More

    Justin Aversano makes a quantum leap for NFT photography – Cointelegraph Magazine


    Artist name: Justin Aversano
    Location: Los Angeles
    Date minted first NFT: Feb. 15, 2021
    Which blockchains? Ethereum

    Bio:

    Unintentionally, the healing process of losing his twin sister at birth sparked Justin Aversano’s career to become the poster child for NFT photography. His most famous collection, “Twin Flames,” has 5,900 ETH in total sales volume on OpenSea and multiple million-dollar sales, including one auctioned at Christie’s. 

    A multidisciplinary artist with a great eye and passion for photography, Aversano’s journey into NFTs started with a trip to Peru to work with local shamans to try to get over an addiction and depression. It was on that trip that he started to heal and found a spark that would become the initial idea for his iconic collection. 

    “I never questioned that I was an artist, but you know the feeling inside when you’re grappling with anger, depression, sadness and grief. I was looking to outgrow the grief and become whole. In San Pedro, there was a ceremony run by twins. It really opened my heart to connecting with my twin, who passed during my mom’s pregnancy. It felt like opening Pandora’s box. I remember thinking, ‘Okay, there’s something there, and I need to work on it.’” 

    A few months removed from San Pedro, Aversano was at an exhibition and photographed a pair of twins who came to his art show. That night, he knew he was ready to take on this new project spotlighting twins. 

    “I just started with those twins that night. They then introduced me to other twins. It became a whole domino effect of connecting with twins. Understanding the feeling of what it would have been like to have a twin and honoring my twin, and also my mother, because I feel like losing my twin was also part of losing my mom and her getting ovarian cancer,” he says.

    “There are so many different elements, and a lot of my art is for my mom, my family and honoring ancestors. I like it when you’re working in healing,” Aversano shares. 

    Despite putting together the Twin Flames project in a traditional sense, including a book and an exhibition highlighting the work, it wasn’t until Aversano discovered NFTs that things got crazy. 

    “Another two years passed by. I had the Twin Flames project on my website and Instagram, but then I discovered NFTs. I didn’t see other photography projects online. I minted Twin Flames, and the next day it sold out — and changed my life.” 

    Read also


    Features

    Investing in Blockchain Gaming: Why VCs Are Betting Big


    Features

    Tim Draper’s ‘odd’ rules for investing in success

    Now, just two years from his first mint, Aversano —who is considered by most to be at the top of the NFT photography food chain — has amassed over 8,100 ETH in sales volume on OpenSea alone.

    Aversano is also carrying the torch for budding photographers who want to pivot their creative endeavors to the world of NFTs with Quantum Art, a platform focused on curating and dropping NFT collections launched in September 2021, with a particular focus on photography NFTs.

    “With Quantum, I’ve said this from the beginning: I want it to be what Art Blocks is for generative art. I have so much respect for Erick (Snowfro) with what he has done with Art Blocks, and we want the same for photography. There’s so much respect for generative art, and I can understand that because everyone’s computer native. I’d love to see photography get its heyday because it’s always been the underdog,” Aversano states. 

    Notable sales:

    Twin Flames #49. Alyson and Courtney Aliano: Sold for 888 ETH ($3.7 million at the time) on Nov. 23, 2021, making it the eighth most expensive photograph ever sold. Purchased via PartyBid.

    Twin Flames #83. Bahaeeh and Farzaneh: Sold for $1.1 million on Oct. 6, 2021 at Christie’s.

    Twin Flames #82. Bahaeeh and Farzaneh

    Twin Flames #2. Jessica and Joyce Gayo: Sold for 207 ETH ($959,027) on Nov. 10, 2021.

    Twin Flames #2. Jessica and Joyce Gayo

    Twin Flames #1. Ali and Gilli Glatt: Sold for 200 ETH ($686,696) on Sept. 7, 2021.

    Twin Flames #1. Ali and Gilli Glatt

    Influences:

    Aversano cites the influence of photographers like Irving Penn, David LaChapelle, Diane Arbus, Vivian Maier and Robert Frank, as well as painters like Alex Gray and Dustin Yellin. 

    He is inspired by all NFT photographers but gives a special shout-out to Beeple: “That guy is the biggest influence on everyone!”

