PROPAGANDA
I was drawn into the metaverse world at the end of 2021, largely because some of my heroes entered it - Damien Hirst, Shepard Fairey. I loved its polarizing impact on the public - which was largely misinformed. I also loved that it was a small enough world where all events were major. I have tried to document that narrative, through the lens of the communities which I am the closest to, as propaganda, my alias, and using The Evils, the characters I created. These are shown in chronological order, to keep them consistent with the events that inspired them.
LFGOON
I caught a bad case of COVID and couldn’t do any other work. The Goonz team had recently requested that people integrate this Tengu mask into their social media.
Goonz X BAYC
BAYC is arguably the biggest problem with the NFT space, while being the reason for so much attention. It’s all about money. But in reality, they are an outlier. This depicts the cash grab attitude of apeing.
Goonz + Moonz
The aspirations of any project is go to the moon. No one really talks about the route back down to earth.
Goonzuki
The Azuki project was one of the most controversial and successful projects of all time. At the time of this drawing, it was a massive success, while simultaneously creating a new standard of how the color gold is used in the metaverse. A fall from glory was imminent.
Zagabond
Zagabond was the founder of Azuki. He was blackmailed to disclose that he had picked up the skills to launch the most successful project of all time by “rugging “ (a sort of scamming), 3 other groups of people. The community was divided about what to make of it. The apes were not, relentlessly requesting he be destroyed. The beans were the next project, believed to be another rug.
This tbh
This is what it began to feel like.
The Portal Opens
The long hyped portal came out in May. This drawing depicts the avatars of the most active community members scrambling to enter it. Certain members refused, while others fought to drag them in.
Crash Market Crash
Then the markets collapsed. In the span of a couple of weeks, the fun was over. This was one of the first instances of the Evils. This is what they do.
BUILDING
The space focused on the narrative of “building”, as a famous influencer would always depict in this fashion. If you aren’t building, do you even exist?
Goonz on Parade
With the Goonz now through the portal, bear market or not, they were sure to parade their new toys - which they did in epic fashion.
I’ll Wait
After numerous flawless executions, this team of some of truly great humans, led by a tattoo artist, had claimed their spot as one of the best.
Bear Market Vibes
Even with the spaces best efforts, the market was down. Everyone was heading to New York after a complete market collapse. What more could we expect?
State of the Union
From the outside looking in, it felt like people were destroying each other, like the space was imploding. A narrative.
Bored Goon Yacht Club
NYC was electric. Surprisingly, it was a lot of young, self proclaimed, art collectors. A new generation?
Goonz + NYC
One of the most influential artists in the space is named Drift. He lives in the clouds. All the while, BAYC was performing sacrilege by painting over legendary street art. I thought someone was going to get beat up.
NFT NYC 2032
After seeing how amazing and vibrant NFT NYC was in 2022, one could only imagine that it would soon be held on the moon.
Use Case
I was invited to draw at a party, and someone lost the original. We minted it, and it now lives forever on the blockchain.
Community
So many people, meeting so many people, for the first time, after months of dialogue, is a one of a kind experience.
Consume
But we are just told to scroll. To consume.
Uptown Train
There is a good chance that many trains in NYC looked just like this.
Community
Something that is seldom talked about when discussing the space is the connection among peers. The people that lift each other up, without even knowing each other. An interesting phenomenon, and a valuable lesson.
