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Ellie Pritts At Bright Moments Gallery Curating An IRL Electric Psychedelia Show, Plus GameStop Stock NFT Saga, DraftKings NFT Marketplace, Steve Jobs' NFT, And More...
One aspect of appreciating art that resonates with most people is the experience of going to galleries and seeing the art in person. But with the emergence of NFT, is an in-person gallery possible? The answer is yes. Ellie Pritts is the co-founder of the radical film editing collective Racer Trash and the curator for the Electric Psychedelia Art Show held at Bright Moments, Venice’s first in-person NFT art gallery. She goes through her process and the idea behind this IRL digital art show. Ellie shares the positive impact of NFT to artists, both digital and physical, and gives tips on how to get started in the community. She also talks about CryptoVenetians and catches up with hosts Eathan Janney, Jeff Kelley & Josh Kriger on what’s cooking in the world of NFT, from GameStop to DraftKings.
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Listen to the podcast here
Ellie Pritts At Bright Moments Gallery Curating An IRL Electric Psychedelia Show, Plus GameStop Stock NFT Saga, DraftKings NFT Marketplace, Steve Jobs’ NFT, And More…
Check out this episode to discover what a CryptoVenetian is and how you can get one.
Learn what advice Ellie Pritts has so artists can kill it with their NFTs.
Find out what’s next in the never-ending GameStop saga. All this and more on this episode.
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**This episode features guest Ellie Pritts, a renowned creative, widely known for her kaleidoscopic artwork who is curating the Electric Psychedelia NFT show at **Bright Moments Gallery in Venice, California on July 29th, 2021. Ellie was named one of TIME’s top photographers to follow and her work has been featured by the likes of NYLON, Pitchfork, WIRED and more. Professionally, she is recognized for her role in launching and art directing the Apple Instagram account, as well as cofounding the film editing collective, Racer Trash.
Ellie, it’s great to see you here. I’m so glad to be here with you in our second show at Bright Moments Gallery. We love coming over here, being one of the first IRL galleries in the world, especially to have you here on this show. The real question is, did you get your CryptoVenetian yet?
I did.
Let’s hear about it.
Honestly, it was cool. It was a magical experience. Seth made it extra magical for me. I had a walk-on song.
What was that song?
It was called Fancy by Amaarae. I closed my eyes and I didn’t peek. There’s this perfect CryptoVenetian that honestly, I feel like it looks like me. Now I have to cosplay as my Venetian for my show.
The goal of that experience is so that people treasure their Venetian. They’re not as inclined to sell it and that holds more value. It came out of the Bright Moments Gallery womb and now it’s yours forever.
Tell us about the Venetian, though. What are the attributes? What did you get?
She looks like Daria’s best friend, the goth girl. She’s wearing a black tube top and black pants, it’s monochromatic, a cool yellow hat, and a surfboard.
By the way, is it a gender that you get to pick?
I don’t think so. I’m projecting gender onto my creativity. It’s androgynous.
It’s neutral.
I see myself.
Let’s compare it with Josh’s. Josh, how is yours different?
Mine has a hat on. It looks like there’s not a lot of hair going on, so I feel like the hairs have hidden. It is bald like me, so I feel that connection. We have the same color of shorts. I have green shorts. I like green a lot. I wear a lot of green. I know what you mean. It’s a special thing. My girlfriend’s been trying to rearrange her work schedule to get her CryptoVenetian and she was like, “I could take a day off.” It’s getting serious.
She should.
I’m hosting all the way over here in Florida. I’m going to be out there. I can’t get a proxy to do it. Nobody’s going to give up their own Venetian for me.
I’ve given up some cash to American Airlines so that I can get out there and get my CryptoVenetian. We’ll be doing a bit of couch surfing in order to pull this off in addition to participating in some Edge of NFT activities in the Los Angeles area.
The real question is going to be, does Eathan’s Venetian look more like him or his doppelganger on this season of The Bachelor?
I want to move on here and get to know Ellie a little bit more and what she’s up to. She’s curated one of the most anticipated shows that Bright Moments will be hosting in its young history called Electric Psychedelia. Ellie, tell us all about it, how you curated it, and the artists involved. Give us the goods.
NFT Art Gallery: You really have to be committed to it, if you’re just getting started at communities. Sharing your process is a huge part of it.