    Beeple Everydays: Bull Run Day #4951 from Nov. 19, 2020
    Beeple’s Everydays: Bull Run, Day #4951 from Nov. 19, 2020. Source: OpenSea

    Aversano also highlights the influence of prominent NFT personality Gmoney on his rise to NFT stardom. 

    “In terms of collectors, Gmoney was one of the biggest influences on my life. We spoke a bit, and I asked him if he was spending $250,000 on a monkey JPG, would he buy real art? He said to me he’d rather buy NFTs. He helped me by talking to Flamingo DAO and the CryptoPunks community. They all supported me with my NFT drops,” he says. 

    Which artist should we be paying attention to? 

    In regard to other artists in the space catching his attention, Aversano notes IX Shells, a sound and visual artist whose piece Bend was recently acquired by the Buffalo AKG Art Museum: “She’s one of my favorite artists. She’s cool as a person and artist.”

    He also notes Summer Wagner, a photographer based out of Rockford, Illinois.

    In The Fullness of Time, Foundation, by IX Shells
    In The Fullness of Time by IX Shells. Source: Twitter

    Process and personal style:

    Talking about how his artwork develops over time, Aversano says, “Every project I’ve been thinking about has been thought about for years. There’s nothing I’ve created and thought of minting an NFT the next day. I’ve been working on these major projects for years, and it hasn’t existed in the art world as I wanted it to.”

    Smoke and Mirrors #78 featuring two pairs of twins: Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, and Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster
    Smoke and Mirrors #78, featuring two pairs of twins: Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss and Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster. Source: OpenSea

    “This is the best time in my life as an artist of this era — for everything that I create to be an NFT. I see a lot of other artists who have careers that are older than mine, and they’re getting into NFTs, and not all their stuff is on the blockchain. This is the perfect time for me as an artist to have all my art on the blockchain from the beginning.”

    “I often think about minting art as NFTs like hand printing on ancient scrolls on the blockchain. It brings the past, present and future together in a special way, and you can live in your digital gallery in your own home,” he concludes.

    Read also


    Features

    Who takes gold in the crypto and blockchain Olympics?


    Features

    William Shatner Tokenizes his Favorite Memories on the WAX Blockchain

    Greg Oakford

    Greg Oakford

    Greg Oakford is the co-founder of NFT Fest Australia. A former marketing and communications specialist in the sports world, Greg now focuses his time on running events, creating content and consulting in web3. He is an avid NFT collector and hosts a weekly podcast covering all things NFTs.



    Stay in the Loop

    Get the daily email from CryptoNews that makes reading the news actually enjoyable. Join our mailing list to stay in the loop to stay informed, for free.

    Latest stories

    - Advertisement - spot_img

    You might also like...

