An OG and the TrashArt Movement

“I’m using my old glitch painting, like textures, and reinserting that into the new imagery. It’s like my own little signature on there.”

ROBNESS, a Los Angeles native, is a multi-faceted crypto artist who has been part of the cryptoart scene since its beginning. This artist has been a part of many of cryptoart’s most meaningful events and participated in the Rare Pepe trading collective.

The first time ROBNESS interacted with digital art was when he was 12 years old when he tried to make counterfeit magic cards using a Microtek scanner and Photoshop 1.0.

Before becoming a full-time artist, ROBNESS was a musician and played in various bands until his late twenties. While doing so, ROBNESS had been doing canvas work on the side. He only realized his artwork was worthwhile when three of his paintings were stolen from the hallways in his recording studio lockout building after he had hung them up. “My reaction was positive. Like… they liked it, that’s great. Someone actually took the time to steal it,” he shares. “That means it’s worth something. So, that was my first inclination that maybe people might actually appreciate my visual work.”

ROBNESS spent large amounts of time researching blockchain technology between 2014 and 2016, and entered the Rare Pepe world in 2016. He says, “I was fortunate to be included in the early series sets; a lot of my work was in those first iterations.”

He discovered the cryptoart space in 2018, which immediately intrigued him. ROBNESS is the creator of the ‘#TrashArt’ movement, which disrupted the cryptoart world. He first created three pieces, with the first one called ‘Brute Trashcan,’ which was an obscure version of a trashcan. The second trashcan was more literal, and the third was the most literal version. This created a trend as many other artists in the NFT space were inspired by his art. The ‘#TrashArt’ movement is still going strong!

ROBNESS is currently creating art and incorporating a lot of AI tools and effects in his new work while still keeping it authentic. “I’m using my old glitch painting, like textures, and reinserting that into the new imagery. It’s like my own little signature inside of each digitally molded image.”

ROBNESS is inspired by the Wild West and futurism, and has been infusing these two genres in his current work. Watch this space!