Eniosta | Mae NFT Artist Interview.
Eniosta | mae australian is a digital artist working in 3D to create surreal, dreamy environments. her work is a means of escape, and is shared with the purpose of transporting the viewer alongside her to a place that will soothe their soul.
i hope you find some small escape. – Mae
Hi, I’m Mae and I go by eniosta online.I have lived on the East Coast of Australia my entire life. It’s just the right balance of insane weather, incredible landscapes and excellent humans.
First, where can collectors find your work?
Website: https://www.eniosta.com/
Social: https://twitter.com/enixsta | https://www.instagram.com/
NFT Marketplace: https://makersplace.com/
Can you tell us about your background and what lead you down the path to becoming an artist and ultimately experimenting with NFTs?
I have definitely always been creative in some way or another, which I think was initially influenced at a very young age by watching my mother paint and my older sister sketch. Thinking back on my early childhood when life was a bit chaotic for my family, it always stands out to me how peaceful and calm they were while they were just focusing on making something beautiful. I think that really sunk in – that focusing on creativity was something you could do to kind of step outside of the chaos of life.
As I grew up I experimented with different mediums, sketching, painting, weaving, sculpture – but none of it ever clicked as something I was either very talented at or I enjoyed enough to pursue too seriously. When I was about 25 I started using interior design as a creative outlet which led to 3D modelling. I found the problem solving side of the work so meditative in itself, like really focusing on how to get something constructed in 3D space from just a cube or a sphere, and my love for the medium just grew from there.
Eventually I made the move from selling furniture assets for video games to creating my own art. At the beginning my work was also rooted in architecture and interiors, inspired by some incredible people like Alexis Christodoulou and Charlotte Taylor. Over time I think I have grown into creating work that is authentic to me and I think that is so important.
I have been in crypto for six or seven years, but I didn’t really know a lot about the NFT space until 2021 when I realised it wasn’t just about collectables. The entire concept just made sense to me as the answer to digital art being recognised as real and important, and when I realised how incredible the community was in the space I just had to be involved.
When did you mint your first NFT? What platform did you choose and why?
September 30th 2021, on Foundation. At the time I really thought that opensea was just for pfp collections and Foundation seemed like the best starting point for 1/1 work.
Can you tell us one thing you cannot live without? (and why)
My dogs. I am a person who lives with really severe anxiety amongst a myriad of other mental health disorders, and my dogs are the biggest comfort to me during rough times. There is nothing quite like cuddling a dog and having them stare into your eyes with just pure love.
Who is your favorite artist(s) (Non NFT)? What about their style resonates with you?
I was recently introduced to the work of Brett Allen Johnson, a landscape painter from the US who creates these incredible abstracted landscape works that just make you melt into them. Brett’s use of light and color is magnificent and I’m inspired to sit down and create something every time I look at his work.
Who is your favourite NFT artist? What makes this artist unique?
If I have to choose just one, I’ll say Rhett / Mankind. His use of color to make something real become surreal is just incredible. His work provokes a real sense of serenity within me and he is absolutely one of my biggest inspirations.
What made you pursue NFT art?
I think realising that some of my favourite artists were in the community and contributing to the space was the kicker for me; before that I had this idea that it was all pfp monkeys and day traders. Digital artists have kind of had it kicked into us to believe that our work isn’t really worth anything, and when I realised that wasn’t the case anymore I felt compelled to participate. It feels like we’re in the early days of an art revolution and it is a privilege to be a part of that.
What is the one piece of NFT art you wish you had purchased but missed out on?
Mankinds Scarce Abundance. I will absolutely own one of these, one day.
If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go? Why this location?
Probably Peru, because I feel like I absolutely must see the Rainbow Mountain in Cusco with my own eyes before I die.
What are your other passions besides art? Why?
I guess the biggest one is psychology. The human brain is such a fascinating thing in so many ways. I studied for a few years to become a psychologist and life ended up getting in the way of that, but I approach almost everything from a psychological perspective as a result and I think it helps me to understand myself and the world around me a lot better than if I just took everything at face value.
One of my favourite things to do is have a discussion with someone about one thing that they are super passionate about that I know nothing about. I get to learn a whole new thing, but I also get to watch their face light up with excitement and ask questions about why they are so into that specific thing, and I think I learn a lot about people and their brains this way.
Do you make other forms of art?
Not for a while, it’s been all about 3D for the last 3 years. But I have been missing painting lately, so I hope to get my brushes out soon. Painting is a whole other type of meditation and one of my favourite activities is to paint while I’m camping in the middle of nowhere.
How did you come up with your specific style?
This is quite difficult to condense into a succinct answer but ultimately the foundation of my style is this:
I create to leave the chaos of my own mind behind, so creating is a meditative process for me. When I started to share my work on twitter and it got some attention, I realised that my work was also meditative for other people.
If I had to describe my style I would say it is soothing, surreal and meditative. To me, those words are what naturally comes out of the reason that I create. I got to the specific visual style by learning about line work and the psychology behind it, and combining that with the elements of nature that I love the most. I have tattoos on each inner elbow, one of mountains and one of the ocean.
Of course there are many artists (Rik Oostenbroek, Six n Five, Andres Reisinger, Mankind) and places (the Rainbow Mountains in Peru, China, the lines that form in the deserts of Arizona and Utah) that have helped me to refine my work into what it has become.
How has your style evolved over the years?
This is wild to me, but it has not yet been 12 months that I have been making art the way I do now. In that time though, I see a really consistent growth and evolution, and I think it is the insecurity I have about my work that is constantly pushing me to grow. I’ve gone from creating work that would not be necessarily distinguishable from any other image should you type ‘dreamscape’ into a pinterest search, to finding something that is really authentic to me and I’m really proud of that.
What is coming in the near future?
So many things. I have a few really exciting collaborations that will be sprinkled throughout the year; I’m in talks with some very cool art teams about collections that I will potentially be involved in and beyond that I’m just really excited to see how the rest of this year sees my art evolve
How was collaborating with our friend NoCreative?
‘Abulia’ my collaboration with NoCreative has fetched the highest price tag to date and is also above and beyond the biggest piece in terms of time spent on the project. I’m so proud of what we created, it feels like the perfect meeting of minds.
If you could collaborate with one artist who would it be?
Mankind, without question.
Can you link us to your recent drops?
https://makersplace.com/h4/
Do you have any upcoming drops?
I’m currently working on a piece for PJ Curly’s ‘Women of Web 3.0’ curation on dissrup which I am really excited to be involved in, and I’m hoping to have the final drop in my Seussian Collection on opensea done within the next month or so.
What was your greatest failure and what did you learn from that?
There are a bunch of examples that I could give to this, but the failure itself is trying to conform to what I thought society, or a specific member of it wanted me to be. I learned (the hard way, and over and over again) that life isn’t about pleasing other people – with your actions, with your work, with who you are – it’s about finding yourself and being that person with absolute conviction.
Anything else you’d like to share?
Just my sincere gratitude. The NFT community is a really wonderful corner of the internet to participate in, and the opportunities that have come my way since becoming part of it have honestly changed my life. I’m so grateful for all of it. I can’t wait to see where we all are in five years!
