Today, we are thrilled to introduce you to a truly exceptional artist hailing from France. Going by the intriguing name of “COLLAPSED WORLDS,” this talented individual has been making waves in the NFT art scene. Their unique artistic style and thought-provoking creations have garnered significant attention and admiration.
–Hello COLLAPSED WORLDS; thank you for this interview.
–Can you share a bit about your background as an artist? How did you first discover your passion for creating art?
Hey, hello everyone. First of all, thank you for having me in your magazine, it’s a real honour. To start with, if I had to go back to my earliest creations, it would probably take us back to high school, to the days of T-shirts printed with sticky paper straight from the printer, blogs and the beginnings of Facebook. But the real date might be 2012, when I bought my first Nikon, after working all summer. I became a photographer then, I guess. I’ve been taking photos ever since.
–What inspired you to explore the world of NFTs and become an NFT artist?
Well, I think the answer to that is to keep going over time. Around 2019, I began to take an interest in other, more manual arts: sculpture, mainly direct carving (marble, wood, etc.). The confinement allowed me to develop this to its peak until 2021 when a transfer forced me to hand over the keys to my studio. At the same time, the crypto market experienced its famous bull run, and we all jumped in! But you know the rest… The market crash at the beginning of 2022 forced me to find a way out to compensate for the leaks in the alts… At the same time, I became a fervent supporter of Algorand! And as they say, “We’ve got the technology! So here I am, artist and crypto boy, but not yet at the same time…
–Could you walk us through your journey in the art world leading up to your involvement with COLLAPSED WORLDS and the BLUE ORDINALS project?
So here I am with my bags full of holes, some new crypto-currency knowledge and some time to spare between coffee breaks at the office. So I tried to mint my old photography into NFTs for a month or two, without any real success. I put my best work through without success. At the same time I became a collector, with nearly fifty NFTs collected. And I forced myself to understand the difference. And I think I found it: it wasn’t about uploading, it was about renewal. I had to start all over again. I took my Adobe suite, which was patched at the time, and worked on creating collectable elements: and launched a first series that was a great success for a beginner! (I’m not revealing the name to keep the projects dynamic). The chance to buy an iMac M1 in the middle of the summer of 2022 helped me pass the time and the heat of August, and in September I came up with the idea for my second collection: COLLAPSED WORLD ©…. BLUE ORDINALS will come later, so please be patient.
–COLLAPSED WORLDS represents an entire universe. Can you provide some insights into the inspiration behind this concept and how it is reflected in your artworks?
Coming back to COLLAPSED WORLDS ©, yes, the ambition was to create a whole new universe. The artistic bias was to make artistic collages, but only from my own photos, unlike other artists, with a constant colour and material: gold, silver, black shadows (the blue came later, by happy chance). On my Lightroom I had photos dating from 2014 to 2022, nearly 8,000 of them hanging around doing nothing. This gave me an incredible playground, with characters coming back, but in different positions, from different angles, landscapes all as varied as each other. So I worked night and day between September, October and November to deliver my best pieces. I was also lucky enough to improve my Photoshop skills considerably and produce some real nuggets, which I’m even hesitating to sell.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my first collectors, who played a major role in launching my dynamic with their contributions. A sincere thank you!
Between January and February 2023 I experimented with a new collection, with 1/1 PFPs, less pretentious and more fun! It was fun, but it didn’t work out too well in the bear market.
At the same time I was thinking about season 2 of COLLAPSED WORLDS © I was working on NFTs in the shape of a globe or a coin and I was thinking about incorporating a utility token. The madness of $PEPE marked a pause in the creative process. I kept busy watching the charts and making memes on Twitter with the green frog. Once the madness was over, it was time to get back to work on season 2. Then came the $COOP craze. [Big up to the $COOP family!] At that point, the pieces of the jigsaw were put together: season 2 of COLLAPSED WORLDS © would feature a community token, with no utility, just for the pleasure of the community! “BLUE ORDINALS” immediately rang in my ears! And here we are today, the two of us.
–Have you faced any challenges or obstacles as an NFT artist? How have you overcome them?
One of the first challenges, I think, is to understand that NFT art is not simply about digitising our old creations in the hope of selling them. You literally have to start from the beginning. Start from the beginning, understand the benefits of technology, understand the history of collectible digital art. And understand the spirit of your chains and your community.
Another difficulty in this regard is mastering all the technological possibilities offered by your chains, and in particular Algorand ©, which has the best technology. Mastering the different tools can give an incredible dimension to a project!
–Are there any specific artists or artistic movements that have influenced your style or artistic vision?
My main inspiration, I think, is the whole Steampunk movement, which we’ve had a lot of in French literature (Jules Verne, “Wild Wild West”, and others…). When I created COLLAPSED WORLDS © I really wanted to think of a new punk register, in the continuity of Steampunk, but different from Cyberpunk. Something in between. Perhaps a present technological time. I thought I’d call it ‘French Digital Punk’! You can tell me if you like it (laughs).
–Can you share any memorable experiences or interactions you’ve had with collectors or the community surrounding your artworks?
First of all, I’ve never had so many collectors as I do in the digital world! So, once again, I’d like to thank all my collectors, and I know they’ll recognise themselves! Thanks to them, the adventure is always incredible!
But, if I had to remember one memorable moment, it was shortly before Christmas in 2022. We’d just lost the final of the World Cup in Qatar, and it was -10°C in Paris. And I’d come down with a sudden bout of flu on the evening of the final (the covid?). I was dying on Tuesday and I had my train back to the country at 6am on Wednesday morning! I remember having a terrible night, it was impossible to sleep because I was so ill. A long night. And I only remember, while half asleep, going on Twitter, replying to a ‘pseudo’ collector with the link to my site and waking up at 5am with the end of my collection SOLD OUT! It was a wonderful Christmas present! And I managed to catch the train!
–What advice would you give to aspiring artists who are interested in exploring the world of NFTs?
Well. First of all, as I said earlier: start from scratch! Don’t come in confident just because you’ve got a thousand likes under your latest Instagram post. NFTs are an art in their own right, and you have to learn them all over again.
Then get to know other NFT artists, even if there are a lot of them, try to get to know a few.
And finally, damn it, choose Algorand ©, we’ve got the best technology!
–Finally, is there anything else you would like our audience to know about your journey as an NFT artist or the message you aim to convey through your artworks?
Well. If I had to leave one last message regarding NFTs, it’s maybe that the ones that actually make art, and with all that’s new to it, are the ones that will stand trough the time. Financial-only projects will finance themselves, but harm the group.
So always choose the Art, whether it’s a 7872×4776 fresco, or a 50×50 little dog!
Hi, my name is Brandan Henry, and I’m an NFT, Blockchain, and Research enthusiast, as well as a content writer for NFT-onomics. I’m deeply passionate about exploring the potential of NFTs and blockchain technology. My mission is to educate people on the capabilities of non-fungible tokens and their applications. I stay up-to-date with the latest NFT news and trends, and as a full-time writer, I excel at generating creative, out-of-the-box ideas surrounding NFTs.