self.
Self quickly grew out to the biggest project I've ever done, in a very unexpected and organic way.
Self quickly grew out to the biggest project I've ever done, in a very unexpected and organic way.
What began as the simple act of sharing a sketch of my work evolved into a collaborative effort involving over 400 global artists. They used the core and message of the piece to create their own self-portraits. This project, encompassing both digital and physical exhibitions, was recognized as one of the five most influential web3 projects of 2022.
The inception of "Self" originated as a therapeutic self-portrait. Following the birth of our son in January 2021, numerous aspects of my life underwent a transformation, particularly my mindset and approach to my craft. "Self" was intended as a journey into my inner self. Through the repetitive process of creating it over 30 times, I came to the realization that perfection is unattainable. I can only strive to be the best version of myself, recognizing that personality is an ever-changing entity that never reaches a final state as long as we are alive, despite our pursuit of perfection.
I chose to share my entire workflow openly, including my doubts, various options, struggles, and different variations. I consistently updated my audience on a daily basis until I felt I had reached an almost-perfect outcome and had to let it go.
I chose to share my entire workflow openly, including my doubts, various options, struggles, and different variations. I consistently updated my audience on a daily basis until I felt I had reached an almost-perfect outcome and had to let it go.
Upon selling the piece in an online auction to the significant collector known as ARTONINTERNET, I explored the possibility of releasing the sketch I had used as the foundation for the piece to fellow creators. I committed to donating 10% of the sales to emerging artists, allowing them to incorporate their own selves into the artwork, whether through their personality, mood, or artistic style.
The contributions to this project ranged from animations and sculptures to drawings and even musical compositions. Below, I will delve further into my own iterations of "Self" and elaborate on the extensive community effort and celebration of creativity that ensued, not being able to share all 400, but will highlight the special entries this competition had.
Chapter 1:
self by Rik Oostenbroek
The original sketch as starting point for every iteration
Some of the iterations and tests including adjusting the sketch but also trying different moods for this self-portrait.
self - microdose, this became one of my personal favorites yet not the direction I went in the end.
But this iteration triggered a whole new body of work after.
But this iteration triggered a whole new body of work after.
The real self final_final_final_final_recovered_copy_123_real_final.psb
Chapter 2:
show(your)self
show(your)self
After working on the final piece for about two months, I realized there were many different directions I could have taken from the initial sketch. I was already thinking about releasing the file to the public. However, when I contacted David Nott to see if he would like to use the self-sketch to create a rug, I realized how versatile the original sketch could be for various mediums. That's when a new idea was born.
The outcome of the collaboration with my friend David Nott
I decided to make the sketch public and any artist could download it.
The outcome was astonishing, as more than 400 artists submitted their own interpretations of self, which was highly unexpected. The submissions ranged from AI-generated pieces to traditional paintings and musical compositions. Some were static, while others incorporated motion.
"In the end the base file was downloaded a total of 1094 times, with amazing art as a result"
The outcome was astonishing, as more than 400 artists submitted their own interpretations of self, which was highly unexpected. The submissions ranged from AI-generated pieces to traditional paintings and musical compositions. Some were static, while others incorporated motion.
"In the end the base file was downloaded a total of 1094 times, with amazing art as a result"
A closer look to some of the submissions below.
Andreas Preis
Loulan
David Mascha
Manuel Piedra
Crais25
Philipp Rosenhain
Suffoca
Hannah Rose
Mike Karolos
Trent North
SergePosters
Keid
Noortje Stortelder
Andres Ivan
Catalin Sandu
Milk
Virus69
Alberto Herrera
Intoflora
Anelli
Petiteangele
mae
Mike Campau
Some amazing moving pieces as submissions below here:
Left: W3N ( Italy ) Right: Erik Bulckens ( Belgium )
Left: Yuri Mo ( Israel ) Right: ZEEN ( USA )
By CADmonkey ( USA )
Naime Pakniyat (IRAN)
Roger Klimanjaro* (France)
* Wanted to be excluded from the competition given he already had a bigger following and wanted to give the opportunity to shine to emerging artists.
The Winners
At first I didn't expect too many people entering. I'm a strong believer that rewarding artists with "just" exposure wasn't enough so I gathered a budget of $7000 to those that stood out.
I gathered 5 great minds, 2 fellow artists, 2 art collectors and 1 art curator to help me judging. We all voted anonymously not knowing what the others picked.
These were the results, there was a tie on the third place so we allocated extra budget for that.
Third place 1/2 - Tormius ( Spain )
Third place 2/2 - Ovachinsky ( Poland )
Second place - Icki ( GB )
First place - Luuk Vermeyden ( Netherlands )
Chapter 3:
the exhibition
the exhibition
Due to the amount of exhibitions and the overall quality of the art we figured that just rewarding the top 3 wouldn't do the project justice in the end, that's why we figured that doing an exhibition around the event would top this off.
In celebration of a project driven purely by art, we opted to showcase all 400 submissions and artists. For some contributors, it marked the first time their work had ever been displayed publicly.
This was made possible by the support of Open.Space gallery in Amsterdam.
This was made possible by the support of Open.Space gallery in Amsterdam.
