People often assign feelings of nostalgia to my work, and I like to think of that as a Trojan Horse: the nostalgia factor creates a sense of pleasure and ease which opens the viewer up to the ideas and feelings I’m conveying. I am also very much playing with the notion of mediation itself, intervening with the expected experience of the screen. I like to think of my work as evoking the Past as a means of glimpsing the Future, which leaves you very aware of sitting in the Now, the fulcrum between the two.
Sarah Zucker
LEFT: Space Loaf (on auction @ Bonhams)
By Luke Whyte, Editorial Director
Of the many things I appreciated during my conversation with Los Angeles-based multidisciplinary artist Sarah Zucker, I’ll admit my favorite was when she called Instagram the “abandoned shopping mall” of digital art.
To me, it’s a fitting statement from someone who not only grasped the value of NFT art so early, but whose work combines cutting-edge techniques with analog technologies to convey a sort of retro-futuristic expressionism. It’s like hearing an omnipotent message from the Metaverse while standing in the blacklight poster section of an empty Spencer Gifts.
Sarah has been a progressive artist since, in middle school, she was asked to choose digital art as a “major”, only to be reprimanded by her art teacher for spending too much time on the computer. We sat down to discuss her experience as an NFT pioneer, Space Loaf, her piece for the Bonhams x SuperRare auction, and her approach to creativity.
Click here to visit the Bonham’s CryptOGs auction page.
LW: You’ve mentioned Henri Matisse as an early influence, what was it about his work, or him as an artist, that inspired you?
SZ: I was introduced to Matisse through the papercut works he created in his later years. His eyesight was almost entirely gone, and unable to paint anymore, he shifted his technique so that he could continue to channel his singular vision into Art. I suppose that always resonated with me, because it shows that the potency of inner vision can transcend technical limitations. It inspired my desire to create my own techniques, or take existing techniques and do them “incorrectly” in service of inner vision above all else.
LW: And what role has photography played in your journey as an artist?
SZ: The work I do now is the organic evolution of my early work as a photographer. I shoot a lot of original footage, so really my photography practice has been folded into my current work. I worked primarily with film back in the day, often experimentally, playing with the inner workings of my cameras and incorporating digital elements. It’s very akin to what I do now intermixing analog and digital video techniques. I’ve never been a purist, in fact, I’m quite against puritanical thinking: I think everything is better when you harmonize disparate elements. I’d like to think this is what makes my work stand out, and why it’s hard to put into one box.
LW: Prior to the emergence of NFT communities, was there a place for the type of work you’ve done in recent years? More generally, how did you experience the landscape and marketplace for video and “new media” artists prior to NFTs?
SZ: Prior to NFTs, the place for screen-based art was either the populist approach of tumblr/social media, or the very exclusive and codified avenue of the contemporary art world. I always liked the open visibility of putting my work online, but social media is such a Sisyphean landscape for an artist. You basically have to keep creating new work, and then wait for emails offering you opportunities. In the past, new media and video art had to be translated to an object in order to be attractive to collectors, so the number of galleries catering to this type of work was limited. I found the best way to get my work seriously considered by the fine art world was to curate, which also allowed me to present the work of other incredible artists I had come across during my time in online art spaces. But, even with visibility, developing a collector base isn’t accessible if you don’t have a means to edition your work in a compelling way. It’s why I was waiting on NFT technology to emerge from the moment I first heard about it in 2014. It made sense to me, and I knew it would be a massive paradigm shift for artists like myself.
LW: How did you first hear about NFTs?
SZ: I first heard about their potential because of what Kevin McCoy and Anil Dash did at Rhizome in 2014. I was very tapped into what was going on in new media art at the time, and it truly blew my mind. I was pretty much waiting for someone to develop a more robust and accessible way for artists to tokenize their work as NFTs. Yura Miron was one of the artists I showcased at Prism Pipe, the visual music event I used to curate in Los Angeles, and I saw him posting about SuperRare in early 2019. When I first looked into SuperRare, I realized that the time had come: Art NFTs were here!
LW: What did it feel like to realize you were arising as a leader in the NFT space, being seen as an OG and to see appreciation for your work accelerate? Exciting I’m sure, also a little intimidating? How do you handle being seen as a role model?
SZ: I don’t know that I realized it as much as I fought for it! My involvement with crypto art feels like one of those destined things in my lifetime, it’s such a perfect synthesis of so many of my interests and gifts. Getting in early is a matter of lucky timing, in some ways. But I’ve been passionate about sharing my journey from the start, because I recognized this was a rare opportunity to help define something that was newly forming. We could imbue this space with a set of principles for a new era of human consciousness, or we could allow it to be consumed by the same ills that already plague society. When the world suddenly turned to look at what we were all doing earlier this year, I was aware of the deluge of new voices, and I think it emboldened me to speak my passion louder than ever. I can’t say the heightened level of attention hasn’t been challenging at times, but I think I’m at my best when addressing a crowd. I can’t deny I’m a bit of a peacock, so I really shine when it’s my turn in the spotlight. As for being a role model, it’s an honor. I always strive to be worthy of that position, and do my best to elevate other voices that I think are putting good into the world, and genuinely care about our community.
