I AM BONE, SPIT, MUSCLE, ARTERY AND The Hole The Universe is full of dots A LITTLE BIT OF LOOP ANIMATION
“I use different tools but the most important tool I have is my heart which gives direction to my hands and mind.”
Working as a waiter, it was the appreciation garnered from a drunk customer for one of his doodles on a napkin that made Cem Hasimi pivot from studying finance to graphic design. After graduating from university in Istanbul 12-years ago, Cem (known as cemhah on Twitter) became an Integrated Art Director. He has worked for Volkswagen, Coca-Cola, Saatchi & Saatchi, and other industry heavyweights, winning award after award.
When Cem moved to London several years ago, “something clicked, and I decided to work on my own art – more drawing, more illustration.” In 2020, he got his second big push: this time, from a friend who told him about NFTs and urged him to” just become an artist. This is a good opportunity to get into the scene and show what you can do.”
Cem was discovered on Tezos by @CozomoMedici, who bought Cemhah’s 1-of-1 piece for 1000 Tezos, and a piece on Ethereum. “I was found by a huge collector, one of the most important digital enthusiasts in the NFT world. My life changed.” His third big push. The Medici family picked my piece “LOVE you” for the Medici Collection to be displayed during NFT NYC in Times Square.
Cem participated in Art Innovation Gallery’s LED Wall Exhibition in Times Square, New York in 2022. In the same year, Undrgrnd commissioned a piece from him through their Grant Program. Neil Queen-Jones wrote: “Highly accomplished and technically astounding animated pieces. Despite his work’s thorough, detailed, nuanced nature, Cem allows his creative process to be led by his gut instinct rather than the end product of a series of drafts and sketches. As a result, there’s a purity and directness that amplifies the feeling in everything he drops. Cem has few peers when it comes to capturing and distilling human psychology and the ways that we connect.”
“I am very emotional, so what I do in my art is trying to illustrate those emotions in a minimalistic way with the help of simple graphic elements lines, dots and colours,” he shares. “I use different tools but the most important tool I have is my heart which gives direction to my hands and mind.”
Cem has 7-pages of work on Objkt, documenting the fascinating development of his art and his technical acumen. The colors and detail in each piece, coupled with loop animations, are captivating. The title of each work adds to the depth and understanding of the image. A maestro at work!