AUTOMATISM
“Being part of a supportive, robust community can open many doors for an artist.”
NFTs have allowed Yazid to embrace his artistic identity fully. Yazid has always been interested in art and technology, having dabbled in Flash as a teenager. Upon completing high school, while he wanted to pursue graphic design, he realized that an IT degree would drastically increase his chances of getting a job locally. It wasn’t long before he headed to Brisbane, Australia, to major in interactive media.
While conducting research on the emergence of new asset classes at the end of 2020, Yazid noted that investors were migrating, putting their money into more unconventional spaces, such as collectibles and NFTs.
Officially entering the NFT space in 2021, he set out to obtain a hands-on education with one very clear goal for himself. Inspired by digital creator Jack Butcher’s challenge of making $1 on the internet, Yazid set out to make $1 selling an NFT of his own in 2021. His genesis drop, a two-piece collection called ‘DaftCryptoPunks,’ was an homage to CryptoPunks and inspired by the breakup of one of the most celebrated electronic music duos of all time then, Daft Punk. Released on Rarible, his first two pieces sold within days.
Being part of a supportive, robust community can open many doors for an artist. Having made his way across a large piece of the blockchain landscape, Yazid rates Twitter, Discord, the Hic Et Nunc and various generative art communities among his favorites.
Having acquired an impressive selection of coding skills, the shift towards more dynamic, randomized art came naturally. He explains: “Taking my skills into consideration, I wanted to learn more about on-chain art. Moving from CryptoPunks to Autoglyphs was a natural progression.” That’s where he eventually got to learn of Art Blocks and the on-chain generative art movement.
Does Yazid view AI tools as friends or foes? He shares: “I think it will have some effect on the space, especially considering the tech gets exponentially better. While I don’t think everyone will be made completely redundant, there might be a subset of creatives faced with some new competition.” It’s definitely gotten the generative art community thinking.
Head of Innovation at a national bank, Yazid continues to keep an eye on developments in AI and blockchain technologies, but is even more eager to continue expressing himself through art and engaging with the vibrant community.
