Pushing Pixels Interview - Jack Shure's Dead Family NFT
Recently we spent some time with multi-disciplinary artist Jack Shure to talk to him about his new NFT collection Dead Family. This is Jack’s first digital art project and we asked him a bit about the project, why he wanted to create an NFT and get his general outlook on the space.
The Project Details:
Dead Family drops tomorrow, February 25th at 9pm UTC on $FTM at 35 $FTM. You can find more information about the release here.
Now onto the interview (edited for brevity).
Digitalemissions (DE): Hey Jack, thanks for joining us today. Where are you in the world?
Jack Shure (JS) : It’s a pleasure, right now I’m in Boulder, Colorado.
DE: Your traditional art draws inspiration from the future, present and history. How does this play into your NFT project?
JS: I started career as an artist selling posters in the parking lots at Grateful Dead concerts. Revisiting these old themes in this project is homage to that part of my life. The Pharaoh image really helped pave a way to be a working artist.
DE: Tell us more about the NFT project
JS: Dead Family is a generative project of 777 unique NFTs where different attributes will be switched in and out. My experience making screen print posters where you switch colors in and out is a lot like the Dead Family. Instead of the layers being separated in trapping for color — the attributes I’ve drawn over a few weeks become the layers that are applied by a program in a few seconds.
DE: How many attributes are there?
JS: We have 11 unique attributes and the project has 9 special 1:1 NFTs.
DE: How did you decide to go with the generative NFT route vs 1:1s?
JS: I found it interesting that thousands of people could collect a piece of my art. The traditional art world isn’t accessible for most and is still really niche. NFTs can make my work more accessible to a larger set of collectors.
DE: Do you collect NFTs yourself? Are there any projects you admire or want to replicate?
JS: I don’t have a wallet setup yet. Van Minnen genesis collection is really interesting.
DE: How did you decide to work with the team you’re working with?
JS: Potluck Labs has experience on Fantom and have had some success with past projects. They were referred by a friend and know the space well.
DE: Do you have any concerns about the Dead Family project? Does anything keep you up at night?
JS: Typical problems like the project crashing, not selling out, floors dropping. I’ve also gotten hate from people who only want to see me paint. Everyone has a fucking opinion so it doesn’t matter a whole lot and they’re not paying my bills. Being an artist is always about trying new things, rolling the dice. There’s no such thing as a steady paycheck.
DE: How do you compare your experience in the physical art world and NFTs?
JS: They’re similar in some ways. Both can be less about the art, but who you know, although the traditional art world can be a lot more elitist.
DE: Let me make a statement and let me know where I got it right or wrong: Do NFTs change the relationships between artists and collectors because the royalty structures allow everyone to benefit when an artwork is sold.
JS: Agree completely. Physical art world has people who buy and sell, NFTs encourage it in a way that people can actually track and some money goes back to the original creator. The physical art world is much more shady whereas NFTs you may actually want the NFTs to goto a flipper to make the market move.
DE: What do you think about the idea that tokens can be used to prove provenance and provide royalties for physical works?
JS: It’s super interesting as a concept. In practice there’s so much that happens behind closed doors that it may not be something collectors will want.
DE: What has been the response from other Artists?
JS: Younger artists have reached out to learn about the project, how it works and who I’m working with. Some fine art people are going to disregard it either way which is fine, it’s a brand new thing and no one knows where it’s going to go. But I do feel people should be open minded and learn more about it even if you don’t participate.
Also as a gallery artist, you may not sell anything for 6 months at a time. That type of stress is not conducive to creating the best type of art. NFTs can help so that you don’t have to worry as much about that next paycheck.
DE: Who do you think is going to buy the project?
JS: A lot of new collectors I don’t know yet. I have a small collection of physical art collectors and not many of them seem to be interested in NFTs.
DE: What do you think your involvement will be in the project beyond the art? Will you be participating in the community?
JS: I’ve been asked to interact with the people who are interested, not unlike the physical art world. Buying art is a luxury and if they put enough importance on it to spend their money on my art, I’ll definitely show my respect.
DE: Last question as we wrap up. We both have newborns, are you a Pampers or Huggies house?
JS: Pampers. We tried the organic diapers and it wasn’t happening unless you want your clothes covered in shit.
More image’s from Jack’s Dead Family project below. We’ll be interviewing more artists with NFT projects soon, so stay tuned.
May your gas prices be reasonable,
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