I’m excited about the show. The idea came to me right when things were starting to open up again and I saw an opportunity to do an in-person NFT show. I tweeted about it. The tweet went mildly viral. I got connected to Seth and the team at Bright Moments through Justin Boreta. Honestly, I had spent so much of quarantine not only working on art but becoming part of the NFT community and being blown away by the art of these artists all over the world. All I wanted to do was curate my dream show and that’s exactly what I did. The theme of the show is trippy artwork that challenges viewers to change their perception of reality and accept alternate perceptions of reality. The artwork is diverse in terms of subject matter and style, but all of it is surreal and interesting.
You mentioned getting integrated with the NFT community. I’m sure that could go very broad or narrow. As a follow-up, what does the NFT community mean to you? What do you feel is your little niche in there? How broadly do you think you’ve gone in things like this?
It is tremendously broad and I feel that my place in it is niche. For me, what it means is it’s a new community that people and creatives that I don’t think I would have met virtually or otherwise. In general, it signifies a renaissance of art and artists in this new digital metaverse and it’s exciting to me.
That reminds me of what Josh was saying that at Bright Moments, there was an event that had to do with the Bored Ape Yacht Club.
It’s quite interesting. I didn’t get the memo because I don’t have a Bored Ape.
You said you asked Zach and you said, “How come I didn’t hear about this?” He’s like, “You don’t have a Bored Ape, do you?”
It was a big impromptu party. Apparently, there are a lot of Angelenos that have their Bored Apes or several. In fact, we heard on a previous episode with the chairman of Animoca all the way in Hong Kong that he has a Bored Ape as well or a couple of them. There’s another big Bored Ape party coming up on July 31st, 2021. Folks may read this and want to show up for that party as well. It’s cool to see this combination of digi-fizzy coming together and how this gallery has been hosting such a unique diversity of the NFT community.
I’d love to know, in terms of the curation process for the show, how did that evolve? Is it different from your normal work curating projects and choosing the artwork and the entire process? What was that like? How is that different?
I found it a lot less restrictive because the works are digital, we have screens, and I’m going to have a projector set up. I was able to feature more art than if I was just featuring physical work. There’s a limited amount of space. Whereas with digital, I had more space to include more artists. Even with what I have, there are still a lot more people that I would want to be part of this, but I had to cut it off at some point. I found the experience to be fun. I enjoyed curating.
Tell us a little bit about the artists that you selected.
There’s a lot. I’m not going to be able to name all of them. One that I’m excited about is Holly Herndon who is a multidisciplinary artist like myself and her work is incredible. I was not sure if she was going to say yes to being my show because she’s a big deal and we don’t have a direct connection, but she said yes and she’s excited. It’s a similar story with Jen Stark. She is an incredible artist that lots of people know. Jen has been doing amazing physical art and then created some NFTs as well and I loved them. She said yes and I’m excited about that. I have people that I’m friends with online who I’m excited to have in the show like Andrew Benson and Zach Lieberman. I’m excited about him being on the show. There’s a lot. Sarah Zucker is an incredible artist who’s very influential and has been doing NFTs for longer than anyone else that I know. She’s going to be in the show too. I could go on but I won’t. Come to the show to find out.
Come to the show on July 29th, 2021 at Bright Moments. It’s awesome.
In fact, if you can’t come to the show, like other events, there’ll be a live global auction. It starts about 24 hours before the show. Folks all over the room will be able to see this amazing group of artists that you curated and participated in. What’s special is they have a screen that shows the auction results in real-time. The artists that come will see who bid on their art and know the results of the auction at the end of the show.
You can also visit Bright Moments on that day and maybe after. You can see a live feed of all the art that’s being displayed, the same time that it’s being displayed on the screens here so you can check it out virtually.
I would love to know the history of your experience with NFTs. How did you first hear about NFTs and how has that influenced your work as an artist?
To answer your first question, I found out about NFTs in 2020 in the spring or summer. I was approached by a photographer who is consulting with Foundation and helping them to build a community. This was before Foundation launched. At that time, Foundation was going to be providing physical merchandise sales. The original thing was that I was going to make my first photo book and publish it, and then sell it through Foundation. The digital assets being sold on the site was a side thing. It was never fully explained to me initially and I didn’t understand what it was.
