#zonted Artist Spotlight: harvmcm

harvmcm interviewed by zonted šŸ–¼. This post first appeared on http://zonted.com/artist.

Dec 9, 2020 Artist Statements

SuperRare
3 years ago

Editorial is open for submissions:Ā [email protected]

harvmcmĀ interviewed byĀ zonted šŸ–¼. This post first appeared onĀ http://zonted.com/artist.

harvmcmā€™s illustrations are flavored with emotion, vibrant colors, and a mixture of geometric shapes. With a fast growing audience, harvmcmā€™s human geometric abstractions have captured the fascination of all who lay their eyes on them.

Even though harvmcmā€™s ā€œrecipeā€ of human geometric abstractions have garnered the attention of many, heā€™s continuing to experiment with his own style.

The layout of a work produced by harvmcm offers a relatable ā€˜titleā€™ but leaves the audience a wide room for interpretation and conjecture of how the characters are reacting to that particular feeling.

šŸ–¼ view harvmcmā€™s art in the zonted genesis exhibition:Ā https://www.cryptovoxels.com/play?coords=E@310E,588N,1U

How did you get into crypto (NFT) art?

I fell into crypto art by accident really. I saw artists likeĀ FEWOCiOUSĀ andĀ Etiene CraussĀ starting up at the time and I researched it a little furtherā€”both online and speaking to them both. I just thought Iā€™d give it a shot because there was nothing to lose.

ā€˜Stuck in limboā€™
EditionĀ 1Ā ofĀ 1
find your own way out.

Fortunately, I got accepted to SuperRare. Crypto art is one of the main factors that has allowed me to quit my job and pursue art part time, Iā€™m extremely grateful to all the collectors, artists and friends who have supported or collected my work so far.

A lot of folks are shooting for acceptance into SuperRare. Do you have any advice for them?

My main advice would to be to make sure to apply with your best pieces and ones thatā€™ll catch the eye of whoever goes over them.

Looks like your audience and fan base has grown very quickly in the last year. Any particular reason why you think thatā€™s happened? Does the stresses of having a larger audience influence your ability to work in a positive or negative way?

Yeah, itā€™s crazy how fast itā€™s all happening. I started my account in February, with the help of my friendĀ @gamboceanĀ who showed me art twitter and gave me the push I needed to give it a try. To go from 0 followers in February to where I am now is insane, really canā€™t get my head around it.

ā€˜Your handsā€™
EditionĀ 1Ā ofĀ 1
my heart, stuck in your hands.

Personally, I donā€™t think the audience size changes how I work. It did sway me negatively at one point early on but now Iā€™m at the stage where Iā€™m just creating what I want, and Iā€™m just lucky people seem to enjoy it! It does inspire me to improve though, the more artists I see online and interact with the more I want to get better, so it really is a positive.

In what ways do you think the audience size swayed you negatively? For example, were you more hesitant to put out work for people to judge? Or has it sucked away more of your time that you would be using to create art?

It mainly effected me negatively at one point as I would overthink what people would think of the art before I posted any, which isnā€™t the best mindset to have when creating. Luckily thatā€™s not an issue anymore, but it is easy to get mentally sucked into overthinking these things online.

Outside of additional interaction with fellow crypto artists, do you have any other positives youā€™ve felt from the larger audience?

Thereā€™s been a huge amount of positives for me. As that audience has grown, Iā€™ve been able to get opportunities I never would have beforehandā€”from being able to do my ownĀ clothing dropsĀ to crypto exhibitions (SuperRare GenZs,Ā zonted genesis exhibition).

I really am grateful for the support from anyone whoā€™s followed me. The main positive, like I said, is the interaction and community online. Iā€™ve met so many people online this year that Iā€™d love to meet when COVID-19 is over.

A lot of newer artists on SuperRare struggle with pricing. How are you approaching pricing your work? What methods have you tried so far and how have those worked out for you?

Pricing is a tough one. Thereā€™s a happy medium that can be hard to find. I mainly try to price my pieces depending on the quality of the piece. I prefer to leave most up for auction because you never know what could happen.

However, my last remaining SuperRare pieces are up for list prices. Hopefully I can have some luck on them in the next few weeks as theyā€™ve been up for a while. Iā€™d just recommend having an open auction for a few weeks, and usually if Iā€™ve had no luck Iā€™ll put a list price on it. Iā€™ve not had too much success on list prices so far.

A common practice is to conduct deals with collectors over twitter DMs. How do you feel about conducting private deals with collectors? Is that a practice you like doing?

