Why be a mere spectator to art when you can actually experience it?
Thanks to VR, arts and technologies have harmoniously met to offer memorable experiences and not just static paintings..Besides, the times where lines between reality and virtual reality have been fading away so quickly, one can not help but live moments from both the worlds.
And when you have artists like Anna Zhilyaeva, people end up living and absorbing the process of ‘Immersive art’ in moments instead of just appreciating the impact of art in words.
About The Artist
Anna Zhilyaeva (aka Anna Dream Brush) is a French/Russian immersive artist based in La Garde.
Being an early embracer of virtual reality, she has performed worldwide in renowned places like the Louvre museum in Paris. Her youtube videos have inspired many people to start painting in virtual reality.
At the early age of 14, Anna Zhilyaeva left home to enroll at the fine art school of Orenburg (Russia) two years in advance and graduated successfully five years later, the youngest of the school.
She then moved to Moscow to attend the Academy of Arts where she studied sculpture and painting restoration. After studying another year of architecture at the University of Orenburg, one year at the University of Cinema and TV of Saint Petersburg, completed(in one year) a three years diploma of fine art at Herzen University, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
She has also worked as a cartoon animator, portraitist, game designer and freelance illustrator. She was the Art Director at Lenizdat, the oldest publishing house of Saint Petersburg when she decided to move to France and pursue her studies. After obtaining a master’s degree in Education, she founded a non-profit organization where she has been teaching fine arts.
Her NFT artworks
The post human approach has been the driving force with the way Anna’s artworks have been ever evolving. Infact, the digital canvas on which she has chosen to leave her imaginary imprints are a demonstration to her post-humanistic views. And frankly, we love it!!
And so does the NFT world which stands for a paramount artistic expression.
Her artistic endeavours which she describes as ‘Volumism’ describes her immersive creations of sculptured paint, because of ‘the way this technology offers to create any volume and breaks the laws of gravity’.
Her rendezvous with NFTs has been a beautiful one, with as many as six NFT Collections released on Nifty!!
One Dimension Away open edition
One Dimension Away open edition collection rather chimes the glory bell for the Cryptoworld. Titled on crypto lingos, the collection seems to be a tribute to this life-changing technology.
The NFTs listed in the collection includes:
- Satoshipolis
- Etherexpansion
- Hodling
Satoshipolis
As the title suggests, it is an ode to the OG Bitcon God, Satoshi Nakamoto!! The greek term ‘polis’, that translates to city, thus Satoshipolis is a term for the world of Satoshi and Bitcoin!!
The NFT is a pictorial epic for the ever-popular world of Cryptos. The portrait is seen wearing the Bitcoin headgear. Besides, the heavily radiating golden tones in a crystallized backdrop evokes prosperity, luxury and the golden era of this Crypto world.
This masterpiece(which had 71 editions) was sold for $3,333.00
Etherexpansion
The second most expensive in the collection, ‘Etherexpansion’ measures the popularity of the cryptocurrency, Ether. The ever increasing traction seen in the past years for Ether has only helped its foothold to grow stronger.
This NFT too depicts a painted glory of not just the currency but also the Cryptospace. This piece had 53 editions and was sold for $1,800.00
Hodling
One Dimension Away
This NFT collection has only one NFT titled, ‘Metaphysic journey’.
The Metaphysic journey
This NFT is a painting performed by Anna at the WorldSkills opening 2019, Kazan.
The Metaphysic journey was sold for a whopping $25,000. The metaphysic journey is the portrait of a lady looking at flowers and profoundly thinking over the metaphysical journey.
One Dimension Away Opens
One Dimension Away Opens is yet another tribute to the cryptos. The blend of myth, folklore and cryptos in an unprecedented shade.
The NFTs in the collection include:
Paramountcy
Paramountcy is the NFT that was sold for $1800. The artwork depicts a folklore goddess with two bulls on either side, bulls symbolic of the rising market. There is also a bear in the centre symbolic of the falling market. The lady is bejewelled with hair jewellery and a necklace made up with bitcoin.
