On the heels of his sold-out genesis NFT drop, award-winning photographer Ethan Pines presents his followup: “Abort, Retry Fail?” a collection of new artworks based on his unique portraits of Uber founder Travis Kalanick, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, and Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin.
This new collection pushes the envelope of what’s possible when transforming still photography into animated pieces. Last year Ethan’s inaugural NFT drop “Iconography: Series One” included a piece featuring Elizabeth Holmes, which sold for $21,000 immediately.
About Ethan Pines
Award-winning commercial, editorial, and fine-art photographer, Ethan Pines has created some of the most iconic portraits of our time. A skiier, backpacker, and Nitrox-certified scuba diver, he lives in Topanga, CA with his wife, his daughter, some deer, and a bunch of spiders and weeds.
Highlights of his 20-year career include photographing Elon Musk, Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes (his portrait became the poster for the HBO documentary on her), Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Instagram founder Kevin Systrom, Uber founder Travis Kalanick, Shaquille O’Neal, Jackie Chan, Kesha, and countless other celebrities and tech luminaries.
His work has spanned ad campaigns for Dolby, Genentech, SolarCity, Universal Studios, and others; regular editorial projects for Forbes, Wired, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal; numerous group exhibitions; and a solo show at New Theme gallery in Los Angeles. He’s been honored by the Communication Arts Photo Annual, the Graphis Photography Annual, the American Photography Annual, and the International Photography Awards.
Abort, Retry Fail?
Dropping 3/31 at 3:30 PM PT / 6:30 PM ET.
For this new collection, Pines has edited and remixed an element of hindsight to these tech luminaries. In “Facerator,” 400 segments of Travis Kalanick portraits mix and morph in a stream of new faces. Inspired by vintage Speed Racer illustrations, “Go Travis Go” depicts Kalanick as a freewheeling racecar driver, joyfully indifferent to whatever wreckage he might cause.
For Sundar Pichai, Ethan’s haunting “You Are the Product” hints at the danger of our surveilled time online — and that Pichai might be a robot. “In the Cloud” portrays Pichai hanging upside down from a cloud, staring impassively ahead as if the circumstances were entirely normal.
“Blockchain Angel” features Vitalik gazing idly into the distance like a surreal kawaii influencer surrounded by a balloon, a duck, and a UFO. And, finally, there’s a beautifully retouched still photograph selected from one of the only professional portrait shoots of Vitalik in existence — a moment that captures him as nothing else does.
“What I love about the NFT world,” Ethan muses, “is that anything goes. It frees artists from being dependent on the gallery system. Instead of hoping for some crumbs from that world, we can go around the gatekeepers and get our work in front of people directly. It’s democratizing. Which means the market gets to see far more voices, styles, and ideas than it would have otherwise. There’s some wild, wacky stuff out there.”
The portraits playfully acknowledge the changing context and attitudes around the figures in the source photographs. He shot Kalanick as a hero for the cover of Forbes — not long before a very public downfall. Pichai here symbolizes Google, which, despite its colorful logo and original “don’t be evil” ethos, is viewed by many as a too-powerful aggregator and exploiter of data, tracking our online activity at all times. Vitalik, photographed when the world was just waking up to crypto, of course, is now a web3 legend.
As with Ethan’s first drop, these new artworks are not simply defining portraits of the subjects but illuminations of the current era of tech itself.
Editions of One
Blockchain Angel (Vitalik Buterin)
An absurdist animated piece combining a portrait of Vitalik with hands clasped as if in prayer; heavenly clouds and sky; meditative sound design; and pixelated clouds drifting by as if dispatched by an unseen computer network. A balloon, duck and UFO all make cameos. Vitalik Buterin seems to be one of the only major figures in the crypto world who’s managed to remain above the hype and stay true to the utopian ideals voiced by so many.
Editions: One
Pricing: Accepting Offers Only
*A 24 hour auction will be triggered once reserve price is met.
You Are the Product (Sundar Pichai)
With the typing of innocent Google searches in the background, something more threatening appears inside Sundar Pichai’s eyes: we are being watched. Pichai here represents the surveillance state we’ve all embraced in the name of entertainment, convenience and freebies.
Editions: One
Pricing: Accepting Offers Only
*A 24 hour auction will be triggered once reserve price is met.
Facerator (Travis Kalanick)
This surreal animation, the inaugural product of a digital “Facerator” machine that I’ve invented, randomly combines 400 separate segments of Travis Kalanick portraits into new faces that morph continuously. The Facerator raises questions of identity and challenges the many faces worn by the powerful executives of tech. Does success corrupt and disintegrate the self? What’s behind the glowing, idealistic fronts of Kalanick and other tech luminaries? How many facades of tech leaders and companies have we seen over the years? Are any of them real? What happens if we take them apart? And can we trust them with all that power?
Editions: One
Pricing: Accepting Offers Only
*A 24 hour auction will be triggered once reserve price is met.
Limited Editions
Portrait of Vitalik Buterin, 2018
Description: A beautifully retouched still photograph, this portrait is carefully selected from one of the only professional portrait shoots of him in existence. It’s an odd moment of pure Vitalik, difficult to decipher, depicting him as nothing else out there does.
Editions: 10
Pricing: $500 USD / Edition
*First 9 limited edition artworks will be available for a flat rate; first come, first buy. The 10th edition will be auctioned over 24 hours.
In the Cloud (Sundar Pichai)
A lighthearted, absurdist video reminiscent of old Monty Python cutout animations. Sundar Pichai — whose reputation as a nice guy, I can confirm, is true — appears here literally in the cloud.
Editions: 5
Pricing: $700 USD / Edition
*First 4 limited edition artworks will be available for a flat rate; first come, first buy. The 5th edition will be auctioned over 24 hours.
Go Travis Go
With visual language inspired by vintage Speed Racer illustrations, this piece offers a satirical take not only on Kalanick’s self-perception and public identity as a disruptor, but on the tech culture that has placed disruption, speed and profit above all else. Kalanick here is a freewheeling racecar driver, joyfully indifferent to whatever wreckage he might leave behind.
Editions: 5
Pricing: $700 USD / Edition
*First 4 limited edition artworks will be available for a flat rate; first come, first buy. The 5th edition will be auctioned over 24 hours.
Collector’s Raffle
Editions: One
Pricing: $1 USD
*Raffle, $1 to claim, collectors who purchase a work from this Drop and who are prior collectors are eligible.
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