HarvMCM: Inspiration from Condo and Basquiat

Editorial is open for submissions: editorial@superrare.com

HarvMCM interviewed by Crypto_Northerner (Twitter: @Crypto_Northern)

Harvey was one of the first crypto-artist art pieces I picked up – “Discover your subconscious” – it was his first he posted onto SuperRare and I took the list price. “Alone but together” was the piece I really wanted and thankfully my bid was (luckily) accepted. Harvey’s work has also appeared in SuperRare’s Decentraland Gen-Z exhibition and his recent work has seen some evolution as well as collabs with @Gambocean and @blacksneakers. We hope Harvey hangs around in the crypto-art space – he’s a talented guy who is looking to push the boundaries – we wish him well.Crypto_Northerner

How would you describe your artwork from a pure visual perspective and from where does it derive?

I would describe my art as abstract illustrations that portray a variety of imagery and feelings. I tend to use a wide mix of vibrant colours in my work-  I like to use very bright and fun colours that tend to mask the deeper meaning behind a piece. Recently though I have been looking to narrow and refine my colour schemes to help further my skillsets and bring new life into my ideas. All my works derive from ideas that I either create at the time or note down during my week, the majority are created when I start working mainly and then I create as I go.

Where are you at right now with your life? What are your thoughts on near term career? Are you at an inflection point on which life road to take?

I am at a good point in my life right now. Art has become my part time job (on top of university), meaning I can focus on my work more than previously. I’ve been loving doing clothing drops too, which people seem to have enjoyed – which is great. My time is still split between my art career and doing architecture at University, I want to do well in both, which is very time consuming! I’m not 100% on which ‘life road’ to take yet, but I hope it’ll be creative, and if its creative, then I’ll be happy.

Tell us about your upbringing and how you got into art in a traditional sense, but also how you found digital art?

I had a very good upbringing, both my parents are very creative and always encouraged me to be expressive in art and school. My dad has a degree in Art, and he helped teach me a lot of what I know about traditional art. I have always been drawing from a young age, but its only this year that I’ve focused in on it. I did art in school, all the way up to my last year, but I never really loved it, not like I do now anyway. The passion for it really came this year when I was introduced to the art community on Twitter by my friend, @gambocean. I started my account in February 2020, and you can see my progression ever since. I found digital art in March 2020 when I invested in an iPad, but I only really pursued it around August time, and I’ve improved a lot since then. All of my digital pieces are produced in Procreate on my iPad.

How is your art interpreted and viewed in your local community? What do your friends, colleagues think?

I know that my family and friends are proud of how far I’ve come this year, especially the people closest to me. My flatmates are probably getting tired of me chatting about art all the time though hahaha. I’m really lucky though – all the people in my life, both offline and online are extremely supportive and have helped me massively.

How did you choose to submit “Underneath”, “Discover your subconscious” and “Alone but together” as your initial SuperRare debut pieces? And were “Too close” and “Stuck in Limbo” part of the picture back then?

The three of them just felt like the perfect pieces to upload first to SuperRare. They’re the start of my exploration of digital art and the first ones that turned out how I wanted. Every piece past these three definitely weren’t in the picture back then – they were all created after. I never have a backlog of art really, everything I share was created around the same time. When I joined the crypto world, I never had any expectations or plans, I’ve just got lucky in that sense.

Tell us about some of the artists that have wowed you over the years, your inspiration for your current artwork as well as maybe highlighting some of the more modern digital art techniques and artists that impress you today? (the latter preferably on SR – *maybe they will see it and reach out for a collab w you)

There are a lot of artists that have wowed me over the years. Well-known artists like Condo, Rembrandt and Basquiat that stand out. Recently a lot of the inspiration I get are from artists online who I interact with daily -there are so many crypto-artists that are amazing. I could spend the whole day writing a list honestly.

• George Condo – The Laughing Cavalier, 2013 and Father O’Malley (The Priest), 2004

The carnival colours, the George Condo elements incorporated with challenging psychological states of minds and emotions are clearly embedded in the 10 artworks on SuperRare. Where would you like to go next?

I’m not actually entirely sure, I’ve never had a real plan for any of my art up to this point. The main goal for me is to improve and just make my art as good as I can. So, my next steps are just taking more time on my work, developing it and to just enjoy it really.

You have said you spend a lot of your time drawing and listening to music – are you at the stage where you can incorporate music into your artwork? What other techniques would you like to evolve into your art pieces?

Music is integral in my life. I literally listen to music every day, especially when I’m doing art. I’ve not really considered combining the two elements, but I would love to collab with someone who did music and create an animated piece with sound. There are loads of techniques I would like to explore in my work. I want to improve my physical skills with paints. I’d also like to incorporate more 3D software into my pieces, but I know this is for the future as learning these software’s takes time! I pretty much want to further my art as much as I can, and just try everything really.

How have the engagements gone with independent artwork for album covers and other commission work? Are you looking to showcase your art at local or international exhibitions in your area? Or do you find representing your artwork across social media has a much greater impact?

I’ve done a handful of commissions for album art, they’re fun to do but they don’t hold the same substance that creating a piece about how I’m feeling or thinking holds. I’m mainly trying to focus on my own art at this point, like I’ve said, trying to better it as much as I can. But of course, there are loads of musicians I would absolutely love to do art for, and hopefully I’ll get the chance one day. One of my lifelong goals since I started focusing on my art is to have my art published on a physical vinyl. My stepdad owns an independent record shop, so seeing my art there would mean a lot, hopefully one day! I’ve not really looked for any local exhibitions yet actually, mainly been enjoying posting my work online. It is a goal of mine though to have my work exhibited in a physical gallery – that would be crazy.

What sports are you into? Who is your favourite football team, and which countries would you like to visit and why?

The only sport I really follow is football. I’ve been a football fan since I was young, and I support Aberdeen FC. My stepdad introduced me to the Aberdeen games around nine years ago and I’ve gone consistently ever since. It’s a shame that it’ll be a while till fans can get back into grounds but will be worth the wait. As of countries I’d like to visit, I’ve not got many picked out that I’d love to visit. I kind of want to travel to as many as I can really! The ones that do stick out are Australia, Japan, and Canada. But realistically, I’m down to go to any country!

@crypto_northerner: https://superrare.com/crypto_northerner/collection

Twitter: @G79Manc

ETH: 0x13e49cd3f314188032bed445a2f3de55f3669110