Later, I got to talk to the founder of Foundation and he was excited about the NFTs, which I didn’t even know that’s what it was. He explained it to me. I would say 70% of it didn’t make sense, which made me excited. I knew that I wanted to learn more and I wanted to be a part of it, so that’s exactly what I did. I followed up later. They dropped selling physical things and they pivoted the product. I reached out again and I was like, “I want to do the digital thing you’re talking about,” and so I did.
This now leads to the second question that you asked on how has this changed or affected my artwork and what I was doing. It’s a huge impact because I was making video art for no one for years because I enjoyed it, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I never had a place to put it and I certainly didn’t have a way to monetize it, so I had this backlog of things. I remember showing it to Lindsay at Foundation being like, “Is this a thing? Could I sell this thing?” She was like, “Yeah.” She looked at it and she gave me feedback. I minted my first three NFTs that were part of that big launch in January and February 2021, and here I am.
It seems like Foundation holds a special place in your heart because they introduce you to NFTs. How do you look at that platform compared to the other platforms that are out there? How do you explain that platform to other artists?
Foundation is near and dear to my heart because the team there is incredible. I’ve been in contact with them for some time now. I love everything that they’re doing and their products. I love using them. I have only minted through them, and then Hic et Nunc because it’s the only other platform I’ve used. I also love different vibes and different types of things. I use the two platforms differently. Usually, if other artists come to me asking for advice about whether to use Foundation or not, I will be honest with them about it. It’s the same case no matter where you are, you have to be committed to it. If you’re just getting started out, community and sharing your process are a huge part of it. It’s not as simple as just putting something up there and thinking that a bunch of people will come and be interested. Unless you’re already famous, which is great, then you don’t need my advice. I do love Foundation personally.
You’ve made it a thing starting on your website and you’re doing this generous giveaway with us around a consultation for folks to help other artists explore NFTs and get into that world. It’d be cool to understand what’s opened up for you from helping other artists and why you are so passionate about getting other artists involved in NFTs.
In general, it’s important to me to give back in any way that I can in multiple ways. I donate to causes that I care about, but my time and my expertise are another way that I can help people. I’m passionate about helping artists because I am an artist and I didn’t have a ton of help on my way to where I am. I didn’t have any mentors. I learned a lot by doing things and making mistakes. I would love to help other people maybe avoid some of those mistakes or skip some of those steps and climb that ladder a little bit more efficiently. I get vicarious joy out of that. That’s my motivation there. In terms of NFTs, if there’s an artist that is interested in learning more about that, I’m always going to be open to consulting with them. Especially people from underrepresented communities, I feel like we could use more of that in everything but especially in the NFT world. I’m passionate about it because it’s changed my life.
Besides the basics, choose the platform that aligns with your art style, put in the work to bring your community over to create a community, what are some of the top tips you have or mistakes to avoid that you want folks to know when they’re getting into this?
I’m still learning a lot myself that. For different types of artists, there are going to be different answers, but from my experience, a lot of it transfers over from different mediums. This is true for things I was doing prior but especially with this. Opening people up to the process and the story behind the artwork is huge. For some artists, that’s not their MO. If you’re more established, you don’t need to do that. As you’re getting started, telling the story of what it is that you’re creating and showing people maybe even behind the scenes of your process is big. There’s a sense of value there that you have to instill.
For people who don’t know you, they don’t have that yet, so you need to show them, “This is my world. This is what I’m doing. This is why it has value.” That’s a big thing that not a lot of people do because people are guarded about their process. Maybe they’re embarrassed or they’re shy about it. I totally understand it can be a vulnerable thing. Generally, the more vulnerable you are, the more success you probably will see as an artist.
I also think about the physical effort that goes into some art. My girlfriend likes to use resin and she has to do layers of resin. It takes so much time and the whole house smells like resin sometimes. It’s the commitment she has to make resin paintings that come off the canvas. I didn’t appreciate what goes into a piece like that until I saw her do that.
That’s exactly the same thought process, especially with digital art. You see the final product, and a lot of the time, you have no idea what that person had to do to create that. It also inspires a sense of curiosity. It develops a sense of rapport between you and collectors, and people were interested in your technique. It’s good all around.
