The Beijing Poly Spring Auction NFT Art Special is about to start. Which digital artists and works are worth paying attention to?

This article is from Rhythm BlockBeats.

The 2021 Beijing Poly Spring Auction's first NFT digital art special session "Metaverse: Digital Twin" will officially start bidding on June 4. This special auction marks Poly Auction's first NFT digital art auction, featuring selected works focused on the theme of "digital twin," metaphorically questioning how the world based on virtual technology actively engages with reality in the era of Internet 3.0, increasingly blurring the boundaries between physical and mental spaces.

On this occasion, Onboard has specially selected and recommended 18 representative works from 5 global digital artists and crypto art pioneers, including computer-generated imagery, 3D animation, algorithmic art, etc., showcasing recognized avant-garde practices in the fusion of art and technology. Among these 5 artists from Europe, North America, and Japan, Timo Helgert, Nicolas Sassoon, Michael Kozlowski, and Mei Konishi will present 8 works at the Poly online auction for collectors.

The preview period for this auction is from June 1 to June 8, 2021, and the auction period is from June 4 to June 8, 2021. Collectors are encouraged to follow the official WeChat accounts of Poly Auction and Onboard for timely updates on participation methods and auction items.

"How the virtual affects reality" is a key topic of focus for the digital artists selected by Onboard. The representative work "The Return of Nature" by artist Timo Helgert is the most important series created by the artist over the course of a year, and it is also one of the significant works of digital escapism. The inspiration for this series comes from the artist's reflections on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people's lives and emotions.

During the home quarantine period in 2020, the artist selected a country or city severely affected by the pandemic each day for CG creation: in the works, once-bustling and vibrant cities become habitats for nature, with globally renowned landmarks such as Milan Cathedral, India's Taj Mahal, and New York's Times Square being covered and activated by sprawling natural plants—accompanied by the beautiful sounds of birds and images of daisies blooming and butterflies dancing, forming a symbolic visual style. This series of works has continuously inspired and healed people during and after the pandemic, attracting global attention, with 40 million likes on Instagram alone. The series is also currently on display at Shanghai Pudong and Hongqiao International Airports, where you may encounter the work on your way to a journey.

THE RETURN OF NATURE series is on display at Shanghai Hongqiao and Pudong International Airports.

Mei Konishi's work "Blooming Box" presents viewers with a digital art garden that is both real and surreal, where petals in the virtual space break the boundaries of the screen and fly out through 3D technology, cleverly connecting the virtual garden with the audience's real environment. The work is currently on display at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, Shanghai Pudong, and Hongqiao International Airports. Unlike the digital garden, the "Cycle Series" works layer virtual reality to create an endless void, providing a serene and ethereal visual experience.

In addition to discussing the relationship between the virtual and the real, the artists are also continuously delving into research and experimentation with technology. Nicolas Sassoon's "Pattern Series" is a representative work where the artist employs Moiré pattern techniques to explore digital animation. This series is currently on display in the exhibition "Sans Object" at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Sassoon's visual style is particularly favored by the electronic music and fashion industries. In the 2017 Uniqlo U collection designed by Christophe Lemaire, Sassoon's retro pixel art was translated into fabric prints, and the entire series sold out globally. Later, Balenciaga invited him to collaborate with DJ Hell to create a custom digital animation, Loop 06 - After Hours.

Michael Kozlowski is a media artist and software engineer from the United States, currently living and working in Seattle. His work focuses on real-time graphics, mixed reality, and interactivity. Most of his work combines real-time or pre-recorded 2D video with physical interaction inputs, processed and transformed in real-time. He specializes in creating videos, digital sculptures, and software applications. As a senior engineer at Microsoft, Michael was deeply involved in the development of Hololens, using skilled techniques to generate constantly changing images from pixels, constructing a three-dimensional visual effect within a two-dimensional frame.

The "Pixel Series" works are important pieces in Michael Kozlowski's research on pixel technology. Currently, immersive technology is becoming increasingly popular and gradually taking over the role of 2D video in digital experiences. Michael is interested in this intermediate position: he focuses on the awkward yet beautiful transition of media from 2D to 3D, showcasing different states of the same thing, thus expressing the multifaceted nature of things. "Video Sculpture, Cherry Blossoms" is an important experiment in pixel art and an early representative work of the artist's pixel series.

In addition to the online auction, Onboard is also launching and showcasing more outstanding digital artworks from avant-garde artists, providing private consultation opportunities for collectors.

Krista Kim is a contemporary artist currently residing in Canada and the founder of the digital art movement Techism, which advocates for the integration of art and technology, promoting the development of digital humanism through technological innovation. She attempts to convey a transcendent, meditative, and healing spiritual experience to viewers through digital language, and her works are favored by seasoned collectors worldwide. In 2018, Kim was selected by Lavin designer Olivier Lapidus to be a collaborative artist for Lavin's 2018 Fall/Winter haute couture collection, bringing the concept and colors of Techism into the high fashion realm at Paris Fashion Week. Earlier in her career, she also collaborated with Lamborghini to launch a limited edition sports car in the style of Technism.

Onboard recommends "Mars House: Light Sculpture" from the "Mars House" series, which is the first NFT virtual room project in the metaverse. During the pandemic in 2020, Kim designed this residence as a space embodying her meditative design philosophy and collaborated with an architect to render the house using Unreal Engine. "Mars House" was sold for $510,000 on SuperRare, making it one of the highest-priced female digital artists on the platform.

"Meditation will save us from machines; art will save us from ourselves." ------Krista Kim

In this auction version: "Mars House: Light Sculpture," the house always overlooks the capricious mountains and features an open design with glass walls connecting the floor to the ceiling, thus described by the artist as a "light sculpture." Virtual colored gradient LEDs cover the floor and ceiling, and the entire space is accompanied by ambient music produced by Ligovskoi, presenting the appearance of a future residence. In the near future, this work can also be experienced in virtual reality or augmented reality devices.

"Mars House: Light Sculpture" and the artist's abstract series representative work "Superblue v.1" both showcase the artist's consistent artistic creation philosophy—the spiritual essence of digital Zen, or digital culture. She advocates that "light is the ink of the new era," and her signature abstract colors and gradients have earned her praise from Forbes as "A New Digital Rothko."

This recommendation of digital artists and works marks the first public appearance of the NFT art organization Onboard. As subsequent plans are gradually revealed, Onboard and its artist community will bring a unique and innovative art collection experience to the NFT digital art industry.

About Onboard

Onboard is an NFT platform dedicated to empowering quality digital art with blockchain technology. Based on years of accumulation and reflection in the global digital art ecosystem, Onboard selects and supports the cutting-edge creations of artists with the most contemporary spirit; with an innovative vision, it connects diverse fields such as collectibles, trendy toys, virtual idols, and games, expanding the boundaries and dimensions of the integration of technology and culture, and transmitting sustainable energy for the infrastructure construction and vigorous development of the digital cultural era.