LW: Can we pivot to talk about fractals a little? Would you say that your above response reflects how one can lean into what I’m going to call the laws of fractals to achieve some manifestation of the life they desire or are destined for?
SZ: Oooh yes, let’s get metaphysical. Fractal thinking plays a huge role in my art, and in my life. Aside from just being beautiful, the thing about fractals is that each microcosm is a reflection of the macrocosm, and vice versa – you can zoom in or out indefinitely. I think a sense of scale, or rather being fluid in your perception of scale, is hugely beneficial in the NFT space. Everything is interconnected, and you can surf the waves better if you can keep that perspective. I think humanity, as a whole, is going through growing pains as we evolve from a dominant mode of linear thinking to Boolean thinking. I suppose this is why I personally feel excited about the future, I have a web-like thought pattern.
My use of video feedback and strange loops in my art are a means of visually reflecting this way of viewing the world.
LW: Strange loops, as in Gödel, Escher, Bach strange loops? I can see how video feedback reflects that sense of surfing the wave. Correct me if I’m wrong but, do people often label these techniques as representations of a nostalgic mood in your work? If so, is this intentional? Do you enjoy playing with this mood, twisting it? Or is the nostalgic interpretation just a byproduct of you experimenting with concepts like strange loops and the tangling of analog and digital?
SZ: Yes! Strange Loops as in Gödel, Escher, Bach… I think reading Douglas Hofstadter had a huge impact on my thinking, and continues to inspire how I work with video feedback as a compositional (and philosophical) technique.
People do often assign feelings of nostalgia to my work, and I like to think of that as a Trojan Horse: the nostalgia factor creates a sense of pleasure and ease which opens the viewer up to the ideas and feelings I’m conveying. I am also very much playing with the notion of mediation itself, intervening with the expected experience of the screen. I like to think of my work as evoking the Past as a means of glimpsing the Future, which leaves you very aware of sitting in the Now, the fulcrum between the two. I like Art that can be experienced and appreciated on various levels, and I’d like to think I achieve that quality with my work. It has a visceral aesthetic impact, but there are deeper hidden meanings if you start to dig into it, especially if you look holistically at the ongoing story I’m weaving.
LW: Well thats a pretty great segue to talk about the piece for the Bonham’s auction, Space Loaf. The description on SuperRare begins, “Space Loaf hovers through the cosmic Ether. It’s not Here, and it’s not Then, so it makes you ask… When?” Does this messaging, and the vision behind the artwork itself, tie into what we’ve been discussing with exploring spacetime, fractals, strange loops?
SZ: “Space Loaf” is a piece I created somewhat serendipitously through the contribution of my cat, that has always connected deeply with people. It’s funny, sure, but I think it’s because there’s something so relatable in what’s going on. It speaks to the experience of being an early pioneer of the Metaverse, a silly little creature exploring this newly forming realm.
People may not realize that the term “ether” and “ethereum” have their roots in 19th century mystical groups like the Theosophical Society or the mesmerists. These people were doing their best to grasp the metaphysical aspects of mankind’s newfound understandings of electricity and atomic space. They came up with the concept of ethereum as a fluid substance that connected everything, allowing for energy (and information) to travel. They were, essentially, setting the stage for humanity’s march towards networked evolution.
“Space Loaf” is a celebration of being a denizen of the Internet, an intrepid explorer of the ever-shifting ether that connects us. It’s a concept best conveyed through the Internet’s native language – cat-based humor, of course.
LW: Can I ask about the process behind creating the piece?
I shot the original footage of my beloved queen, Ginny, when she made herself quite at home in my studio. I piped the digital footage into the analog video rig I’ve built for myself, at which point I created the video feedback manually in response to the footage. It’s a bit like playing an instrument when you work with analog gear, you have to get a feel for what to do and when to create something harmonious.
LW: Do you see NFTs as a playing a pinnacle role in the march toward greater embrace of the Metaverse?
NFTs are certainly one of the crucial technologies that form the foundation of a new culture online. They are as simple as they are groundbreaking, which is why they have utility across so many different applications. I often like to say that we are the Ancients of a Future Civilization. This is our chance to set new social standards on the precipice of networked humanity (assuming we can survive long enough to get there). NFT technology answers for many of the unenforceable grey areas of intellectual property law. I, for one, am both excited and not surprised to see artists leading the way.
For many of us early to crypto art, we knew a time would come where the world would take notice of what we were doing. But I don’t think it would have happened as soon as it did if it hadn’t been for the global lockdown. Everyone went inside and online, and they had to look to us Internet people to figure out how to be. It’s not a new phenomenon: the Renaissance followed the Plague, the Roaring Twenties followed Influenza. The factors of 2020 were a perfect storm that allowed for what we were building to suddenly ignite and take off. While I think it’s only reasonable for the hype to settle, it doesn’t mean Crypto Art is going anywhere. This was just the beginning, the big bang: the landscape of Art and culture has been forever changed. I can’t wait to see where we all go from here.
Read the next article in the CryptOGs series:
Luke Whyte is SuperRare’s Editorial Director
