In May, in observance of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, SuperRare and Drue Kataoka are doing just that. The leading NFT marketplace and artist/technologist/activist and CEO Kataoka have partnered to develop #TheGoldStandard, a new exhibition highlighting the significant contributions of Asian American artists to the digital art market.
Throughout the month of May, #TheGoldStandard features 10 artists whose diverse methods help reflect the Asian American and global pan-Asian experience. With this first-of-its-kind exhibit, SuperRare is underlining the significance of the many communities that comprise the NFT ecosystem, enlisting Kataoka to lead the initiative and drive home the message.
Since 2018, SuperRare has provided a forum for artists of all sizes. Despite the fact that it seems to be a highly selected site, SuperRare continues to get praise for its community-centered values and initiatives aimed at aiding underrepresented artists.
As a prominent digital artist and CEO of Drue Kataoka Art Studios, Kataoka has consistently exceeded and shattered traditional art industry boundaries. She has recently emerged as a diversity champion in the NFT arena, with the intention of offering attention, admiration, and recognition to the many AAPI artists who have paved the way for the development of digital art.
Today, Kataoka said, “From pushing visual technology to its limits in Hollywood special effects, to building virtual worlds for top gaming experiences, to advancing the frontier of technology art, [Asian American artists] have been the backbone of digital creativity for decades,” Kataoka said in an interview with nft now.
“Asian Americans have played a critical role in turning the best-known digital franchises into household names, but they haven’t really gotten their just due. For the most part, they’ve been really toiling away in the shadows. We even have examples of some of these artists in the show: astonishingly talented, yet not as well-known as they should be.”
Kataoka believes that #TheGoldStandard will aid collectors in identifying underappreciated artists, giving them the recognition they deserve. She acknowledges that the NFT sector as a whole should do more to fight prejudice and promote women and non-white artists, but that it would need a multifaceted effort.
“On one side of the coin, when we see racism, misogyny, or harassment, it needs to be called out right away,” says Kataoka. “The other side of the coin is: when we see great talent and brilliant artists and creators who are doing important work, we need to call that out too. We need to amplify them for the overall health of the ecosystem.”
Kataoka has created an experience to address the dearth of visibility of Asian American artists in media, entertainment, and the arts. While these kinds of amplification efforts — even ones that last a month — may appear transient in the fast-paced NFT world, Kataoka has taken great care in creating this experience. The #TheGoldStandard exhibition showcases currencies created by digital artists, scientists, and academics who push the limits of what is technically possible in crypto.
“I spent a lot of time and care in putting this show together. I spent hours with each artist, talking with them and helping them select a piece so that the whole collection goes together and exposes the rich facets of Asian American art and artistic experience,” Kataoka tells nft now. “I really spent the time to figure out which piece would be the strongest foot forward that each artist could contribute to this unique opportunity.
Kataoka herself has contributed an NFT for the SuperRare exhibition. “Vitruvian Lady,” co-produced by Drue Kataoka Studios and Concept Art House, reinterprets Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man as a multicultural Asian American lady swimming in a sea of gold. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this work will be donated to Asian Health Services, a non-profit organization that provides health, social, and advocacy services to individuals of any socioeconomic position, insurance status, immigration status, language, or culture.
“Vitruvian Woman” is a marvel in its own right, since it is based on several biometric scans of Kataoka’s actual body and has numerous unique components and easter eggs. Nevertheless, the sculpture pairs well with #TheGoldStandard, which references Asian skin, beauty, and, of course, the beginnings of cryptocurrency (and crypto art) as the “new gold.”
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