Who are you?
Hey, my name is Waxhead. I’m a street artist, painter, sculptor and more recently getting into digital art. I live in Montreal, Canada and I have a dog and a cat.
When did you start making art?
When I was a kid I was always creative. Some of my first memories making art would be creating giant battles with lots of laser lines and knights on horseback. As I grew up I started noticing graffiti on freight trains going through my neighborhood. I was mesmerized by the colours and bold linework of the graffiti.
It quickly turned into a obsession and spent my whole teens painting characters and tagging wherever I could.
What would you call your style?
I don’t really have a name for my style. I was greatly influenced by street art and graffiti growing up, artists I saw painting on the freights like Labrona, Troy Lovegates (Other) and Swamp Donkey.
They drew more characters instead of letters which influenced me greatly.
How did you first learn about Tezos?
I first learned about Tezos from my friend Hugues Bruyère (@smallfly) late March but didn’t mint until mid April. It took a lot of convincing to get me to make a wallet and sync to HEN. I only had a iPad at the time, but I quickly got hooked and started minting and collecting with no real plan.
Other friends were also getting into NFTs at the same time and it really added to the energy surrounding this new way of sharing and selling artwork.
What inspired you?
My inspirations are really all over the place. Different factors influence my work, where I am, who I’m interacting with, what I’m watching/reading. Lately, I’ve been rereading the Dune series of books, II find the relationships and interactions between organisms and their environment fascinating. This is definitely influencing how I approach my recent objkt series of growing compositions of plants in arid landscapes.
Medieval village was your FxHash Genesis piece. What’s the story behind it?
So I first discovered fxhash from friends in the HEU discord who were collecting and creating a variety of generative work. I quickly started planning a project with the help of two amazing artists Michael Perusse (@mrperusse) and Karthik Dondeti (@d0ndeti). The concept for the project came really quickly because I loved how using the framework I could achieve so many compositions I otherwise wouldn’t of assembled.
What is your creative process when creating an artwork?
Over the years I’ve built a dictionary of characters, items and elements I integrate into my artwork. I draw from this library to create different artworks that adapt to the themes I’m trying to portray or just something visually pleasing.
What programs or mediums have you most enjoyed working with recently?
My journey to digital art started when I discovered HEN. I dove into a variety of programs once I got my first PC in late May. Seeing what my friends were creating really pushed me to learn programs like blender and reality capture to be able to have my sculptures in a digital form. Lately tho I have gone back to the iPad to make my loops and animations. I love drawing its at my core as an artist so being able to do that more has been really great.
What do you want someone to think or feel when they look at your work?
When I was younger I used to want the view to be overwhelming when looking at my work with colours and characters jumping out at them and very little negative space. I still want the viewer to be immersed in my world but in a less jarring way. I imagine sometimes I’m a monk in a castle drawing a manuscript for someone far in the future to read and reflect on.
What adds value to your art?
I try and approach my work with honesty. I don’t know if honesty is valued or not, but I value it. I love graffiti, I love characters, I love 3D and Voxel art and I try and make work that shows my passion for the subjects I feel a personal connection with. I think my collectors see that.
Are there any pieces of advice or quotes that have stuck with you in your life?
Most quotes I have burned into my head are from the beastie boys so ill leave you with one that shows my energy at the moment from the song intergalactic.
Well, I gotta keep it going keep it going full steam
Too sweet to be sour too nice to be mean
Well, on the tough-guy style I’m not too keen
Trying to change the world, I’m going to plot and scheme
What do you have planned for 2022?
Continuing to draw everyday and learn new techniques to push my artwork. When winter is over I will be back out in the street painting.
Is there anyone you want to shoutout?
I am so fortunate to have so many amazing talented friends in the twitter/discord/NFT space too many to name here. I’d like to shout out all the members of the HEU Artist Collective (@HEUCOLLECTIVE). I’m lucky to call them my friends.
Anything else?
Go read Dune. By the fourth book its just the ramblings of a giant sandworm.