In terms of what it takes going into creating a piece of art, I think of the famous Picasso story where he makes a quick sketch on a napkin and maybe somebody offers to buy it or whatever. He names this ridiculous-sounding price. It’s like, “You just sketch that on a napkin.” He’s like, “The reason I could do this cool thing right now is because I spent all of these years practicing what I practice.” That is something that not only is clandestine to the observer when they’re consuming art but there can be some value that you don’t realize in sharing this process and what’s behind the scenes. You mentioned working with and advocating for underrepresented communities. I know we’re talking about communities like LGBTQ+ and BIPOC. How do you feel either you can or you would like to help serve individuals from these types of communities?
Generally, the help that I give is usually in the form of a general consult. People will come to me for things ranging from creative direction to the second pair of eyes on a script. It’s totally across the board. That’s why I say general consulting. Anything in the creative world where my knowledge is going to be valuable. For me, my knowledge is anything marketing and creative-related. Sometimes, if I have the bandwidth, I will also do pro bono services that I normally would charge for, which consulting is one of them, but also color grading or photo editing, and things like that. When I’m available, I’ll do that, too.
I don’t know about you guys, but I want a psychedelic NFT for the show. We have a cool bumper on our videos. You probably saw it, but we can do so much more with the concept of the show so we might have to sign up for one of your consultations.
We’re already in the realm of some psychedelic stuff going on here.
We’re also already in the realm of having a consultation.
That’s the reason we want you on the show.
We’d love to learn a little bit more about you as well personally and your thoughts on the world and how your mind thinks. Would you love to participate in some Edge Quick Hitters?
Yeah.
They’re a fun quick way to get to know you a little bit better. There are ten questions looking for a short single word or few word answers, but if you feel the desire to indulge a little bit, then jump in. Let’s start. Number one, what’s the first thing you remember ever purchasing in your life?
The first thing I ever remember purchasing was a Eurythmics tape from a Sam Goody.
I haven’t heard Sam Goody in such a long time.
Number two. What’s the first thing you remember ever selling in your life?
Pokémon cards.
Do you still hold on to some Pokémon cards?
Yeah, I do.
NFT Art Gallery: You’re getting started telling the story of what it is that you’re creating. Showing people the behind-the-scenes of your process is big. There’s a sense of value there that you have to instill.
The real question is, do you still have the Pokémon Go app on your phone?
Yeah.
You’re a true fan. Number three, what is the most recent thing you purchased?
I purchased a special carrying case for my rollerblades.
What makes them special?
It’s rainbow, limited edition.
You got to treat your rollerblades with special attention.
Number four, what’s the most recent thing you sold?
An NFT.
Tell us more about it.
It was my first collab with the split feature on Foundation and it was a cool collaboration I did with an artist called Klara Vollstaedt. That piece is going to be in my show.
Did you have a goal in mind for how much to sell it for? What did it sell for? I’m curious how your experience is with someone else valuing your art as an NFT.
It’s been interesting because all of this is still new. Everything exploded in February 2021 when the marketplace opened up and you started seeing a lot of traction there. At that time, prices were higher, and then as the markets have gotten more saturated, things have leveled out. It’s a bit of a guessing game. I and the other artist, Klara, figured out what our individual floors were, and then we combined it. I don’t even remember what the original price was but it sold for 0.9 ETH so we’re happy. We would have loved to see it go to 1 or more but I’m not complaining at all.
**That’s a good number. **
My cello.
Terrifying.
I know boys on Earth who live like that.
My junior roommate lived like an astronaut.
Curiosity.
Self-doubt.
You said that with confidence.
I sat in traffic for 45 minutes to get to Venice.
You got your CryptoVenetian.
Even better.
Important Links:
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Instagram – Edge of NFT Instagram post
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Apple – Instagram
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previous episode – Yat Siu Of Animoca
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Klara Vollstaedt – Foundation
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@ElliePritts – Twitter
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@ElliePritts – Instagram
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Hic et Nunc – Electric Psychedelia
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iTunes – Edge of NFT Podcast
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@EdgeOfNFT – Twitter
About Ellie Pritts
Ellie was named one of TIME’s top photographers to follow and her work has been featured by the likes of NYLON, Pitchfork, WIRED and more.
Ellie is currently accepting inspired creative projects with a focus on experimental video work, analog vfx, color grading and photography. She is also offering pro-bono creative services for those in the BIPOC + LGBTQ+ communities, click here to learn more.
Represented by Quriosity Productions.