Dear Bankless Nation,

This week we talk about ART from our home, about the cryptoartists of BanklessDAO. In recent months, BanklessDAO has exhibited innovation on many fronts: a continuous evolution in governance; redefining values; and changes in the composition of the community. BanklessDAO has partnered with other DAOs, created projects, created educational programs, and produced a lot of content.

BanklessDAO has been the place of information and growth for many artists, some of which are featured in the weekly Showcase. Now, thanks to collaboration with the brilliant Design Guild, Decentralized Arts will present the profile and works of many other BanklessDAO cryptoartists, creating a new virtuous process of creation and distribution of beauty and value.

Welcome to Decentralized Arts.

Authors: BanklessDAO Writers Guild (Grendel, Kouros, NFThinker, nonsensetwice)

This is the official newsletter of the BanklessDAO. You are subscribed to this newsletter because you were a Premium Member of the Bankless Newsletter as of May 1, 2021. To unsubscribe, edit your settings here.

Artist of the Week

🧑‍🎨 Artist: Abstrucked.eth

🏦 Auction Type: Open Edition

💰 Price: 0.03 ETH

BANKLESSDAO ON RARIBLE

bDAO: What has changed for you as a cryptoartist after being featured by BanklessDAO?

Abs: Being showcased by the BanklessDAO is definitely an experience for both the exposure and support from the community. The fact that so many people resonate with art that I’ve created definitely has given me the confidence to continue to work on my craft and has been a signal that I was aiming in the right direction. I believe I’m early in my artistic journey and have a lot to improve to be able to communicate what I would like to, both visually and on the narrative side.

bDAO: How has the NFT scene changed in the last few months? Do you see a different attitude from the artists?

Abs: The NFT space is definitely evolving fast. A lot of newcomers have joined the space bringing new energy, ideas, and a bit of recklessness on both the collector and artist sides. As the demand for NFTs grow, and as an avalanche of Artists join the scene, I believe artists know they have to do their best in delivering the best they can, with an extra eye and focus on community building, a thing that earlier on was seen in the majority of cases by autogenerative projects rather than 1/1 Artists. I really believe that this conscious community-nurturing will have an amazing ripple effect in the world of arts, inspiring and giving the space for new artists and new forms of art to emerge.

bDAO: Do you think there is a link between the success of NFT art and the new "more secluded" life caused by Covid?

Abs: Definitely! I believe that the isolation and inability to work that many dealt with during the Covid lockdowns and its aftereffects brought people to look at different shores, rather than the usual 9 to 5 job that was, until then, the go-to and safe choice. I’m confident that this has given the chance for many artists to follow their dreams, and has given many collectors something new to take their minds off of what was happening all around us.

Curated NFT News

Pudgy Penguins Community Kicks Out Founders After Cash Grabbing Accusations

The Pudgy Penguins community is making major changes. The project voted out its founders on Thursday after the founders failed to deliver on goals and drained the treasury of funds. While the management team is trying to sell the project to a new owner, some in the community believe the project should be run as a DAO and should therefore be handed to the token holders.

NFT influencer @9x9x9eth has been in touch with the management team to buy the project. However, talks turned sour as the greediness of the Pudgy Penguins founders was exposed.  This thread explains all, alleging that the founders were looking to sell the project after splitting all profits between them.

The community took to the Discord server to express their anger at the management team. This led to Cole, one of the founders, to put up a poll asking the community if they wanted to remove him from the team. The community overwhelmingly voted in favour to oust him.

There have been other NFT influencers publicly making offers to buy the Pudgy Penguins, such as Beanie, Luca Netz or Zachh Burkes.

So far, all is speculation, and we await an outcome to end these sour events with the best possible result for the community. But one thing is clear: Cole’s reputation, and that of the other three co-founders of Pudgy Penguins, will be damaged in this space where reputation is key.

To their defense, they have stated that they are young and inexperienced in running a business.

At least the floor price for the Penguins has been picking up after the news was released that the management team will be replaced.

Castlevania NFTs Announced for the game’s 35th Anniversary

Japanese video game company Konami has revealed that it will be releasing NFTs of its Castlevania series to mark the 35th anniversary of the game. Castlevania is a gothic horror action-adventure video game series and media franchise about vampire hunters. The 14 animated NFTs feature game scenes, music and some other visuals inspired by the series.

The collection is going on auction on January 12th on OpenSea and it will end on January 15 at 6pm PST.

Barbie x Balmain: Fashion collection + 1/1 NFTS

The luxury fashion house has teamed up with Barbie for a fashion and accessories collection that will also include three 1/1 NFTs. The fashion collection includes 50 pieces that are inspired by the popular toy and many are in “Barbie pink”.

Balmain’s creative director, Olivier Rousteing, commented: "As our campaign images make very clear, Barbie and Balmain are embarking upon a distinctly multicultural, inclusive and always joy-filled adventure. For this collaboration, we are building upon the New French Style of Balmain's most recent collections, once again showing that Balmain is inspired by the truly diverse and exciting beauty found on today's Parisian boulevards and avenues."

While the IRL pieces will go on sale on January 13th, the sale of the three NFTs will take place on January 11th through a new platform called mintNFT that operates on the Flow blockchain. This sale will be the first taking place on mintNFT.

Is the Super Bowl Halftime Show Featuring The Bored Ape Yacht Club?

