Roustan x Mad Pups x Nifty Gateway

Natalee

2 years ago

Where are you from?

I was born in Chicago, and moved to Rhode Island when I was 24. I lived there for 10 years before settling in Southern California.

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

I’ve been an illustrator my entire life. Around 2005 I was airbrushing t-shirts and doing editorial illustrations for an adult magazine. I pitched the idea of airbrush body painting one of the models for the magazine’s photo spreads. The founders of the mag said yes, and I gave it a shot. I was completely hooked and haven’t stopped body painting since.

When I first learned about NFTs in 2021, it just clicked. It was like everything in my life led up to this moment. It was the first time I could offer my ephemeral art as original artworks, visibly in motion, and everything just fit PERFECTLY!

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

I minted my first NFT on Opensea, March 7, 2021. My research led me there and it made sense to try it out with the lazy minting process.

Can you tell us one thing you cannot live without?

I can’t live without my laptop. It has enabled me to really share my art in unimaginable ways.

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

It varies from moment to moment, and I have so many faves. But usually, I’d have to say Helmut Newton, Stanley Kubrick. Their technical wizardry and visual narrative is beyond attractive to me.

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

I’ve collected over 1500 NFTs. I’m a big fan of figurative art, naked bodies, or candid figures.I loooove Yana Strizh’s @YStrizh work. I think she’s highly underrated. Phazed, NoOneNoise, DavidCheifitz, Luluxxx, Pinxx, and soooo many others, the list goes on and on.
View part of my collection here

What made you pursue NFT art?

I instantly understood NFTs. I wasn’t one of those people that did not get it at first. I quickly realized the potential and how efficient they are compared to traditional printing, framing, storing and displaying gallery art. It solves a TON of problems, and cuts out unnecessary middlemen. I jumped on board immediately.

What is the one piece of NFT art you wish you had purchased but missed out on?

Bored Ape Yacht Club of course.

If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go? Why this location? What are your other passions besides art? Why?

I live by the beach in California right where I want to be, so I really don’t care to go anywhere else. But I wouldn’t mind taking the train up the coast to check out Oregon and head into Astoria where the Goonies live.

In the meantime, I love exploring Decentraland. I can see amazing things more efficiently from the comfort of my home while only wearing my underwear.

Decentraland offers a LOT. I’ve meet soooo many people from all over the world that I now call family. the community is STRONG. And the support for my art is unparalleled. I own a gallery in Decentraland where I showcase my work, offer solo and group shows for others, and release parties for collections and collectibles with solid beats by amazing DJs. It really beats driving in traffic to get to venues, and the cost associated with setting up shows in real life. In fact, I wish more NFT artists would explore the meta verse. I don’t believe NFTs are early anymore, but the metaverse certainly is. It’s only a matter of time before laggers are just late to the gate.

I’m having a party there tonight celebrating today’s Nifty gateway drop. Details here

Do you make other forms of art?

Well, I learned how to model in 3D and have been creating and selling my branded wearables in Decentraland. This includes jean jackets with my art on them, my actual glasses, the virtual shark head from my shark body painting series, and my first virtual body painting. They are all wearable on avatars within Decentraland and I’ve sold more virtual wearables than real life t-shirts.

How did you come up with your specific style?

I can’t say I really have a specific style. I explore everything. I get bored very easily, so I’m always trying different painted concepts on the skin, whatever is inspiring in the moment.

How has your style evolved over the years?

Well I can definitely say that the first five years of my career revolved around technique, and then I began to apply concept. I’m in a state now where I don’t think about it too much, the airbrush and paints are just an extension of my hand and just produce what’s in my head like second nature. It’s just a form of communication now.

What is coming in the near future?

Today, I am dropping my inaugural collection on Nifty Gateway invited by the Mad Pups.

This is a VERY exciting honor for me, and I’m thrilled to put out this unique 24 Open Edition featuring 5 painted ladies in a futuristic cyberpunk neon theme.

If you could collaborate with one artist who would it be?

I recently had a wonderful collaboration with Luluxxx. And it was a joy!

I would love to collaborate with Mike Tyson or Paris Hilton within the NFT space. I want to paint tyson like a tiger, or paris hilton like a diamond.

Would also like to get in on what @wideawakebeets is doing with Here and Now. Dude is innovating!

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

I think of failures as tremendous learning opportunities. My entire art career has been a series of failures that level me up through trial and error. With that said, I’d say my biggest “failure” (more waste of time) was attempting to be a graphic designer. I did what I thought I was supposed to do, and was incredibly miserable as a result. I’m just not built to work for other people, and do sub par creative artwork to meet some expectation when I know I can do better. I’ve had very fun unique jobs my entire life, and that was the most “normal” job ever for me. I got out of that in a quick 3 months, and never again. I learned my place in the world thanks to that job. Instead I trailblazed a career for myself as a body painter the past 17 years.