One Dimension Away
One Dimension Away is the NFT collection created on behavioural concepts of obsession, impulse, rejuvenation, inspiration, a spell from depths, influence, wealth (giving a modern twist to the Greek mythology)
The NFTs listed in the collections are:
- A spell from the depths
- Impulse
- Spring spirit
- Danaë
- Obsession
- Inspiration
- Influence
Inspiration
The most expensive NFT in the collection, Inspiration ( 1/15 edition) was sold for a massive $18,500.
Inspiration is a portrait of a muse, seen wearing a gaming vizor. Predominantly coloured in yellow and dark blue, the artwork depicts ‘contemplating inspiration’. As described, this piece captures the process of being stimulated to have ideas or to do something creative.
One Dimension Away Packs
One Dimension Away Packs is a collective demonstration of enticement for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether.
Temptation
Temptation(10 editions) was sold for $2000.
As the name suggests, the artwork illustrates the temptation for cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. The back of a lady is depicted wearing a robe studded with the coins. This piece complements the other work depicting ‘seduction’ of wealth.
Waiting For Eternity
The latest collection from Anna, it brings in a fresh perspective to death. The skeleton which is juxtaposed with some or the other hopeful subject gives one an embracing attitude towards the inevitability of death.
This collection includes:
- Waltz with Dead
- Portrait with a friend
- Silver Carnival
- Golden Rush
Waltz with Dead
As goes the theme of the entire collection, Walt with Dead also embraces death and in fact dances with it. The artist shares a waltz with ‘the dead’ as she reminisces about not having been close to the dead in the past. Now she seizes the moment and decides to dance with it.
Portrait with a friend
One tends to measure love with death. Can we blame it on the portrayal of love in works of the past ?? (well, well!!) However, Anna Zhilyaeva has given a painted makeover to this notion by saying that one cannot die for love.
In Portrait with a friend, the soft hues represent the love for a friend. The skull which also is painted next to a girl’s face is a revelation to this very truth.
Silver Carnival
The silent auction for this one ended at $150,000. In Silver Carnival, the fear towards death has given way to acceptance and hence, friendliness. The surprise element in this artwork is the use of bright coloured florals hinting at the optimistic acknowledgement towards death, all of this thus depict a feeling of merriment.
Golden Rush
Golden Rush (1/10 editions) was sold for $5000.
The NFT portrays a gothic figure (inspired by the mythical Grim Reaper) ditching the deadly black, the figure is dressed in the hellic tone of burning fire. In the Golden Rush, the figure is seen holding an hourglass.
The hourglass however has skulls coming off instead of sand, possibly hinting at the passage of time in terms of death. Calling life-death as a game, the description says, ‘in the end there are no winners, just the next players’.
Motifs & Style
Anna Zhilyaeva adopted the term ‘Volumism’ to express her exceptional immersive art.
The recurring themes in some of her works is a tribute to the Cryptoworld. It’s not just that her technique is different, but the rarity of her art is also in the way she couples myth, folklore on a groundbreaking tech novelty like cryptocurrencies and other crypto specific concepts..
Although bright stroke is the language of her artistic intellect, Anna has painted on subjects as dark as death. While doing so, she has rather cloaked the grave face of death in florals as a way to embrace it.
Anna Zhilyaeva has brought a post-humanistic twist to the NFT space. In this fervour, she has(in every way) advocated the decentralization of the mediums for art too. The result is, a feminine imprint is etched on forever in both the Virtual Reality world and the Crypto space..
It is true in every sense, that she doesn’t just paint but performs and in doing so her Art is not just to behold but to experience! And luckily, such experiences can be revisited time and again!!!
Anna’s immersive artworks are a ballet of creativity and colours, and her brush strokes, the notes of music…
All hail the artistic genius!!
