Dutch-Canadian artist Ryan Koopmans teamed up with Swedish artist Alice Wexell to create The Wild Within, a series that brings new life into abandoned buildings from a bygone Soviet era.

Based on real-world physical spaces, an animated rebirth into a digital realm has been created.

During the Soviet Union, the Georgian town of Tskaltubo was a popular health destination famed for its therapeutic water and luxurious sanatoriums.

Between the 1940’s to 1980’s thousands of people visited each year, including Stalin and his high-ranking officials from Moscow.

The town was renowned for its therapeutic radon-carbonate mineral spring water believed to treat an array of ailments.​

When the Soviet Union collapsed, the buildings were deserted and fell into disrepair. Floors were ripped up for firewood, and the metal salvaged as scrap.

​Since the early 90’s, the buildings have been slowly dismantled and stripped of their valuable materials, leaving empty shells of what were once grandiose classical structures.

Koopmans visited this region over several years, exploring the ruins and photographing the spaces.

Upon returning, in collaboration with Alice Wexell, he digitally introduced vegetation, manipulated the lighting, modified the structures, and animated the scenes with the intention of reviving the empty spaces, essentially bringing life back into the rooms. With these pieces, Koopmans and Wexell aim to bring the viewer into an alternate place and time.

The results are a surreal collision between the past and future, as well as the physical and digital worlds.​

Koopmans states that his aim was “to create a sense of surreal tranquility whilst referencing the themes of urban exploration, architectural history and the resurgence of nature.”

There is also an uncanny and somewhat supernatural atmosphere reminiscent of the 1979 Soviet sci-fi film ‘Stalker’ by Andrei Tarkovsky, in the way the plants have beset the town’s mysterious architecture.

Many of the buildings depicted in The Wild Within have been demolished in recent months, further emphasizing the theme of time passing in the cycle of growth and decay.

This is the genesis series of NFT digital art by Ryan Koopmans, to be released March 24, 2021 exclusively on SuperRare.co

Ryan Koopmans is an award winning multidisciplinary artist whose work has been featured in WIRED, Architectural Digest, CNN, Vogue Magazine, GQ, The Guardian and more.

https://superrare.com/ryankoopmans
www.instagram.com/ryan.koopmans
www.ryankoopmans.com
https://twitter.com/ryankoopmans

Vhils’ inaugural NFT, Hint, is now live on SuperRare

Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto (b. 1987) has been interacting visually with the urban environment under the name of Vhils since his days as a prolific graffiti writer in the early-to-mid 2000s. His groundbreaking bas-relief carving technique has been hailed as one of the most compelling approaches to art created in the streets in the last decade. 

Vhils grew up in Seixal, an industrialised suburb across the river from Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, and was deeply influenced by the transformations brought on by the intensive urban development the country underwent in the 1980s and 1990s. He was particularly inspired by the way city walls absorb the social and historical changes that take place around them. Applying his original methods of creative destruction, Vhils digs into the surface layers of our material culture like a contemporary urban archaeologist, exposing what lies beyond the superficiality of things, making visible the invisible and restoring meaning and beauty to the discarded dimensions buried beneath.

Through his first NFT work on SuperRare, Hint, Vhils explores to further emphasize his destructive approach to creation. 

Explosives

Vhils’ work with explosives should be seen as a natural progression from his original bas-relief carving technique used on walls. According to Vhils, walls retain within their layers something of the history and essence of the city which can be symbolically exposed when he carves through them. By employing explosive charges to reveal these portraits and compositions, Vhils takes this concept to its logical conclusion.

This original technique was first employed in 2010 for the Detritos (Detritus) series of art videos as a visual metaphor for the social and economic volatility brought on by the 2008 global financial crisis. As such, both this and the subsequent series speak of how, at times of turmoil, the veneer of civilization we take for granted can easily explode and bring forth previously tamed expressions of intolerance, extremism, and violence that simmer beneath the surface.

As the entire process is not only eruptive but also fast and dramatic, its result can only be truly appreciated on video. Most of these have been shot using a high-speed digital camera which enables the artist to capture the moment at a very low speed that seems to almost freeze the flying debris, creating a slow-motion poetic intensity conducive to reflection.

Extending the physical into the digital

An avid experimentalist, Vhils has been developing his personal aesthetics in a plurality of media besides his signature carving technique. Now tokenizing this video of pyrotechnic explosions on blockchain as an NFT, he brings the single act of physical destruction to an infinite virtual timeline and extends the history of city’s walls to the future of digital creation.

