Welcome to “Art Party,” a generative art project created by the artist Todd James in collaboration with GODA collection to share work within the web3 space. Borrowing iconography from his potent paintings, the collection consists of 1533 NFTS exploring multiple themes from his studio practice. This is an opportunity to collect Todd James first web 3 project and engage with a new artistic community.
Want to know more about Todd?
Check out our interview from his solo show “Garden of Eden” at Ross & Kramer gallery in NYC, May 2021 here!
Want to know more about Art Party?
Art Party Is a collection of artistic themes that appear in the exhibit work of Todd James. Drawing from his decades-long practice James has selected six motifs that resonate strongly in our current moment. The Tanks, Warplanes, and Snipers all began to appear in James’s work during the global conflict of the early 2000s, and are perhaps more relevant today than ever in their subversive critique of war. The cartoon treatment they receive softens the aesthetic blow, but allows the hit to connect, or as James says: “Sometimes you gotta laugh to keep from crying.”
The Graffiti, TitWizard, and Phantom Rider imagery, on the other hand, represent a return to childhood. The Graffiti collection was inspired by writing in its purest form: 1970s inspired bubble letters, with the piece brought to life with either a cobra or a classic graffiti character or “mug”. These are inspired by recent large scale paintings James created while revisiting his graffiti roots in an exhibit setting.
The TitWizards and the Phantom Rider explore themes of magic, lust, & death and are perennial favorites in the iconographic canon of James’ work. Representing mystery and power, these images also gesture back to the 1970s and adolescent years awash in sci-fi, cartoons, and Dungeons & Dragons, with a nostalgic nod to a more analog way of life.
Todd further explains “The collection takes a sampling of themes from my paintings like Tanks, WarPlanes and Snipers along with an image from a recent painting of a phantom Rider. Also included are Tit Wizards which was a plush sculptural toy that had appeared in small paintings. The final theme is a Graffiti bubble letter piece with a classic graffiti character and or a cobra face. These themes were chosen as an introduction to the web 3 community and would be familiar to irl collectors and art lovers alike.”
All of these themes interact to create the Art Party, a gathering of disparate imagery that comes together joyously. Todd is excited to introduce a sampling of his art to the web3 community, and also to provide his IRL collectors who are new to the web3 space some familiar works to enjoy.
All Photo’s (where noted) Copyright 2022 Matthew A. Eller. Follow me on Instagram @elleresqphoto
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