Giovanni De Benedetto NFT Artist Interview

I am a self-taught visual artist from Udine, Italy.
After getting my diploma in Music Performance at the Music Academy in Bologna, I moved to Berlin, where I spent the first three years out of seven studying at Catalyst Music (an academy associated to the St.Mark & St.John’s University in Plymouth), getting the Bachelor of Arts Honored in Electronic Music Production.

Can you tell us about your background and what lead you down the path to becoming an artist and ultimately experimenting with NFTs?

Since 2009, even before studying music professionally, I started developing a creative/revealing process based on action painting, digital photography, and post-production with which I generate what I call the Augmented Klecksography Paintings (AKPs). PREMATURE is the project that includes all the AKPs, pushing the boundaries of the creative possibility of inkblot art, where the aesthetic power of the artist’s original paintings is enhanced through the mean of digital photography. Klecksography is the technique of making images starting from inkblots, pioneered by Justinus Kerner in the second half of the 19th century and soon after used by the famous psychoanalyst Hermann Rorschach. The union between klecksography and photography generates an outcome that immortalizes the freshness of each painting and enhances its details.
Here, the original painting serves only as a matrix to be augmented by digital photography, which leads to its digital file conceived as the definitive piece of art, ready to be wide printed on fine art papers or minted in the Blockchain.

I am driven by the desire to make known my work to the world because of its uniqueness in the way it is realized and for its visual outcome. Moreover, I want to see where this process leads to, in aesthetic terms but also social, with the sharing of different people’s visions, embracing multiple perspectives at the same time.

When did you mint your first NFT? What platform did you choose and why?

I minted my first NFT on June 21 on Foundation. I chose Foundation because I liked the kind of works minted there at that time, and for the kind of collectors on the platform.

Can you tell us one thing you cannot live without? (and why)

Music because it’s a kind of art that physically resonates with the body, and for this reason, it can open up a kind of deep perception that I appreciate a lot.
It means that I easily feel chills listening to music and it could bring me to “”another place””, whereas I feel the heat in my gut while staring at a beautiful piece of art. Both are strong emotions, but the first is much more captivating to me because it involves different senses and states of consciousness at the same time.

Who is your favorite artist(s) (Non NFT)? What about their style resonates with you

Difficult question to answer but I take one of the best exhibitions I visited last year as a reference. So, I say Gottfried Helnwein because of his use of the hyper-realistic painting technique and the many layers of reading that his work has.
His work raises much more questions than answers, and to me, this is the best “”utility”” for art.

Who is your favourite NFT artist? What makes this artist unique?

Another difficult question, but I can say Jesse Draxler. I love to perceive his perspective through his art, he deconstructs and reassembles the figures in a unique way.
Also, I can relate to his artistic attitude/approach for the use of only black and white (I’ve used only black and white as well from 2009 to 2018) and for the use of the hands in the creative process.

What made you pursue NFT art?

The fact that Blockchain uses a technology that will change our lives in ways to be discovered yet. As an artist that is pioneering a new aesthetic and artistic approach, I see in the NFT art a big opportunity to make known my work to a broader audience and grow in the field.

What is the one NFT you wish you had purchased but missed out on

Bored Apes

If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go? Why this location?

Cape Town. I’ve never been in South Africa (neither in North Africa) and I’d like to experience the kind of vibrations and culture of that place.

What are your other passions besides art? Why?

I am a record collector, I love to cook, especially spaghetti and Cantonese rice.

Do you make other forms of art?

No, I focus my artistic research on just one kind of practice.

Are you self taught or trained?

Self taught

How did you come up with your specific style?

The first time I thought to use klecksography was for my very first project in 2009, where I created 4 inkblot artworks as a background to juxtapose other kinds of photos for an art book. After 2 years, I realized that I should dig into this practice and I started my artistic research. I found this style inside me, and after many years I discovered it has a name which is klecksography. So it came up very spontaneously.

How has your style evolved over the years?

From 2009 to 2018, I used only white paint on black cardboard to create my pieces, and I shot the original painting to enhance the textures the image is made of.
Once I was selected for a 4-month artistic residency in Berlin in 2019, the goal was to give my work a 3-dimensional effect, so I started to experiment with other materials like acrylic and gesso. From that moment on, the shooting of the original matrix became unavoidable not only to enhance the details of the textures but also to immortalize the moment the paint is still wet, making the artwork eternally fresh. If you compare the photo of the painting with the original dried matrix, you can perceive the difference in the visual outcome at first glance. The photo of the painting is wet and visually enhanced by digital photography.
From 2020 on, I started to shoot dozens of macro photos of the original painting to assemble them in Photoshop. In this way, I can get the resolution high as possible to print the artwork or display it in huge size, as this has been always my aim: to exhibit my works in giant formats.

What is coming in the near future?

I recently won the OP71 contest, which gives me the 71st spot at the Decentral Art Pavilion in Venice, exhibiting together with names like Beeple, Jesse Draxler, Luna Ikuta, Skygolpe, Federico Clapis, and many others.

From 1-8 June I exhibited one of my pieces minted on Makersplace with The Crypt Gallery at Dream Hollywood hotel in Los Angels, exhibiting with Alan Bolton, Hannes Hummel to name a few.

I just sold my very first 1/1 on World of V and, as a perk to the collector, I’m creating a dedicated PREMATURE artwork which I’ll send to his World of V wallet.

I’m promoting the collection of 3 pieces I have minted on Makersplace, which come with a dedicated print.
In the meantime, I’m always looking for new opportunities to show my NFTs to a new audience.

Then I can start to work on my second verified drop on World of V.

If you could collaborate with one artist who would it be? (and why)

Dexamol, it would be amazing to create some 3d insects based on my PREMATURE artworks, and he is one of the masters in creating detailed 3d animation imho.

What was your greatest failure and what did you learn from that?

In 2018 I didn’t follow my intuition to research the implementation of the Blockchain in the art field. I learn to never take anything for granted.

Do you have any upcoming drops?

I recently had my first verified drop on World of V, and I’m planning to do the second since the first went pretty well. I’m looking for a curated platform to mint Premature 121, the piece I exhibited in Venice at the Decentral Art Pavilion.

Link to Website

https://www.giovannidebenedetto.com/

Social links and NFT marketplace links

https://twitter.com/PrematureAKP
https://www.instagram.com/debenedetto.giovanni/
https://makersplace.com/premature/
https://marketplace.worldofv.art/collection/74796419-1b13-47bc-8d77-b2ae61c390a2
https://objkt.com/profile/premature/created