MAGUSZ ART
Tell us about yourself, how did you become an artist?
I grew up seeing my mum painting mainly with oil on canvas. Maybe that was my inspiration or it’s part of my genes since I always remember liking to draw and paint. So much that when I was 15 I selected the course of Art in High School. Surprisingly there was a twist and while I was studying arts I also joined a theatre group, which eventually would determine my choice of career after finishing the studies, and so I worked as an actor and animator for many years. I changed career often though my life, but always having the hobby of drawing and painting, until October 2020 when my girlfriend told me that we should buy an iPad and install Procreate, because I would love it. Indeed I love it and started using it everyday. It seems life has had circle back to me and now I was determined to focus entirely on art. Started making some illustrations for board games and it just grow from there.
Tell us about your favorite medium.
I work mainly on iPad with Procreate. So my main medium is digital. And I have been exploring all the features of this app and expanding my competences with it, so lately I also started creating animated pieces, done frame by frame and adding music and sound effects to complete it.But I can say that my style, either with the static or animated pieces, is a mix between visionary, psychedelic and surreal art.
Why Do You Make This Type of Art? Why are you drawn to this subject?
I always felt deeply connected with the spiritual journey and to understand human beings holistically. So my art became naturally a reflection of it. I try to make pieces that have a meaning behind it related with spiritual connection, awakening and awareness, and a journey of exploration of the Self. Trying to understand who I am and how I am connected with everything else.
Will NFTs transform the art world? Are they even art?
NFTs already transformed the art world since they allow for digital artists to have a way to sell their work like never existed before. There’s big name auction houses selling NFTs like Christies and Sotheby’s so the CryptoArt movement is already full steam ahead. However it’s important to understand that NFTs itself are not art. NFTs will be used for many things in the future and will be in our lives without us even understanding. Houses were already sold as NFT (and off course with the real house). One day our car keys may have a chip that links to an NFT and any time we sell the car, we just sell the NFT and that will be reflected on the key. To own the NFT will be the proof that we own the car.The utility and revolution of NFTs it’s just starting and it’s important to understand that basically it’s a digital certificate that lives forever on the blockchain and it’s associated to a smart contract. So it can literally be used for anything we wish, and make the smart contract accordingly.
The technology of blockchain brought the movement of CryptoArt, in a way that now we can “mint” art in the blockchain and will live forever. In the same way that an artist can make a painting in the wall which come from the art movement of graffiti. It’s really a revolution to think that we can immortalise art, that whatever we create, we can mint as NFT and will be there forever. This never existed before, a way to ensure that art is immortalised and all future generations will be able to track it and check all the data associated with it, including when it was created. The technology also allows to explore new fields and level of interaction with digital art. There’s platforms like Async-Art art are pioneers in creating tools to allow artists to create art pieces that change accordingly to the time (twice or 4 times a day), with different layers that can be interchangeable and as such creating a diverse variety of combinations. These are just few examples but much more will appear. We have to keep in mind that artists are surfing this wave so we have some of the most creative people on the world experimenting and creating with this new tech everyday.
How did you become an NFT artist?
I don’t consider myself an NFT artist. If most I can consider CryptoArtist, because it comes from the CryptoArt movement. NFTs are the product, but cryptoart portrait better the combination of Art and Blockchain technology (and crypto currency).I ran away a bit from the question itself, but this explanation was needed. So now to answer the question, I discovered NFTs thanks to my younger brother. He told me first about cryptos, so I start learning about blockchain and making some investments. And one day he just told me to look into cryptoart and NFTs. So after some research and trying to understand it, I minted my first NFT at November 2020, on the platform Rarible. It was an experiment to see how it works and go from there. At first it seemed a bit the Wild West, and a lot of “crap” was being minted and sold, so I though that anything would be good and I would succeed. I was wrong.But that was a great lesson and from there I started learning more about blockchain technology and specifically NFTs and never went back. Just fall into the rabbit hole and discovered this amazing world where we can sell and buy art, but also to connect with amazing artists all over the world, in a way that never existed before. On Christmas Eve of 2020 I sold my first CryptoArt piece for 25$. It was a dream for me at that time. From there I kept selling and increasing my prices and I’m very happy to have had some success so far. It’s a great experience and a new way to create, interact and be part of a movement and community.
Where do you find inspiration?
Most of the pieces come from visions I have from the exploration of the Self and the connection with everything. Most of those visions come from altered states of conscious, achieved with psychedelics, meditation or/ and pure inspiration (like channeling some divine message). Often I feel I’m being guided. It’s rarely that I make a sketch of what I want to create. My process is more a free flow, trying to shut out the toughs and just let the hand do the work, without knowing before hand what is the final result. However, many times I start with an idea of the message I would like to transmit and go from there.
Describe how art is important to society.
Since humanity exists, even when we were living in caves, we discovered art as a way of expression. It’s one of the oldest forms of expression and communication, probably even before we could have a common oral language. If we take art from society, we are disconnecting with the human divine power which is creation, and the ability to explore and express our feelings though different forms. It is needed to make us reflect, to provoke, to experiment and develop new ideas.Now with CryptoArt movement, art is on the forefront of the innovation and the usage of blockchain technology. It became a playground for artists, and that is an amazing step forward on our civilization.
What motivates you to create?
Life itself. I don’t know how to explain. It’s just a calling, a feeling that sometimes comes and I just need to grab my tools and start creating. It’s a therapy, a healing process, and at the same time a way to immerse myself into a flow state, where time stops and nothing else exists. Almost like meditating.And the ability to create is something so magical, so divine, so unique in being human, that it’s important to cherish and grow. All humans have the ability to create. Children draw and create with play doh or make stories that they play with. That ability needs to be fostered so never ceases to exist.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
It’s difficult for me to imagine my future since my life changed so often. It’s always surprising me. But at this moment what I wish is to keep creating, to buy a land where I can build my own art studio and be able to live from my art, without worries about finances or time pressure. Just free to live and create daily.It’s a nice dream no?