Collecting is creating.
Easily my favourite thing about NFTs is how they’ve enabled a so much wider discovery of all the incredible work out there, to then experience the joy of building one’s own collection of the art and their relationships.
The reasons of why one might connect with certain pieces over others are varied, sometimes the connection is instant and evident, sometimes subtle, but always, wonderfully personal. It’s your own viewpoint, your interpretation, your context and inner dialogue that makes them special. Your collection becomes a reference — of how you (want to) see the world, a notebook of your thoughts, emotions, relationships, and an expression of self. Collecting is creating.
But even more so with NFTs, where artworks are not static anymore, but can unfold over time, involving the collector as an active partner in a piece’s creation and journey, blurring the lines of who creates and who collects.
So I put together this gallery of the work I collected over time, to share what I’ve “created”, but also to promote and support the artists who’s work I’m lucky to have found. Go visit the artists, explore, support, share, befriend, challenge, conspire, collaborate… and collect.
Ruth Allen - Where Hummingbirds Hide | NFT | Twitter
This was the first NFT I ever bought, and still one of my favourite pieces in my collection. Such a beautiful example of what digital art can be. Really grateful to Ruth for lighting the fire and setting an important tone for my journey as a collector. Running on a digital frame in my studio ever since.
Haru Komoda - Watch #5 | NFT | Twitter
Also an early piece in my collection, it represents the personal relationships that NFTs have enabled for me. After a brief contact on twitter, Haru and I decided to swap artworks, no money, just art for art. This is the piece that I chose. We’ve since become friends and co-conspirators, supporting each others work and exploring this new space together.
Kevin Abosch - 1111 #0020 | NFT | Twitter
This work marks the moment I first realised how expansive NFTs can become — that art, meshed with the possibilities of the blockchain, is not static, but can unfold and evolve over time, and that my role and actions as a collector are immutably entangled with the art itself.
August Sander - AS10k+ #3837 | NFT | Info | Discord
August Sander’s work has always been one of my anchors in photography, his philosophy of objectivity, his conceptual approach of typologies, his respect for people, his conviction. He left behind a huge legacy and monumental archive, maintained and carried by 3 generations of his family. Now, through the work of Fellowship and Sander’s great-grandson Julian Sander, this archive has found a permanent home on the blockchain, releasing Sander’s annotated contact sheets as 10,410 individual NFTs. Not only does this preserve the work and its details permanently, but extends the stewardship and responsibility over Sander’s legacy to all of us. Really proud to be part of this milestone, both for NFTs, and for the history of photography.
Huw Messie - Closer River Spot After First Heavy Snow | NFT | Twitter
Discovering the Hic et Nunc platform, instantly falling in love with its crowd, dedicated to the art itself, no shill, no profiteering to be found here. Huw was one of the first artists I collected there, following his work and adding more wonderful pieces over time.
Pak - LOSTPOETS - ‘The Sonder’ Poet #19223 | NFT | Twitter
Not many expand the borders of what NFTs can be wider than Pak, both conceptually and technically. Each project full of sophisticated mechanisms, beautifully designed storytelling, and social dynamics.
Specially LOSTPOETS, an ever unfolding story of 28,163 poets, born through the burning of ‘Pages’, then named and given words to speak by their owners, and now transforming into new forms through next-level generative AI. Watch as my 2 poets transform from GEN 0 to GEN 1.
Not actually an NFT, but I still wanted to include it, as it’s such a beautiful example of the energy within the NFT community. It’s a website created by Emre Tanirgan, built as a companion piece to Pak’s project ‘merge’. A fascinating visualisation of the bigger picture, where you can watch the project’s mechanism and its increasing scarcity in realtime.
LIA - little boxes on the hillsides - child #310 | NFT | Twitter
My first Artblocks.io piece. The idea of art existing in code and concept first, and then only finding its final shape after someone executes it through minting a piece is just beautiful. Happy to have been introduced to this whole other world of NFTs by LIA’s piece.
Ofir Liberman - THE SOURCE CoDE - #24 | NFT | Twitter
Another Artblocks.io mint, and one of my favourite pieces in my collection. I was drawn to it visually, but also conceptually, a digital tarot of sorts, letting me mint my own unique card and prophecy. Oh, techno-mystical oracle, what paths may lie ahead?
Ainslie - Beautiful Rowdy Prisoners 003 | NFT (with sound) | Twitter
Finding and buying this Beautiful Rowdy Prisoner was such a surreal moment. I was in an Uber, on the way to the airport. It was one of those 6am flights, so I got up at 3am, feeling quite anxious about the upcoming trip in general. Then in the car, scrolling though twitter, I came across Ainslie’s Beautiful Rowdy Prisoner 003. I had earphones in, listening to the harpist’s melody over and over again, watching his emotions, so subtle, completely wrapped up in his world... driving through the dawning countryside, calming me down.
Got out my laptop, tethered my phone connection to be able to access my wallet and all the hoopla, but the connection kept dropping. Multiple tries of getting the transaction through. Arrived at the airport, still unsure if it had gone through. Refreshing the page all the way through the airport, until finally just before boarding he showed up in my wallet. As if he wanted to join me on my travels.........
I managed to collect the other band members too.
Their motions and sound are in sync, so when played together they add up to a beautiful performance.
Ainslie - Beautiful Rowdy Prisoners 002 | NFT (with sound) | Twitter
Ainslie - Beautiful Rowdy Prisoners 005 | NFT (with sound) | Twitter
Ainslie writes: “Dance While You Can — Utilising a mix of stop-motion and programming, this bear will dance for 50 years. Divided into a series of animated loops that function as acts, he will stumble, age, and eventually take his final bow on 11/11/2072. Holders will then be left with a still image of a bear laying dead on the dance floor. A reminder to remember often enough to love the life we're in. THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING. This is really fucking happening and the only measure worth making is how much you love the people and the happenings and the days that surround you. LOVE MORE. Commit to them. Dance while you can.”
Ainslie - Beautiful Rowdy Prisoners 004 | NFT (with sound) | Twitter
Ainslie - Beautiful Rowdy Prisoners 001 | NFT (with sound) | Twitter
delir1um - Err0R | NFT
ingo - sunset eyes | NFT
A while back, I gave my Dad a little intro to NFTs. And to understand, he wanted to mint one himself. We picked a photograph he made of my Mom, from 1979. Beyond the piece itself as a family memento, it’s special to me to know that both my parents are now inscribed onto the blockchain, “forever”.
Gui-Dekk - 001_Overthinking Bathroom | NFT | Twitter
This one has a special place in my collection, as it speaks to the global reach of NFTs. Gui-dekk is based in Thailand, a place I would else never have access to as a collector. Hugely inspiring to get to know other visual vocabularies and artistic approaches. Such beautiful work, too.
whoisponyboy - EGGS | NFT
New pieces added, as the collection grows