Today, the metaverse caught a glance of itself in the mirror and understood, a little better, the nature of reality. Spanish artist Antonio García Villarán has translated that glimpse of insight into three unique art world mashups. These metaversical pieces embody this confrontation between physical reality and digital art.
Metaversical exhibits two identical originals from two different realities. It’s normal for a physical artwork to precede its digitization. In the Metaversical series, the digital artwork precedes its physical artwork re-creation just as Platonic metaphysics describes the form as preceding the object.
So, which do you believe holds the most value? Which do you prefer? Which is the “true artwork?” Antonio Garcia Villarán aims to empower the collector to make this decision and inform us all as we move toward a Metaversical world for the first of three drops in the series.
Antonio García Villarán (b. 1976) is an artist based in Seville, Spain, whose artistic career stretches back to when, at age 13, he entered Reina´s adult-level Academy of Arts. As a student at the University of Seville, he was allowed to participate in graduate-level exhibitions, where his artworks always sold out. After his early graduation in two majors (painting and sculpture), Villarán officially joined the faculty at the University of Seville and went on to earn his cum laude Ph.D.
After leaving the University of Seville, he founded his own academy and has since become a prominent figure in the art world and as an art-focused influencer and teacher. Apart from teaching at his academy (CREA 13, since 2000), Villarán has taught art to inmates of Penitentiary Center Sevilla II and to children at high risk of social exclusion. Much of his current work has taken inspiration from Villarán’s long trips to India, and his earlier sculptural work can be found prominently standing in public plazas across Andalusia.
The Drop
The Crazy Cannibal
- Editions: 1/1
- Pricing: Auction with 1 Eth reserve
Goya’s Saturn devouring Velázquez, based on the work of Francisco Goya’s series of black paintings “Saturn devouring his son.” In this work, it is that giant (Goya) who devours Diego Velázquez’s head. Although both are great painters, the popular taste for Goya’s black paintings has succeeded in overshadowing the mastery of Velázquez’s works. Despite this fact, we can observe that Velázquez’s head does not suffer, because he knows himself to be a great painter.
The Pop Martyr
- Editions: 1/1
- Pricing: Auction with 1 Eth reserve
San Sebastián del Greco with measles by Yayoi Kusama. One of the emblematic works of El Greco is his depiction of Saint Sebastian, a 3rd-century soldier in the Roman Praetorian Guard who was sentenced to death for inciting his fellow soldiers to die rather than renounce their Christian beliefs. In addition to his ancient Roman tortures, Sebastian is now attacked by the contemporary measles of Yayoi Kusama.
The Disaster of Competition
- Editions: 1/1
- Pricing: Auction with 1 Eth reserve
Weeping Woman by Pablo Picasso and soft watch by Salvador Dalí. When talking about Spanish art of the 20th century, these two artists appear so different and yet so similar. Dalí and Picasso left a universal mark on the art world, but Dalí always saw himself as being in competition with Picasso. In this image, Picasso’s cubist woman suffers an attack from one of Dalí’s famous soft clocks, now streaking down her face like a fried egg.