Iā€™ve had a few interactions over DMs with collectors these past few months. Iā€™ve had some success but overall not much. But DMs are definitely a great way to conduct deals and also get to know whoā€™s collecting your work.

Thereā€™s been a lot of debate in the crypto art community around the concepts of ā€œscarcityā€ vs ā€œabundanceā€. How do you feel about that? Should an artist concern themselves by trying to make their art scarce? Or do you feel itā€™s better to abundantly create and mint whatever you want?

I prefer the approach of scarcity over abundance because scarcity makes your work more limited and unique as only one person can own it. Saying that though, doing drops of editions now and then is good too, get more people involved.

ā€˜A tangled thoughtā€™
EditionĀ 1Ā ofĀ 1
tangled in your thoughts, but its not all bad.

At least Iā€™m hoping that I can capture a wider audience when I eventually I do a handful of editions.

You mentioned in aĀ recent interviewĀ that youĀ are studying architecture and art currently. Do you envision blending those two fields together in the future? Or do you want to pursue each separately?

Iā€™m currently doing my second year of architecture. I would like to incorporate more of my university skills into my work. Iā€™ve tried to do a few pieces before but it just seemed too forced. I think the blend of the two will come overtime. But right now, Iā€™m mainly pursing them separately. Letā€™s hope I can have success with both.

Do you have any works that youā€™d be willing to show the audience?

Not currently, Iā€™m keeping those close to my chest.

Youā€™re driven to create art because of an insatiable desire to create. What happens on the days where youā€™re not feeling the drive? How do you combat ā€œartistā€™s blockā€?

ā€˜Artists blockā€™ is hard. Iā€™ve had a lot of those days recently where I just have no motivation to create after a long day or the ideas just arenā€™t coming. I tend to try not to overthink it and spend that time relaxing or enjoying other things.

ā€˜Lost in a sea of thoughtsā€™
EditionĀ 1Ā ofĀ 1
lost in a sea of your thoughts, a collab with gambocean.

Iā€™ve been using those days to rebuild and usually soon after I get a good idea for a piece or until the urge comes back.

How would you describe your artistic style?

I would describe my work as abstract illustrations that depict a variety of scenes and emotions. I like to build a lot of my characters and forms from a mixture of geometric shapes.

Most of my work is very vibrant and bright but recently Iā€™ve been experimenting more with a darker colour palette.

Weā€™ve noticed that thereā€™s a bit of influence from ā€œGeorge Condoā€ā€˜s style. Are there any other artists that have influenced you? What about any new artists that youā€™ve been following for inspiration?

George Condo, Frankenstorm, 2012

Thereā€™s a few Iā€™ve been taking inspiration from recently. Iā€™ve looked a lot at artists likeĀ Basquiat,Ā Francis BaconĀ andĀ Rembrandtā€”all iconic artists for different reasons.

I have mainly been looking at these, especially Bacon and Rembrandt. Their use of lighting and texture are two aspects Iā€™m really trying to improve on. Thereā€™s also a huge list of artists on twitter who inspire me on a daily basis. There is so much talent on Twitter honestly.

Youā€™ve been experimenting a lot with your most recent pieces instead of following your ā€œnormal recipeā€. What have you been trying out? And why the change?

Iā€™ve been really trying to improve my art recently. I am focusing on my use of colour, shadow, light, texture, and technique. I feel like I just got to a point where I needed to switch things up a little, try out new things and better my art all round.

Iā€™ve got a lot more ideas Iā€™d like to try out too, ranging from mixed media pieces, to 3D to photography and more design work too. I just want to improve my skillset and grow as an artist.

Any shout outs?

Iā€™ve been lucky enough to have been supported by so many this year since I started. My main shoutouts would go to my family and friends, both on and off twitter, who have helped me immensely this yearā€”they know who they are.

Big special shoutout toĀ @gamboceanĀ again for helping me get started on here and motivating me to get better as an artist.

Notable past exhibitions / praise / press:

  • zonted genesis exhibition
    start & end date tbd

The first ever (ā€œgenesisā€) digital art exhibition by zonted art gallery. The exhibition features sculptures, installations, videos, and digital creations by a wide array of notable international artists that are on the forefront of digital art.

Visit the exhibition here:Ā https://www.cryptovoxels.com/parcels/3734

  • SuperRare GenZs exhibition
    10/30/20
28

SuperRare

SuperRare is a marketplace to collect and trade unique, single-edition digital artworks.

Hash Recipes

Negative Space

Weekly Top 10