SuperRare x Bonhams presents CryptOGs: 5 Questions with miss al simpson

The present work features in “Bonhams & SuperRare: CryptOGs, The Pioneers of NFT Art, June 21st-30th 2021”, Lot 7” and can be found HERE

I have always been an artist and was also previously an entrepreneur involved with marketing and technology, so I had actually attended a blockchain conference in Edinburgh back in 2018 as I was interested in finding out about this new exciting technology. In particular, I was keen to find out about the possibilities for digital art. I have always been entrepreneurial and creative so was very curious about how blockchain technology was going to work. Back then the possibilities for art on the blockchain were mentioned but almost in passing as it was still so early. Therefore, when I started to look at the art platforms actually starting to allow artists to tokenize, such as SuperRare, I was already well aware of the possibilities, of the blockchain and how this would influence digital art. Once I applied and was accepted by SuperRare as an artist, I then worked extremely hard to build up my work and awareness of my artist brand. As it was still so early, the community was very small and the prices was artworks were also very small. My first ever sale on Super Rare was a mere $41! I remember dancing around the room at this first sale as I knew it would spell great opportunities in the future. That first sale was “NYC NEON” and was sold to Breezin, who still owns it today.

The community was and still is incredible. I have lost count of the number of collectors that I have now on SuperRare, having sold the most ever on the platform – 256 artworks since I starting minting 2 years ago. Every single one of those collectors has been a building block in my success as an artist and I am grateful for every sale. Every single sale contributed to the complete financial independence and freedom that cryptoart has accorded me. This financial freedom is also something that I see as a kind of potential “saviour” for a lot of women and mothers who are starting to get involved with cryptoart. Hence, I set up Mothers of Ethereum to highlight all the amazing mothers who are also crypotartists in the scene. I also tokenized the undernoted artwork – “SAVIOUR” to highlight this and this artwork was included in the inaugural Mothers of Ethereum exhibition. 

As you can tell, I went all in with cryptoart! I don’t know if it was my previous experience as an entrepreneur, winning awards for my artistic design and marketing. Or maybe it was my practice of over 10 years, of drawing and creating collage artworks and trying to sell them online. All I knew was that if you are going to do something you give it your all! I also had a young family to support, so financially, I was determined to make it work financially. I was struggling financially after a divorce, so I had no choice other than to make cryptoart work for me. That kind of determination combined with past experience makes for a powerful force. But I also found something that I never expected to. I found my tribe! A powerful community of misfits and dreamers who all loved art and technology! The community of cryptoart is everything! 

I want to take them on a journey, which is why a lot of my artworks include poems and writing. Some of the artworks demand it! I was heavily influenced by Hollywood movies growing up, and I think there is an escapism to a lot of my works because of that. I also grew up in Edinburgh, whose very bricks and cobbles are haunted by the past. I love the stories of the past in Scotland. I am also haunted by stories of the many women burnt as witches, as happened in a lot of places around the world. You can see this influence in works such as the “Hidden” series. 

I have also explored the whole concept of a series through SuperRare, one of the most popular being the “Old Money Corrupts” series. I really like developing my practice through a series and I think that it gives collectors a chance to engage with the work in a progressive and consistent way. 

This is an artwork that I actually bought back as an artist, as I had sold it for a mere $42. I think that a few OG’s have done this too. Some see it as flexing! However, I see it as showing confidence as an artist in your own work and showing that to collectors. 

I also think that it is important to have serious curators in cryptoart. Jason Bailey of Artnome has been a great supporter from the start. His review of my artwork “Modern Love” is incredible. See below:

“When I added Miss Al Simpson’s Modern Love to my collection about one year ago I wrote that it “Reminds me of one of Richard Prince’s Nurses getting enveloped by a Clyfford Still.” My feelings haven’t changed. There is a long history of male artists anonymizing women through abstraction but Miss Al Simpson’s work is refreshing because it does this without objectification. For me, the mysterious women portrayed in works like Modern Love and The Self Isolators have deep and complex inner lives. They are to be thought about, to be reckoned with, and not just ogled as one might with say Willem de Kooning’s hypersexualized Women I. As with most artists, I think Miss Al Simpson’s strongest work ends with a question mark instead of a period and these two works definitely fit that description for me.”

It means freedom through the power that is the blockchain. Whether that is Ethereum or other blockchains like Tezos and Cardano, the underlying blockchain technology represents true freedom for a lot of people. It also represents “saviour” as I expressed in my earlier artwork. I think the potential for mothers and women to have financial freedom through cryptoart will change the world. Cryptoart is lifechanging. It is saviour.

I think cryptoart is a movement unlike anything we have seen in the art world. The combination of decentralization, creativity and technology is going to create a future of possibility that none of us can predict. I believe that cryptoart can offer financial freedom to minorities and communities that previously could not earn any money through creativity. That will change the world and I cannot wait to see what the future holds. I think all of the artists included in this exhibition have laid the foundations for a very bright future in cryptoart and I am so proud to be part of this ground breaking auction. 

My inspiration for “CYBAROQUE BORGHESE” is a combination of my two passions: my favourite city, the lovely Roma and technology. I was brought up watching old movies like “Roman Holiday” staring Audrey Hepburn and “Cleopatra” with the imitable Elizabeth Taylor. I was also lucky to get one of the first ever home computers, the ZX81 in the 80’s, so I have always been a gamer. 

As soon as I could travel as an adult, I made my way to Rome. I was enthralled with the concept of modern Italians living and working in the beautiful ruins of this majestic empire. I wandered its cobbled streets, taking photographs and sketching in the tiny cafes, finding inspiration everywhere. But nothing prepared me for the magnitude of Villa Borghese. The combination of the voluptuous Baroque Gardens with the statuesque Villa sitting at the end of the Valley of Trees moved me irrevocably. However, the beauty of this Baroque composition is merely an introduction to the art that it houses. Once I had witnessed Bernini’s exquisite sculpture and Canova’s rendering of the marble perfection of Princess Borghese, I was changed forever. Villa Borghese had delivered the Roman vision of romance and beauty that I had dreamed of as a little girl.

Once I delved into its history and the story of Napoleon’s sister, Paolina Borghese, I always knew that it would be the inspiration for an artwork one day. I am delighted that I was able to use my love of technology and storytelling to imagine a time in the future, when a woman such as my younger self also discovers Villa Borghese. But this time, I imagined it preserved forever in the metaverse as a glitching AI quantum programme, downloaded and experienced anywhere in the world. I imagined the ancient Roman “plane trees” as glitching trees of code. I created a “neon wire frame” computer network that rendered Italian arias as the Cybaroque Borghese programme was experienced in the metaverse. I used my iPad to draw some of these ideas out – all digital but rendered very similar to traditional sketches. I explored the idea of a graffiti backdrop to add a bit of future dystopia. Once I had worked on each layer both using analogue and digital work, I built up those layers through animation and digital programming. This artistic rendering of an actual place and personal experience through technology is what gives this artwork soul. 

It comes full circle.