Across the globe

“Whether it’s blowing up a building façade in Berlin to reveal a carving of a man’s face or drilling portraits into favela walls in Rio de Janeiro, raucous street artist Alexandre Farto, who goes by the tag “Vhils,” has left an imprint on urban landscapes across the globe.” CNN (Hong Kong)

Since 2005, Vhils has presented his work in over 30 countries around the world in solo and group exhibitions, site-specific art interventions, artistic events and projects in various contexts – from working with communities in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, to collaborations with reputed art institutions such as the EDP Foundation (Lisbon), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Barbican Centre (London), CAFA Art Museum (Beijing), or the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (San Diego), among others. His unique approach and artwork have been garnering critical acclaim around the globe.

Editorial is open for submissions: [email protected]

Sugar Trap’s own eclectic rap superstar Rico Nasty is making history as one of the first women with the landmark release of a remarkable, one-of-a-kind AudioReactive non-fungible token (NFT). Created in partnership with XR Creator, Consultant, and former DreamWorks Specialist Trainer Don Allen III (@donalleniii), the tokenized single edition digitized artwork will be sold exclusively via the authenticated digital art marketplace, SuperRare. Inspired by Rico Nasty’s acclaimed hit single, “OFHR?,” the unprecedented collaboration marks a stunning new fusion of musical energy and multi-disciplinary visual creativity.

The NFT drop will be followed by an interactive conversation featuring Rico on the Clubhouse app, moderated by Lady PheOnix March 22nd at 9pm ET – join the conversation with this link.

A new paradigm in art collecting, NFTs allow digital creations containing visual art and music – also known as “CryptoArt” – to be verified as authentic assets on the Ethereum blockchain to prevent forgery and provide historical provenance. With this unique form of cryptocurrency, digital art can now be sold to collectors around the world in a safe, frictionless manner. In other words, it is another medium being used to trailblaze the future of artistic representation, self expression and creativity.

The purchaser of the “OHFR?” NFT will also receive the authenticated physical hammer featured in Rico Nasty’s official “OHFR?” music video, streaming now via YouTube HERE.

“OHFR?” is of course featured on Rico Nasty’s long awaited debut album, NIGHTMARE VACATION, available now via Atlantic Records/Sugar Trap at all DSPs and streaming services. The genre-defying, 16-track collection – which includes features from such luminaries as Trippie Redd and Aminé and production by Take A Daytrip (Lil Nas X, Sheck Wes, Kid Cudi), Avedon (Roddy Ricch, Chloe x Halle), and GRAMMY® Award-nominee Tay Keith (Travis Scott, BlocBoy JB, Drake), and longtime collaborator Kenny Beats – debuted at #1 on Billboard’s “Heatseekers Albums” chart upon its November 2020 release, fueled in part by worldwide acclaim from Rolling Stone, The New York Times, W, Pitchfork, NME, and countless other high profile publications.

Recently, Rico Nasty made her national TV debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to bring her aforementioned “OHFR?” to the main stage, with an electrifying Victorian-style performance that left fans in awe; check it out HERE. As noted, “OHFR?” – which sees Rico teaming once again with producer Dylan Brady (100 gecs) – arrived alongside an official companion video, directed by SpuddsMckenzie (Rich The Kid) and streaming now at YouTube HERE. NME hailed “OHFR?” as a “punk rock riot,” adding, “At only two minutes long, the monochrome video sees Nasty go through several costume changes, spitting her lyrics furiously toward the camera with an abundance of attitude.”

In addition to “OHFR?,” NIGHTMARE VACATION is highlighted by the singles,  “IPHONE,” “Own It,” “Don’t Like Me (Feat. Don Toliver & Gucci Mane),” and “STFU,” all available now for streaming and download.

NIGHMARE VACATION marked the apex of a remarkably productive year for Rico, including such tracks as “Popstar,” “Lightning,” and “Dirty,” the latter featured on INSECURE: THE ALBUM, Atlantic Records’ official musical companion to Issa Rae’s Peabody Award-winning HBO series, INSECURE. What’s more, Rico recently teamed with Kali Uchis for the genre-busting hit single, “Aquí Yo Mando,” joined by an equally colorful official video, directed by Phillipa Price and streaming now at YouTube HERE.