Kato Trofimova Interview

“Connections” by Kato

Who are you?

I’m a digital artist and an illustrator. In real life, I’m a creative director of the illustration agency I co-own. Also, a wife and a proud owner of a dog and four cats.

When did you start making art?

When I was a kid, I think. In my early childhood memories, I’m either holding a pencil or chewing it.

How did you hear about Tezos?

I heard about Tezos from my friends @may_mfadeeva and her husband. We had a small wine party at our house last September, and those two kept talking about NFT and Tezos. I thought, either I’m so boring they don’t want to talk about anything else to me, or that Tezos NFT thing is really worth trying. I think that was all about NFT and Tezos, indeed, because I’m always hilarious to be around, of course.   

“Scaryberry Jam” by kato

What inspires your style?

I don’t think I really have a defined style yet. I’d love to develop one, I’m always trying something new when I’m creating. The only permanent thing in my artworks is my color palette, I think. As a creative, I get my inspiration from my everyday life, architecture, nature, and the seagulls flying by my window. All those things are my inner energy sources, they motivate me to smile and keep creating art even in the toughest and weirdest times. As an artist, I’m inspired by Bruno Munari, Sonia Delaunay, Josef and Anni Albers, Oskar Schlemmer, Ikko Tanaka, and many other talented people who have already become a huge part of art and design history now.

You mint across various CleanNFT platforms including OBJKT, Versum, and 8bidou. How do you know which site to use when minting?

Like many other CleanNFT artists, I started my NFT journey with hic et nunc. I minted my illustration projects there, including my Kidult Alphabet animations. And when Versum was launched, I thought it’d be nice to try minting something new there. So I dropped my first abstract piece on Versum. As for 8bidou, it is my big love, despite its completely crazy UI. I’m a huge fan of pixel art. I couldn’t miss an opportunity to create some 8×8 pieces. I had loads of fun creating my ‘Nerd Alert’ and ‘Pixel Schmixel’ collections! 

“love is in the air” by Kato

Tell us about your alphabet themed series.

The ‘Kidult Alphabet’ series started as a part of the ‘36 days of type’ challenge last spring. It had no deep concept, just some funny flat static letters with no animation. For some reason, I didn’t finish it on time and quit the challenge. I returned to the series in September. I rethought the concept, redrawn some letters, added some textures and animation to them. My husband is a sound designer and a composer, and he created amazing sounds for every letter. So it turned out to be a nice nostalgic project about my childhood and something that awakens something warm inside. 

“V for Victory” by Kato

Do you prefer making small collections over individual pieces?

Yeah, I do prefer making small series because I can try different instruments within one shape or concept. The most difficult thing about a series is to come up with a name for it. 

 Tell us more about the monochromes collection.

Oh, it was a pure experiment. I often use a lot of colors in my artworks, so I decided to limit my palette to one color per piece within one series. 

“004” by Kato

Why do you make art?

I tried to do a lot of other things, and I didn’t like them. So I focused on art.

What are your goals moving forward?

My goal is to keep on with my art experiments. I started learning creative coding, so probably it’ll result in a new path for my art to turn on. I love NFT for the opportunity to meet new talented and supportive people. It gives me a lot of strength and motivation to keep up.

“eternal flower #4” by Kato

Is there anyone you’d like to shoutout?

Questions like this always scare me as I’m afraid to forget to mention someone I really love. NFT Community is full of super talented people, so I have many names for you:

@407Atelie, @andregorayeb, @AntoineDoreArt, @bentukformal, @BilndArt, @chiquitaputri, @crystalspaceshp, @danil_golovkin, @erdyillustrate, @eventualghost, @johakroft, @josegasparian, @lewis_osb, @liunic, @Lizave_artist, @mariuswatz, @MaxDrekker, @mikart_NFT, @_NESVA, @nftible, @NftTessa, @nubikini, @0DDxJ0BS, @philipbell_, @platformmmm, @pouyabashirii, @rickacrane, @StudioCaptain1, @StudioYorktown, @tompop99, @Tuzov_Ivan, @Yuriy_Kob and many many other amazing artists! Just check out my ‘following’ list. 

Anything else?

Thanks a million for this opportunity, it’s nice of you to give me a platform to speak about my art, I’m flattered. It’s a big deal when you get the NFT world to know new artists! Keep on, please 🙂 

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