Martin Lukas Ostachowski - Crypto Art Historian

Floor is Rising

22-03-2022 • 43 mins

Podcast: Floor Is Rising

Episode: FIR - MLO

Welcome to the podcast Floor Is Rising with host SabreTooth, a professional NFT collector and Kizu, a professional art critic. On this podcast, we talk deeply about the business of creating, collecting and analyzing NFTs. So, if you’re a creator or collector of NFTs, jump in!

On today’s episode, SabreTooth and Kizu welcome guest Martin Lukas Ostachowski (MLO), a crypto artist and crypto art historian who got his artistic start in painting before beginning to incorporate digital tools into his process and eventually shift to thinking digital first. Around 2017, Martin developed an interest in crypto (the technology more than the currency), and he looked for applications in the art space. As he moved his practice more digital, he began to develop a body of work with an educational tone that helped bridge the gap between complex emerging digital technologies and everyday people. Martin explains why he adopted clouds as an artistic focus, and then shares how he got into documenting the history of crypto art (first in a blog and then a list of milestones) because of his conviction that innovation in art requires a knowledge of what came before.

Moving forward, Martin and his hosts turn to the topic of definitions. Martin prefers the term "crypto art" to "NFT" or "NFT art," even though the former has fallen out of popularity. One of Martin's current projects centers on clarifying definitions relevant to digital art, and Martin is actively pushing for the use of "crypto art" because of its wide and interesting meaning. The terms also feed into a discussion of how digital art relates to traditional art, and after commenting on this relationship, Martin explains the good that crypto art brought to the general art space as well as the belief he holds that there is a way for crypto art to break into traditional art.

This way exists even though the pariah of the digital art world - NFT - has been given its own world. We are currently in the eye of the NFT tornado, but in light of the whole scope both of digital art history and Martin's own history as an artist, he testifies to the evolution that continually takes place. NFT isn't everything, and there are many examples of past works with a far greater scope than what NFT can boast. Since art evolves in a cyclical manner, Martin believes that not only will we see other work with a broad scope come to the fore, but that we will remember and come to value older work and artists that are currently overlooked.

Even as the digital art space has morphed, different camps of artists have gained prominence: those who became influential through crypto/NFT art, and those who gained fame through other art avenues before entering the crypto/NFT art space. If crypto art is to be the inclusive movement it aims to be, both groups must be considered legitimate. Both groups must be able to contribute to crypto art history, and even artists whose work is controversial (like those in the Trash Art Movement) must be allowed to create. The space is dynamic, and doesn't stop; this fact should motivate artists to keep going! After briefly commenting on how he collects crypto art history, Martin wraps up the conversation with insight into his own current artwork and Alotta Money, an artist he wants to recognize.


Thanks for listening and don’t forget to subscribe and leave us a review!


Timestamps:

1:11 - Introduction to this episode and today's guest, MLO

7:24 - The term "crypto art" and the relationship between digital and traditional art

14:05 - The evolution of art, the eye of the NFT tornado, and Martin's shifting art

17:02 - Martin offers examples of projects with broad scopes.

24:26 - There are two camps of famous artists in the digital

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