Nearly Eaten By Sharks and Bananas

Before anything, here is a pic of Tone Vays collecting the last available “Fork And Flip re-paint 3/3. The edition is totally gone now and yes, it was emotional. Great to have him on board the AFC roster of influential owners.

As the Vegas article is still unwritten, this is not happening in a linear timeline.

Who cares. Crypto decentralizes this.

The Answer is Canada

The Toronto mission part will have to remain shrouded in mystery for now as I can’t reveal the exciting details yet. Otherwise, too, the progress on many fronts was phenomenal. Visiting my buddy Michael’s 2.5hr podcast ‘Talkin Mush‘ was fun as well as meeting some key Toronto blockchain figures. All together, Toronto was a strange mix of familiar Scandinavian culture and American infrastructure. I had a much better time than even expected and high fives for Baz for hosting one part. Great memories and more to come.

For perspective on 120k bananas and other lousy marketing ploys: “David in the Lions’ den” by Rubens.

On some offtime visiting the CN tower and aquarium gave a tourist some time to settle into what the capital feels like. The aquarium wasn’t the only encounter I was to have with sharks. The visit to the Toronto Art Museum was very helpful for a couple of reasons. First of all the Reubens’ piece above about Daniel assisted in anchoring my senses to the core of what art is to me. In some sense, referring to the title, it was also setting the tone for Miami. The work itself literally took my breath away standing with it up close and personal from multiple perspectives.

As the sponsor of the Toronto project otherwise remains anonymous, TravelByBit helped me get from Toronto to Miami for the Tech and Art Show at the Miami Blockchain Center. On the travels back home, they kindly sponsored the Miami-Tampa way also, which was a bit of a challenge due to choosing American Airlines (never again). The platform itself is easy as anything, and you can mix and match fiat, crypto, and travel credits. Hotels are available too. For those traveling with crypto, I strongly encourage you to give this platform a try. Much like me, you might be positively surprised! Many thanks for Gokhshtein Magazine and Vinny, Co-Founder & VP, for setting this collab up. As a token of my appreciation, I gave them an ad Infinitum license to use some of the snaps taken along the way. They provide most of the visuals for this article as the other things, which I’m itching to share, must remain under wraps for now.

The G Effect

I’m also taking over the fine art sector of the Gokshstein Magazine and will soon announce a couple of new projects with it. Along the way, I’ve gotten to know David a bit and thought to straighten a common perspective out from my view. People call him an anti-hero, which by actual definition seems to be very counter to what the guy seems to me to be about. He might be controversial to some in terms of defending Ripple, and in general, being a self-referencing person fond of DYOR. Check out this interview clearing a few things outside the crypto bubble helping adoption. He is running for congress as a blockchain rep, so reading the answers and this segment is worth it. People seem to mix the concept of underdog and villain these days.

“When we think about the future, we often get trapped in this mindset of what the current generation is doing to fix things. While that’s helpful, the real future is our youth. If given the option to consult for an established billionaire or big-name company and a young aspiring entrepreneur just getting his or her feet wet, I’m always going to choose the latter. They aren’t jaded yet. They are more apt to be open to creative solutions to accomplish their goals. They aren’t set in their ways. I get tired of people thumbing their nose at millennials. This is the generation building a brighter tomorrow, and I’m going to do everything in my power to help.” – DG

Hear hear.

Miami Art Vice

Shark pic by Sean Scott and banana finger cartoon by Michael Jonsson.

As the whole world went bananas for a bit, altogether swimming in the art world and the general congregation of surrounding phenomena politically,  it certainly felt like swimming with sharks in another way. What was for real, was me going to the tip of South Beach and literally having two baby sharks (my size) swim a few inches from my feet. Not sure if those or the art world was more pulse-raising. Not going into the details of the dry land sharks in the text but check out the keynote below for sustenance, I found myself rather comfortable and grateful within the blockchain spectrum of things. The general art world coming into the crypto art scene, to me, often feels like the FED coin walking into the BTC scene. Here is some more insights on why in the 25-min keynote at the Blockchain Center Miami.

Watch the keynote through here.

Coming to the Blockchain Center Miami, I was immediately made to feel welcome and supported to do what needed to be done. Setting up was a breeze and I immediately knew I was upon new friends. A special thanks for Eryka Gemma from @blockchainMIA for the overall hospitality, @BTCWeatherman for all the help, @Annalese_BNT for the photo & bodypaint session as well as helping out, @jrome128  for initiating the new VR phase and many many more.

I Am Satoshi Nakamoto and T(r)opical at the show

There were many cool other artists there but this time I’d like to spotlight Johnny Dollar. The guy is humble, tells a mean story and in general, helped everyone around him out from setting up works to emotional support. Hanging out with him definitely made the whole trip a lot better. Much respect bro and love the “Cornan the Barbarian” piece. Without butchering the concept too badly, it is about how barbarians always come to slay the good intentions, threatening AI tech, etc. I highly recommend for someone to collect this reasonably priced piece from him.

Cornan The Barbarian by Johnny Dollar

Annalese was incredible as a bodypaint model. This raw image is about to become an ocean offering themed piece later.

Also, check out this nice brief chat with George Levy interview explaining the ‘stable art’ concept.

To conclude, being a part of the art scene, in general, is often a close call with eaten by sharks and if not careful, losing sight as to why the art is done in the first place. To remain on that narrow path, all senses must be constantly on guard. I already miss this view dearly but will be back in January for the North American Bitcoin Conference.

V E S A
Crypto Artist
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