    bitcoin
    Bitcoin (BTC) $ 26,892.21
    ethereum
    Ethereum (ETH) $ 1,665.74
    tether
    Tether (USDT) $ 0.999859
    bnb
    BNB (BNB) $ 215.28
    xrp
    XRP (XRP) $ 0.532348
    usd-coin
    USDC (USDC) $ 1.00
    staked-ether
    Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 1,665.43
    dogecoin
    Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.061974
    cardano
    Cardano (ADA) $ 0.248125
    solana
    Solana (SOL) $ 20.23
    tron
    TRON (TRX) $ 0.089545
    the-open-network
    Toncoin (TON) $ 2.20
    polkadot
    Polkadot (DOT) $ 4.07
    matic-network
    Polygon (MATIC) $ 0.523276
    litecoin
    Litecoin (LTC) $ 66.02
    bitcoin-cash
    Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 234.07
    chainlink
    Chainlink (LINK) $ 7.98
    wrapped-bitcoin
    Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 26,834.19
    shiba-inu
    Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000007
    dai
    Dai (DAI) $ 0.999679
    true-usd
    TrueUSD (TUSD) $ 0.99797
    leo-token
    LEO Token (LEO) $ 3.67
    uniswap
    Uniswap (UNI) $ 4.35
    avalanche-2
    Avalanche (AVAX) $ 9.10
    stellar
    Stellar (XLM) $ 0.114561
    monero
    Monero (XMR) $ 145.88
    okb
    OKB (OKB) $ 43.09
    ethereum-classic
    Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 15.87
    binance-usd
    BUSD (BUSD) $ 1.00
    cosmos
    Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 7.11
    hedera-hashgraph
    Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.049562
    filecoin
    Filecoin (FIL) $ 3.35
    lido-dao
    Lido DAO (LDO) $ 1.63
    internet-computer
    Internet Computer (ICP) $ 3.14
    crypto-com-chain
    Cronos (CRO) $ 0.05054
    quant-network
    Quant (QNT) $ 90.49
    maker
    Maker (MKR) $ 1,454.78
    mantle
    Mantle (MNT) $ 0.398068
    aptos
    Aptos (APT) $ 5.38
    vechain
    VeChain (VET) $ 0.016849
    arbitrum
    Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.901484
    near
    NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 1.11
    optimism
    Optimism (OP) $ 1.32
    kaspa
    Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.048106
    aave
    Aave (AAVE) $ 65.74
    rocket-pool-eth
    Rocket Pool ETH (RETH) $ 1,807.14
    the-graph
    The Graph (GRT) $ 0.087094
    algorand
    Algorand (ALGO) $ 0.102109
    whitebit
    WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 5.19
    usdd
    USDD (USDD) $ 0.998267
    xdce-crowd-sale
    XDC Network (XDC) $ 0.04868
    immutable-x
    ImmutableX (IMX) $ 0.579206
    blockstack
    Stacks (STX) $ 0.476776
    frax
    Frax (FRAX) $ 0.99862
    havven
    Synthetix Network (SNX) $ 2.05
    elrond-erd-2
    MultiversX (EGLD) $ 25.07
    eos
    EOS (EOS) $ 0.577885
    the-sandbox
    The Sandbox (SAND) $ 0.312366
    theta-token
    Theta Network (THETA) $ 0.641068
    tezos
    Tezos (XTZ) $ 0.675693
    bitget-token
    Bitget Token (BGB) $ 0.45205
    injective-protocol
    Injective (INJ) $ 7.50
    bitcoin-sv
    Bitcoin SV (BSV) $ 31.62
    axie-infinity
    Axie Infinity (AXS) $ 4.56
    thorchain
    THORChain (RUNE) $ 1.96
    radix
    Radix (XRD) $ 0.057527
    decentraland
    Decentraland (MANA) $ 0.30977
    render-token
    Render (RNDR) $ 1.53
    fantom
    Fantom (FTM) $ 0.192119
    neo
    NEO (NEO) $ 7.34
    gatechain-token
    Gate (GT) $ 3.74
    kava
    Kava (KAVA) $ 0.627426
    paxos-standard
    Pax Dollar (USDP) $ 0.999336
    ecash
    eCash (XEC) $ 0.000025
    compound-ether
    cETH (CETH) $ 33.49
    flow
    Flow (FLOW) $ 0.448164
    pax-gold
    PAX Gold (PAXG) $ 1,866.09
    tether-gold
    Tether Gold (XAUT) $ 1,849.40
    curve-dao-token
    Curve DAO (CRV) $ 0.519105
    apecoin
    ApeCoin (APE) $ 1.22
    kucoin-shares
    KuCoin (KCS) $ 4.58
    frax-ether
    Frax Ether (FRXETH) $ 1,661.64
    rocket-pool
    Rocket Pool (RPL) $ 21.86
    frax-share
    Frax Share (FXS) $ 5.70
    iota
    IOTA (MIOTA) $ 0.151695
    chiliz
    Chiliz (CHZ) $ 0.059279
    first-digital-usd
    First Digital USD (FDUSD) $ 0.998766
    tokenize-xchange
    Tokenize Xchange (TKX) $ 4.92
    rollbit-coin
    Rollbit Coin (RLB) $ 0.11816
    huobi-token
    Huobi (HT) $ 2.41
    sui
    Sui (SUI) $ 0.480644
    gala
    GALA (GALA) $ 0.014186
    bittorrent
    BitTorrent (BTT) $ 0.0000003877749
    mina-protocol
    Mina Protocol (MINA) $ 0.374683
    klay-token
    Klaytn (KLAY) $ 0.11463
    terra-luna
    Terra Luna Classic (LUNC) $ 0.000062
    casper-network
    Casper Network (CSPR) $ 0.031697
    gmx
    GMX (GMX) $ 38.31
    dydx
    dYdX (DYDX) $ 1.94
    coinbase-wrapped-staked-eth
    Coinbase Wrapped Staked ETH (CBETH) $ 1,743.15