THE ELEGANCE OF DIGITAL ART
“It was a new moment when I finally felt like I enjoyed what I was doing, and from there, I just started making things.”
When looking at UK-based Gary Cartlidge’s art, you’ll be struck by its grittiness and exquisite refinement. “I used to be a street artist, but now I’m a graphic designer and digital artist,” he says. “I’m a confirmed cryptoart OG as of 2018, and I’ve left my mark on this history.”
Gary’s combined the rough, gritty aesthetic of his early street art with the beautiful elegance of his later digital art to captivate the NFT world.
After graduating from school, he trained and worked as an electrician. During that time, he turned to street art as a way to improve his art – his burning passion. He worked long hours and stashed his earnings aside to study professional graphic design.
At college, he discovered the hidden opportunities of cryptoart. He recalls: “I just thought, ‘Well, maybe I can use my graphic design skills for something.’ I was always very creative as a child. I think it was the only thing I was good at by nature. I just started trying things out, and I wasn’t really keeping track of the results.”
But, he was hooked.
He joined Nifty Gateway, KnownOrigin, and SuperRare to share his cryptoart. His pieces combine vectored elements with paint, photography, and abstract elements intended to make people rethink their opinions and positions.
He shares the memory of his first sale: “I was very happy. I didn’t have anything. I was using a laptop that was five years old and making whatever I wanted in my little box bedroom. It was a new moment when I finally felt like I enjoyed what I was doing, and from there, I just started making things.”
Gary describes his inspiration: “A lot of my art is just a stream of consciousness. When I read the news or see something I don’t like, I usually make fun of it or try to change it in some way. I like surrealism a lot. But most of the time, I get ideas from the world as it is and how things are broken.”
Gary Cartlidge is an OG in the cryptoart world and one of the brightest voices in the NFT space. Watch this artist!
