Artists Shantell Martin and Ben Sheppee will drop their third NFT collection, “Lapidarist,” through Nifty Gateway on June 3. This newest release from their ongoing 15-year collaboration deconstructs and transforms abstracted three-dimensional structures floating in space, halfway between imagination and reality. The three works are Absence (Sometimes we need to go away to know where it is we are from and want to go), Presence (Be present, you exist, you are here), and Transience (Make the most of this day, this year, this life).
“Absence,” courtesy of Shantell Martin and Ben Sheppee.
Martin’s multimedia career investigates the mutually informed relationship between the artist and audience through a monochromatic exploration of the drawn line at the intersection of fine art and technology. Speaking on this newest digital collaboration in reference to their second NFT release, Solitaire, she said, “Over the past year, I’ve enjoyed using this medium to explore my lines in other forms, collaborate, and push and evolve in many ways. I’m excited to see the Solitaire continue and grow into this new Lapidarist collection.”
Sheppee’s visual art career spans 20 years and includes collaborations with brands and institutions like Dior, DKNY, the BBC, and the British Library, and the establishment of Lightrhythm, an art publisher which has released 240 films by over 70 artists. His work explores the aesthetic “happy accidents” that arise from the disruption of digital design processes.
Speaking on the collaboration, he has said: “From a 3D perspective, this particular series is quite generative; I use exploded primitives and virtual physics to form the base of these structures so that the design doesn’t become overly conscious. Then we share files and decorate them with animated versions of Shantell’s drawing. Each of these forms floats ambiently, which is a result of the dynamics simulation and contributes to these works’ monolithic atmosphere.”
“Presence,” courtesy of Shantell Martin and Ben Sheppee.
