We have got a supremely exciting Drop week coming up with new collections from a number of LEGENDS across spaces and industries: Get ready for the latest from Urs Fischer, Mario Testino, Alberto Mielgo, Walter Iooss Jr. and The Mannings.
Urs Fischer – Dropping 4/12
Urs Fischer is a giant of the contemporary art world and undoubtedly one of the most important artists working today. His work defies limits. In his own words, “anything can be used to create art—your mind, your hand, your elbow or toe.” This outlook makes his work engaging, playful, and timeless.
Fischer has exhibited internationally with leading galleries, including Gagosian, Sadie Coles HQ, London, Massimo de Carlo, Milan, The Modern Institute, Glasgow, Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin and Jeffrey Deitch, New York and Los Angeles. Solo exhibitions at major museums include Palazzo Grassi, Venice; Kunsthalle Vienna; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Garage Museum, Moscow; Fondation Vincent Van Gogh, Arles; Legion of Honor, San Francisco; Aïshti Foundation, Beirut and has works in major private collections around the world. Fischer’s playful Untitled (Lamp/Bear) sculpture has become a landmark outright at Hamad International Airport, Doha.
Fischer was born in Switzerland and currently lives and works in New York.
CHAOS
Introducing CHAOS, 501 original works in the form of unique digital sculptures. Each NFT in CHAOS consists of two unique objects (an array of familiar objects to people today) that have been 3D scanned. They are set on a colliding course in motion and orbit. The sculptures, operating as an archeology of the present, are intended to manifest in any format that is capable of displaying, playing or showing a 3D sculpture in motion.
The culmination of the project is CHAOS #501, a single entity NFT uniting all one-thousand objects represented in #1-#500. The first NFT within the CHAOS series, CHAOS #1, will be sold in a live auction on Fair Warning, a hyper-curated auction app, on April 11th, 5pm EDT. There will be a series of drops over the following weeks, kicking off on April 12th, on MakersPlace, a premier NFT marketplace for digital art. NFTs from the series will also be available through Pace Gallery.
Mario Testino – Dropping 4/13
Mario Testino is widely regarded as one of the most influential fashion and portrait photographers of our times. He has documented subjects from A-list stars, supermodels and artists, to subjects that he has encountered throughout his travels, from magnificent cities by night to mysterious landscapes and private soirees.
Testino’s work has been exhibited at museums around the world, among them the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Shanghai Art Museum, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, the Metropolitan Museum in Tokyo and more than sixteen books have been published on his work. In 2002, Testino’s solo exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London was the most visited exhibition the gallery had ever held. Solo exhibitions of his work have been presented at galleries and auction houses such as Phillips, Galerie Yvon Lambert, Timothy Taylor Gallery, and most recently Hamiltons Gallery. In September 2020, a Testino print from a sold-out edition of 2 + 2 APs sold for a record £225,000 at Phillips. Alongside his 40-year practice as a photographer, Testino is a creative director, museum founder, art collector, fine art collaborator and entrepreneur.
Four iconic portraits
Four of the most iconic portraits from Mario Testino’s forty year career as the world’s most renowned fashion and portrait photographer, reimagined as digital art collectables.
Alberto Mielgo- Dropping 4/14
Alberto Mielgo began his understanding of the language of painting and color in the digital world before transitioning into oil painting. During the course of his career he has advised the world’s largest technology companies on how to enhance their product offerings for digital artists, as well as creating groundbreaking, genre-defining work.
A renowned artist and animator, Mielgo was an art director at Disney’s Tron: Uprising (2013), a production designer and art director at Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse animated movie, and made his debut work as a director with animated short film The Witness (2019), which he created for the Netflix anthology Love, Death & Robots. His accolades for these projects include four Emmy Awards and two Annie Awards.
The Art of Permanence
The Art of Permanence is the first collection of works to be auctioned via NFT from Spanish director, artist and animator Alberto Mielgo. The collection, which includes iconic pieces spanning his career as well as unreleased work, was created with the express purpose of peeling back the question: What is the value of permanence?
As software and technology swallow the world, cryptocurrency creates revolutionary alternatives to some of humanity’s oldest problems while creating new implications for the future of possessions. Through his NFT collection, Mielgo explores this narrative specifically for the possession of art, perhaps humanity’s truest expression.
Walter Iooss Jr. – Dropping 4/15
Widely viewed as the world’s greatest sports photographer and called “the Rembrandt of sports,” due to his use of light, color, and composition, Walter Iooss Jr‘s images transcend his subjects’ fame and have come to represent modern sports culture. Over the past 60 years, Walter’s photographs have graced the pages of Sports Illustrated, including more than 300 covers. His work has changed the definition of what a“good sports photograph” should be.
Walter has photographed the most recognized athletes in sports history, including Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Tiger Woods, and hundreds more. His catalog also contains the most iconic imagery of Michael Jordan in the world. Walter placed the same care and consciousness from his sports photographs to create Sports Illustrated’s now-legendary swimsuit issues. As in his action shots, his pictures for SI’s legendary swimsuit issues revealed his uncanny sense of graphics and Rembrandt-like reverence for light and shadow. His ability to truly connect with his subjects, athletes, and models helped make Walter the best in the game.
G.O.A.T.s
Riding on the success of his ESPN documentary, “G.O.A.T.s: The Greatest of All Time,” Iooss comes out of the NFT gates, releasing ten iconic images of some of the most legendary G.O.A.T.s of our time. This drop focuses on Walter as an artist, his historical achievements, and the vast catalog of cultural treasures that he has to offer.
The Mannings – Dropping 4/16
The Manning family has firmly stamped their QB legacy in the NFL history books with a combined 20 Pro Bowl selections, seven first-team All-Pro selections, six Super Bowl appearances and four Super Bowl wins. Patriarch Archie paved the way for sons Peyton and Eli with a 12-year NFL career, becoming one of the most beloved New Orleans Saints players of all time.
Playing for both the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos, Peyton earned his place among the greatest quarterbacks in league history as one of the leaders in nearly every statistical passing category. The NFL’s only five-time Most Valuable Player and a 14-time Pro Bowl selection, he was selected for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2021.
Eli made his own name as an elite quarterback with career highlights including two Super Bowl MVP honors. He played his entire career with the New York Giants and holds franchise records in numerous offensive categories. Eli followed in his father’s footsteps as a standout at the University of Mississippi and Peyton first made a name for himself at the University of Tennessee. Both were number one draft picks and went on to become among the most popular NFL players of their generation, remaining in the spotlight even following their respective retirements.
The Manning Legacy Collection
The Manning Legacy Collection is a limited-edition digital art series that will feature designs by acclaimed artists JK5 & Micah Johnson. This eight-piece collection will include open and limited-edition artwork, and one of one artworks. Four will be fine art pieces designed by visionary artist Joseph Ari Aloi, aka JK5. The additional four artworks will be animations created by Micah Johnson, former professional baseball player and renowned NFT artist, and his team (Will Hendrickson and Dean Krupka). Their series will pay homage to the Mannings’ legacy, both on and off the field.
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