'Raw Light Express' - Issue #4

Shining light on favorite finds and the Art of Art to calm the mind! Artists, collectibles, community, occasional deep thoughts. Welcome new to #4!

Measureless - is a New Zealand based artist I’ve begun collecting and got to know following a good old fashioned phone call a few month back! His latest series of work is half way through (released 1 per week) called ‘Turns’ and he describes as “…a series of 10 love-letters to the gods of geometric mischief.” So good!

These really are brilliantly designed and animated geometric oddities each with the repeating form which will have you entranced. But I love how varied each is, exploring such a range of techniques and animation styles.

The latest #5 below is based on a 2-color Riso Print he explained to me was designed to have interplay between the two inks. His local print technician did a fantastic job selecting an appropriately grungy dot screen with each printed frame scanned in to produce the final animation (see below). To me delivers the aesthetic of classic old paper based animations. I can’t wait to see what comes next week!

All his current NFT work can be found on Hicetnunc

This issue I’m just getting straight into a double Alpha! There’s a few Collectibles Drops I don’t want you to miss my dear subscribers and a few of these I’ve only just discovered. p.s. I’ll always mention if I have vested interest (i.e. if I’m on whitelist and buying).

DeusX - Is launching public tomorrow so this one if short notice (you’ll know next time to read the Raw ‘Light Express’ as soon as they come out!). I know the founder Aaron Haber from the community and his awesome Clubhouse ‘NFT Innovation Society’. As a writer and comedian it’s also the funniest place to hang out too! Anyway he’s got me on the final whitelist block just before it goes public so I’ll definitely be grabbing 2 of these… if not more on public, and I’ll tell you why…

The team he’s pulled together is seriously impressive just DYOR and read their backgrounds here - from the young up and coming artist who is under contract with big comic book labels in the industry to Jessica, Creative Director of the Binance NFT marketplace or the security and smart contract experience of Kyle.

But the art! It’s not the cartoon style so common lately and remains unique from similar comic styles art like Metaheros. It has that perfect balance of hand-drawn and detailed but also striking in colour and contrast. I can see myself using a tighter crop of the faces for a great PFP. They’re strong and front facing yet not totally cold and void of personality like Meka.

Party Degenerates - in their own words “Party Degenerates are a collection of 10,000 NFTs representing the rebellious spirit of those who choose to celebrate life, rather than merely living it.” I’m super bullish on this for 2 main reasons…

1.) Farokh is the Community Lead and that man and knows how to get community excited!

2.) Unlike other ‘Degen’ character projects the art being teased on this is looks to be more of an abstract approach which beautifully links to the. theme of Party Degens, I mean who hasn’t felt like your head is an abstract mashup after partying a little too hard!

What’s more the art is going to be from a roster of some of the top artists I watched rise in the NFT scene this year. Not only does that bring serious value to each mint it also brings the attention and reach through all their communities too.

What and when: Mint date is set for Sunday, October 17 at 20:00h UTC and only thing that makes me nervous is the Dutch Auction which will start bidding at 2.5 ETH and auction down to a floor of 0.5 ETH - if it’s really popular with big money it might never reach that lower price and mint out much higher. There’s no whitelist and no presale!

Read their FAQ and you’ll understand why this is actually a smart move, even if it does price me out… I’ll be trying! 🤞