Crypto Art Pioneer Olive Allen Becomes Fashion Muse and Drops Eco-Friendly Meme
In a world dominated by male artists and techies, New York-based artist, Olive Allen, stands out not only for her socially conscious work but for her insight into the digital art realm.
As a founder and artist in the NFT space since its inception in 2018, New York-based creative Olive Allen has a wealth of knowledge and insight into the world of digital art in this space. An early adopter of cryptocurrency and bitcoin, she is entrenched in the role technology plays in the shifting definition of value, such as collecting digital art in the NFT space.
As an artist, she utilizes technology creatively to tell a socially conscious story and engage collectors. She is one of a handful of successful female artists in the space.
After a few successes in the traditional fine arts world, Allen, who had moved her interests to the Silicon Valley before returning to New York, turned to a more immediate and global audience in the NFT space:
“NFTs are hot commodities, which are going to revolutionize our perception of art – digital art – and its value,” says Allen. “This space has opened a whole virtual landscape of possibilities to creatives around the world.”
Currently participating in the first group show of its kind, The Artist Is Online, Allen’s work is one of 30 pieces being exhibited by Köing in Decentraland at the former St. Agnes cathedral in a virtual space owned by Shahin Tabassi. It is the first commercial gallery space in Decentraland. The show is based on blockchain and the artists’ works will be auctioned off from the walls of the cathedral.
“I would love to create more new virtual venues, creating VR experiences and interactive engagement to showcase digital art,” continues Allen. “NFT is a wonderful tool and combined with blockchain technology, we can create ongoing experiences.”
Allen sees the future of the NFT space as becoming more categorized with the delineation between commercial and fine art. She can see gaming and publishing companies using the space to make digital assets more available to fans.
“This is still such a new space, and we’re still exploring what can be done, and how it can be used by artists.”
Allen’s work was next seen in Kenny Schacter’s group show at the Nagel Drexler Gallery opened April 23. Her body of work appeared alongside well-known artists like Kevin Abosch and Rulton Fyder. Olive dropped an NFT ⚡️$MEME on April 29 and used new tech developed by ConsenSys which is 99% eco-friendly.
