The more Web3 evolves, the more challenging it is for artists and builders to innovate within its walls. Gamified drops<\/a>, unique burn mechanics<\/a>, and more are all now commonplace in the NFT ecosystem. Each new pioneering dynamic raises the stakes just a bit higher. <\/p>\n This is a blessing for collectors, but it puts the onus on creators to stay on their toes and do something, well, new. Thankfully, even in the depths of an increasingly brutal bear market<\/a>, the space isn\u2019t short on creatives willing to step up to the plate. Enter visual artist Jeremy Cowart<\/a>, a painter, illustrator, and photographer known for working with celebrities like Barak Obama, Taylor Swift, The Kardashians, and a litany of others. <\/p>\n Having been involved in Web3 since August 2021, Cowart\u2019s dynamic and interactive NFT projects have brought truly unique aesthetics to the crypto art world. Now, he\u2019s aiming to push the space in a direction it\u2019s never been before by creating Auras, a 10,000-piece NFT collection, live in front of a Nashville audience. Oh, and he plans to create it in 20 minutes without generative code or software of any kind. <\/p>\n We spoke to Cowart ahead of next week\u2019s performance about what (he hopes) will be a historic moment in the annals of Web3. <\/p>\n On May 2, 2023, Cowart will take to the stage at V\u016b Nashville<\/a> for less than half an hour. Using himself as the canvas for the project, the photographer will don a white mask and project hundreds of images at himself from several different angles to create 10,000 NFTs in a 20-minute span. The venue is key to the project. V\u016b features a massive, 123-foot LED screen that the artist will utilize in the project\u2019s creation, revealing a never-before-seen creative methodology he has been developing for the better part of the last decade in the process.<\/p>\n Taking place in partnership with Transient Labs and OpenSea, Cowart is going to great lengths to physically recreate NFT trait rarity and variety, in a nod to the well-known 10K PFP tradition<\/a> in the Web3 space. That\u2019s no small feat, given the fact that PFP projects\u2019 traits tend to be computer-generated. <\/p>\n But perhaps the most compelling thing about the ambitious live performance is that it came close to never existing. After entering the NFT space in early 2021, Cowart became disillusioned with NFTs and decided to bow out of Web3 by August of the same year.<\/p>\n Finding himself at Miami\u2019s Art Basel in the fall, however, he serendipitously stumbled upon the generative NFT art scene per the recommendation of a friend. He spent the next two months obsessively reading up on the space and decided to try his hand at it again. \u201cMy abstract painter brain understood what I could do with that,\u201d Cowart told nft now. <\/p>\n Cowart\u2019s reentry to the space came in February 2022 with the release of the 999-piece Block Queens<\/a>, a generative collage project that the artist was able to build to scale with the help of Transient Labs co-founders Ben Strauss<\/a> and Marco Peyfuss<\/a>. The pair encouraged Cowart\u2019s experimental ideas, which were to make the NFTs in the collection three-dimensional, interactive concept pieces. <\/p>\n Block Queens sold out within seconds of its release. <\/p>\nA performance like no other<\/h2>\n
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