Exclusive Interview with Gabriel “GG” Gimenez
Disclaimer: This article is not intended as investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.
Introduction
It seems like overnight everyone wants to become an artist and it is a beautiful thing. For years society has told us “do not study art you will be a starving artist”. Some people hear those words and give up on their dreams of becoming an artist. Others continue to work through the hardships out of their passion and love for creating art. Gabriel “GG” Gimenez is no overnight success. Through hard-work and consistency he made a name for himself in the local Miami art scene. His drop on Nifty Gateway was only a catalyst to introduce his art to the world.
Gabriel Gimenez was born in Venezuela and grew up in Miami, Florida. He recently had an NFT drop on Nifty Gateway that was well received by the public. The drop “Fado, Clash of the Titans” was curated and presented by IV Gallery. It was a homage to Basquiat and Warhol, artistic influences of his.
His drop was an instant sell-out and totaled $21,000 in primary in a few seconds. He sold 140 NFTs for $150 each. Sales for a single NFT have reached up $2,400 in the secondary market, which originally sold for only $150. Expect to see more of GG’s character “Fado”. His drop already proved that there are several collectors willing to go to bidding wars to collect his work. Every person that collected all 7 rounds from this collection were able to get physical paintings of “Fado, Clash of the Titans”.
Exclusive Interview
What inspires you to create art?
“Personal experiences have always been a great source of inspiration. I think my childhood, the idea of looking at life from a fun, comedic and youthful point of view are elements that can be seen in my work. I also find a lot of inspiration from ideas that challenge the concept of art. I believe that as a creative, I have a responsibility to first of all express myself and second push myself to create new and better work. Even though my work on the outside tends to keep a very simple and almost elemental approach, conceptually there is always something deeper. I also find the process of making art to be a great source of inspiration.”
How is the art-scene in Miami, Florida?
“The art scene in Miami is great. We have been able to build a strong community of local artists that are talented all across the board. The street art scene is incredible specially around the Wynwood area and with Art Basel Miami coming every year the art scene continues to grow.”
Can you describe your main character “Fado”?
“Fado is one of those creations inspired by personal experiences that has grown in different ways. When I created the character, I was young and going through difficult times personally and also with my immigrant status. There was a lot of uncertainty, curiosity and confusion for me at the time. I felt very vulnerable and with time I understood that all of those feelings were reflected in the form of Fado. It’s a character that represents vulnerability and that weird moment of transition that at some point we all experience. Also, when I was a kid my dad would come up with imaginary stories and characters to entertain me and my younger brothers. As I started to develop my art, I began to name the characters I was creating after those stories my dad would tell me as a kid and that is how Fado was born.”
How was your experience with your first NFT drop on Nifty Gateway?
“Releasing my first collection on Nifty Gateway was an incredible experience for different reasons. I think that NFT, crypto art, digital art, new media or virtual art (Whatever the f**k you want to call it lol) is the future and to have the opportunity to be one of the early adopters of this revolutionary moment has been an honor. It was also pretty surreal to see all the pieces sell out in only a few seconds and till this day they continue to trade on the secondary market. The Nifty Gateway team and IV Gallery team have been extremely supportive and the process of working with them has been smooth.”
The #cryptoart and NFT scene is moving fast. Do you have any other plans specifically for this new medium of creating art?
“The space is growing so fast! I’m on Club House and twitter everyday learning from brilliant people that are kind enough to share their knowledge and expertise. This has been a very interesting time for me because for the past few years I had been interested in making art that not only was made with digital tools but that also performed better as concepts in the digital world. At the moment am on the early stages of working on my second collection.”
What has been your favorite project of your career?
“This is a difficult question, and I don’t think I can say just one, but I really enjoy putting together concept projects. It doesn’t matter what medium it is, when I am able to dive in deep into an idea and really shape it over time, I find that very exciting. The gallery exhibitions are always dope to work on. Working on the “Art Vessel” documentary which was a very low budget production (the budget was $0 lol) was amazing and the piece ended up winning a regional Emmy. At the moment I would say that I am the most excited about a project that I’ve been sitting on for about 3 years and it is completely focused on digital art. Hopefully I will be able to put it out soon.”
If you had all the resources in the world and no budget, what project would you create?
“Interesting question. I’ve always been the type of person that likes to take one step at a time and my end goal is to be able to make art hopefully until the day I die. I’m confident that with consistency and hard work I will be able make monumental projects for the rest of my carrier, so as long as I stay happy and alive, I’ll be able to find the resources and the budgets.”
Any message you would like to send the #cryptoart community?
“Let’s keep learning and let’s keep educating.”