By Kouros

Last week, while reading NFT related news I came across rumors that the Bored Apes will be featured in the Super Bowl Halftime show.

The performers in this year’s show are all from Universal Music:

·       Kendrick Lamar

·       Dr. Dre

·       Eminem

·       Mary J Blige

·       Snoop Dogg

Both Snoop Dogg and Eminem have Bored Apes, and Universal has announced the creation of the KINGSHIP BAYC supergroup with @j1mmyeth. In addition to this, BAYC has teamed up with Adidas for the Adidas project, Into the Metaverse, and the sports apparel company is a major NFL sponsor.

Digging a bit deeper, I also found that back in October Yuga Labs, the team behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club, signed a representation deal with Guy Oseary. You might not know him but being a Madonna’s fan for many years this name is quite familiar to me. He has managed Madonna since 2005, and also manages U2 and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, among others. Guy has plenty of experience advising on live music shows and cutting multimillion dollar deals with the likes of Live Nation. It is logical to think that he will bring some of this to the BAYC ecosystem.

BAYC, Universal Music and the artists, Adidas, and Guy Oseary make an explosive mix waiting to happen.

The music industry needs to adapt to the new reality that is the blockchain and NFTs, and what could be a better occasion to kick this off than a live performance by the Apes in the Super Bowl Halftime Show?

BanklessDAO Artists Showcase

By NFThinker and Grendel

Decentralized Arts is starting a collaboration with the BanklessDAO Design Guild, one of the main forges of creativity and innovation that guide the DAO, and within which many cryptoartists collaborate, including this issue’s Artist of the Week.

As in the words of NFThinker, Design Guild Coordinator:

The creative process allows expression in a manner unlike any other. We are born with our very own vision, a way of seeing the world that is unique to each of us, and our desire to share our vision is empowered through the mediums of art and design.

In BanklessDAO Design Guild, we aim to cultivate a community that fosters the growth of visual storytelling. We refine our abstractions and unchain our abilities through practice, skill sharing, and moral support. Being a Design Guild contributor means being part of something larger than oneself. Each of us are mere nodes in a hive. We are powerful alone, but together we are capable of so much more.

Most importantly, the Design Guild is not a walled garden. We are an open community where anyone can come to contribute, learn, share, or just listen in. We incentivise participation through the ability to earn BANK, which in turn creates common ownership of our ideals. If any of this resonates with you, then come to the BanklessDAO discord and get involved! We would love to have you along for the ride.

The two artists presented in this issue are Rush Varela and Dippudo.

Rush Varela - Website

I'm a photographer based in Los Angeles, California. My photography is bold and concept-driven, and at times can venture to commercial or other visual aspects of the field.

bDAO: What does it mean to be an artist in BDAO?

RV:  Being an artist in BanklessDAO means that I can enhance my skillset by pivoting into an emergent space that is exciting and provides new challenges. The bDAO design community is diverse due to its worldwide participation, and these unique perspectives are shared and uplift our efforts.The bDAO mission further incentivizes my artistic participation in its success, as it aligns with my values in making a positive mark on the world.

bDAO: What are your thoughts on the NFT world?

RV: The NFT world has seen an exponential rise in the last few months and with that, has captured major cultural significance. The NFT space will continue to surprise in 2022, as it upends major traditional markets (beyond the Art Market) and empowers individuals as well as like-minded organizations. I believe we will see a shift in the aesthetic quality of new art traded in the coming months as more serious collectors join the fold.

bDAO: How can DAOs help art?

RV: DAOs can play a major role in helping collectors navigate the NFT art market. These organizations can shine light on who are legitimate creators, both from the traditional realm and their equivalent peers in the wholly digital metaverse.

Dippudo - Website

I am a self-taught artist who spends most of my time in front of a computer making graphics and 3D renders. I started contributing to BanklessDAO around the same time I got into NFTs, and I have had a brilliant time participating in both the DAO and the NFT world. I also make a free VJ Loop every week.

bDAO: What does it mean to be an artist in bDAO?

Dip: Being an artist in BanklessDAO means being able to showcase your artistic skillset and enhance them by contributing to the various projects that the DAO has to offer. Along the way you get to engage in a rapidly growing and diverse community and help each other grow not only as an artist, but also as a person.

bDAO: What are your thoughts on the NFT world?

Dip: The NFT world has experienced an unprecedented growth over the past few months and the momentum does not seem to be slowing down. The cultural significance of NFTs is onboarding more and more people into the NFT world every single day. Through NFTs, artists now have the ability to monetize their art in a way that we have never seen before, this has led to an exponential growth in the community of artists and collectors, and even developers.

bDAO: How can DAOs help art?

Dip: DAOs can contribute to art in various ways. Some DAOs contribute by collecting art with cultural significance. Other DAOs contribute by helping artists grow and level up. There are also DAOs who help with spreading the word and helping artists build a community around them. Through these different ways of contributing, DAOs have cemented themselves as a top level organization to help legitimate creators and artists build a solid foundation for success in the art world.

🙏Thanks to our sponsor!

Perpetual Protocol empowers developers, liquidity providers and traders to participate in a financial marketplace that is open and accessible to all.

👉 Visit Perpetual Protocol’s website to learn more

Call to Action

🎨 Participate in the NFT-Club channel: Share your passion for NFTs, your favorite collections, your favorite cryptoartists!

❤️ Join the Flipper.zone Discord: This is the NFT trading tool project originated in BanklessDAO.

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