, talking to them and recording it and I wanted a more of a structured type podcast, because I'm not great at like the long form type of thing. So I felt like, yeah, I should do a podcast, set amount of questions, have it a relatively short form and I think it'd be cool to document stuff. And I don't know why, because earlier that year I probably wouldn't have done the same thing you could do. But here I am, like three years later, still doing it. So it's been great. I don't know, it's just this random thing that happened and I've been enjoying it.

Efdot:

Nice man. There was a flip side to the other question that I wanted to ask you, so I asked you the highlight of the year so far. Nice man, there was a flip side to the other question that I wanted to ask you, um, so I asked you the highlight of the year so far. What's been the biggest challenge this year beyond like just managing all the roles that you manage?

NorCal Guy:

the challenge? Well, you know, I mean the challenge is it's slow. Uh well, the market like is slow so it feels boring to a lot of people and so kind of get people involved. Sometimes it's hard. That's been a challenge like, especially like when you're recruiting people and stuff. Like people a lot of people don't want to drop art right now because they feel it's not going to sell.

NorCal Guy:

And so you're just like, hey, you know, it's all right, it's going to do. Fine, don't, don't have to hold your art in until market is something else, Just, and that's. And that brings it to a different point, which kind of off the? I don't know if it's on topic, maybe it is. And that brings it to a different point, which kind of off topic. I don't know if it's on topic, maybe it is. But that's the whole thing of the blockchain and the provenance. I think it's cool that you can mint something when it's ready for viewing. It doesn't have to go to sale. That's part of the blockchain. You did this. You can timestamp when you actually finished it, and I think more people should take advantage of that, regardless if you list it for sale or not.

Efdot:

yeah, yeah, yeah, I was hanging out at a conference this year and I saw richard from manifold and he was asking me like how do we get people to mint more? Because, like they should be minting as they're making the art, not just when it's ready for sale, uh-huh. And he was asking me like how do we get people to mint more? Because, like they should be minting as they're making the art, not just when it's ready for sale, uh-huh. And he was asking me for my opinion. It's a really good question. Uh, because it's psychologically.

Efdot:

You see, the successful projects right now a lot of them have big marketing campaigns. Uh, for one of one it's different, for a small edition it's different. But for anything that's like a considerable project or drop, it takes effort and blood, sweat and tears to promote it. And if you're not ready to do all that let's say you're working on a few other projects it's tempting to just like, not mint it, move on to your other projects, come back around and then, like, you feel totally differently about the art at that point. And then you feel totally differently about the art at that point and it's harder as time goes on actually to finish certain things in this space, because if you're not minting them as you go or minting some kind of work in progress as you go, because you're sort of off the hook, no one knows about it. But once it's on chain, once you start sharing the works in progress, you can build the expectation that this is what I do right before I drop something and build that excitement, and I think that's it's cool to see everyone do it in their own way, because not everyone makes videos, not everyone wants to show their face, but they have different ways of getting the art into the culture, whether it's through memes or contests or or um partnering with click create, and that you guys do those great spotlight videos with interviews, thanks, yeah, that's another thing I'm loving about this time is just the quality of the art I think is going in all directions, including up right, uh, you know there was a.

Efdot:

I read something recently that said the only thing that this new ai boom has contributed to is lowering of our expectations for art, because if the artist doesn't have to go through the blood, sweat and tears of creating it with their hands or even digitally, with code or in some other digital way, they can just prompt it. You know it does have that effect. But, on the other hand, the people who are discerning the collectors and the platforms who are trying to curate a really good taste. The work's getting better. I think the quality is going way up and it forces us to get more serious about what we're doing and trying to make more of a statement. And if you only come out with one drop in the whole year, it's going to be a better drop versus 2021, when it felt like you just get it out, you know that people are going to buy it because it's an nft.

Efdot:

Now it's like what do I really have to say and what do I want to put on on chain? I mean, that wasn't really how I felt, but that was how it felt like watching the timeline go by and I was like I didn't resonate with it. I had to. I was suffering that in that time, actually, I was like trying to understand like which pace I was comfortable with right and how big of a community I wanted to build and all that stuff. A lot of it forces you to ask a lot of really good questions to yourself, which I really love, because if it's permanent, you got to really think through it For sure.

NorCal Guy:

Yeah, and that's a good point, Like this time that we've been in the last year or two. You know people are putting thought into it finally and considering what they are doing. It definitely was a free fall in 21. Do you have any other questions?

Efdot:

I want to keep it going for a little longer. If you're down, I don't have any specific questions, yeah.

NorCal Guy:

The next thing would be if you have any projects that you're working on that you'd like to discuss, people to know about what you do.

Efdot:

Yeah, so I like to work on a lot of projects at once, so I'll just share the things that are kind of coming up soon. So I just finished up an art residency at All Ships where I was hanging out at the All Ships house making some art and I made a few things for All Ships just for fun. But I'm going to be displaying that piece at the end of this month at the Canal Street show, which is a part of the subjective art fair. It's a Loom Studios Loom Studios event in downtown New York and they're taking over like all the floors and we have the second floor for our Canal Street show, which is the show that I've been curating the last couple years, co-curating. It's a really fun project. We get different curators and artists to take a screen and then they get to use it how they see fit within a broader theme and then we have some special exhibitions in there. So that's really fun coming up at the end of the month in September in New York.

Efdot:

But beyond that I'm working on two collections. I've been working on them for like forever, but they're set to launch before the end of the year. So at least one of them before the end of the year? I don't know. I just I love looking at the world through that lens and then finding that's what I've been building both of these collections around. It's just like the way that I see the world, abstracted to the point where the viewer can put their own experiences onto it and not be swayed. Whether it's like a happy piece or a sad piece, it's like it's. It's usually pretty uplifting color palette, but there's always a bit of melancholy in my work. I think when it's too sweet it's boring. So both of the collections have that kind of vibe. There's a lot of gaps to be filled in by the viewer, which I love. Yeah, is that the last question in the interview? Yeah, that is it. Man, that was a great episode. Yeah, it was awesome, great conversation.

NorCal Guy:

Thank you so much for coming on the show and discussing questions, giving us some insight about you and what you do.

Efdot:

I appreciate it. Yeah, thank you for doing these. It's really amazing to have people like you want to know the stories behind the things that we make and meet the people. I've loved listening to your past episodes, so excited to see this one out there Awesome.

NorCal Guy:

Thank you so much. I hope you have a great day. We'll talk soon.

Efdot:

You too, man have a good one, peace who is this?

NorCal Guy:

Who is this guy? Who is this guy? Who is this guy? Who is?

Efdot:

this guy? Who is this guy? Norcal guy? This guy.