FINDING YOURSELF THROUGH ART
“I feel like I’ve been really fortunate to have these people, these collectors, and friends in my journey because I wouldn’t be here without them.”
East, known as @eastoire on Twitter, is an incredibly talented 26-year-old Thai artist. She and her family moved to Belgium when she was 11, and being the only Asian family in their area, East had a tough time adapting to the new small town and society. It shaped her outlook on art. “I had a really hard time growing up and then adapting to society, but my brother and I were really interested in art and music. It was kind of like an escape for us.”
East started studying architecture but found that she didn’t like working with measurements and drawing straight lines. “I switched from architecture to visual art, where I could actually express myself more. And then later on, I got into graphic design because I liked the creative side of doing art,” she says.
This artist delved into the NFT space in 2021 and started their own NFT collection. “I didn’t actually go to Twitter and see who was doing well; I just collected what I liked.” It inspired her to create her own art for the space.
When creating her art, East focuses on expressing herself and her story. “I would just go on my iPad and start drawing, thinking about how I can express my feelings and my story through the brush strokes and the compositions. I have this small collection of things that I make in analog. I would scan it and then draw on iPads, and then put my work in Photoshop and use the scan files and mix them together.”
East prefers her art to be abstract with a lot of depth. Her art is often a self-image, and she chooses not to personalize it. She shares: “You cannot recognize the face or even tell if it’s a female or a male body sometimes. I did it intentionally because I don’t feel like I belong anywhere. So that’s the reflection of me trying to find myself.”
Like many artists in the NFT art space, East closely connects with her collectors. “They’re very supportive in what I do, and even when I ask for advice, they would say, ‘You just do whatever you want. We’re supportive of you and your work, and you don’t have to worry about this kind of stuff.’ I feel like I’ve been really fortunate to have these people, these collectors, and friends in my journey because I wouldn’t be here without them.”
