“Art has always been a constant presence in my life, I’ve just experimented with different mediums as I’ve grown up.”
Los-Angeles based artist Maggie West is here to demonstrate and set an example on how to stay connected to the environment, draw inspiration from nature in order to create a realm of art in this era of digital advancements.
Maggie West’s journey from being a cross of a ‘goth&hippie’ teenager to an established photographer and installation artist has not been easy. Well, it’s never easy for a woman to make it in any sector and the NFT space is not an exception.
Maggie West became popular for her vibrant photographs and installations that use experimental lighting and bright colours to capture organic expressions in artificial settings.
West aims to create work that is aesthetically appealing and provides the spectator with a fresh perspective on the subject.
Let’s find out more about the icon herself and Maggie West’s contributions to the NFT sphere!!
Initial Days
Maggie West was born in Asheville, North Carolina in the United States. West is the oldest of five children and that comes with a lot of responsibilities.
She had always despised high school and wished to live in a big city.
West worked as a wedding and portrait photographer in her college days. She hoped for more opportunities and did not want to limit her career to her hometown.
Finally, her dream had come true!!
Maggie West moved to Los Angeles in 2008, fulfilling her dream of moving to a big city after graduation to advance her career.
In Los Angeles, she began working as a photographer and creating physical art installations, among other things.
KISS, West’s first photo book, was published in 2015. The book featured twenty-five different couples from Los Angeles kissing under a spectrum of coloured lights. The series was well-received and was featured in a number of publications.
Maggie West believes that love comes in multiple forms, and felt that this diversity should be represented by models of various ethnicities and sexual orientations.
Additional photographs from the KISS series were exhibited by Maccarone Gallery in 2020.
West’s photography and installation work has attracted the attention of cultural institutions, celebrities like LeBron James, Sam Smith, Alexander Wang, even global brands Google, Adidas, and Netflix.
Kilroy Realty recently commissioned Maggie West to create a permanent art piece for On Vine, a multimillion-dollar complex in Los Angeles that accommodates the new Netflix Campus.
The piece serves as the focal point of the 355,000-square-foot commercial and retail complex.
West’s image is over 6 stories tall and made up of thousands of metallic sequins.
Maggie was commissioned by Google in January 2020 to photograph 100 of their top female employees to commemorate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage. Each color portrait was then stitched together to create a digital mosaic of the iconic Google G symbol.
Each color portrait was then stitched together to create a digital mosaic of the iconic Google G symbol.
West also designed a series of images and animated gifs for the Adidas x Alexander Wang collaboration in 2018.
During the pandemic, Maggie West turned to gardening to relieve her stress. West became increasingly fascinated by the plant-growth process as the garden flourished.
Despite the fact that there are numerous time-lapse videos available, West sought to depict the plant-growth process in a way that combined fantasy and reality.
“There’s something really lovely and inspiring about watching things grow and change. A plant can be near death and come back to life and thrive with the right lighting and water conditions. Seeing this process gives people hope and faith in their own ability to succeed”, according to West.
“Plants are constantly moving throughout the day; we just can’t see it because it happens so slowly. I try to give people a glimpse into this hidden world through my work.”
Aside from art creation, gardening and photography, West has a keen interest in hiking. West enjoys hiking as a form of relaxation because she spends the majority of her time in the studio. This also makes it possible for her to get new ideas from nature, which she then incorporates into her artwork.
Foray into NFT Space
Although West enjoyed working with large corporations such as Google, Netflix, etc, she found it less satisfying than creating art on her own.
West then began researching NFTs, coming to the conclusion that it allows artists to be paid for their work without having to collaborate with a corporate client.
Maggie West has been able to expand her studio and create more work that she is passionate about, thanks to NFT sales!!
Maggie West is well-known for her signature style of time-lapse photography in the NFT realm.
Eternal Garden NFT
Eternal Garden is a surreal digital landscape made up of colorful time-lapse photography.
Flowers from Maggie West’s garden were photographed with a spectrum of colored lights, which allowed West to change the color of each plant while capturing the natural growth process.
The footage was then combined to create surreal floral landscapes that bloomed and evolved in front of the viewer’s eyes.
West dropped the collection in Nifty Gateway on September 4th, 2021.
“I combine plants and flowers from different seasons to create fantasy ecosystems,” West noted in an interview with The Crypto Times.
The whole colorization process took place in camera and not in post-production. For each video in the collection, Things You Say offered a special soundtrack.
Eternal Garden NFT collection drop along with the accompanying video show is said to be the gamechanger in West’s career.
The NFT drop aided her transition from still photography to video art and helped her art reach a global audience. There is no doubt in that!!
Millenia NFT
Maggie West used a custom time-lapse photography process to create NFTs from the Millennia series. Minerals from the artist’s collection were photographed on a turntable using a spectrum of colored lights over the course of 24 hours.
This custom process captures the intricacies of the surface textures in a way that traditional videography would not be able to.
Just like Eternal Garden NFT collection, the colorization procedure of Millenia NFT was completed in-camera rather than in post-production. Things You Say created unique soundscapes for each video in the collection.
She dropped the collection on November 27th, 2021 in collaboration with Nifty Gateway.
The origin of the Millenia NFT collection is fascinating. It all started when West discovered the enduring beauty of ancient geographical specimens.
It fascinates her to delve into the complexities of an object that took thousands of years to form.
She is also drawn to the textures and geometric patterns found in various mineral formations.
West believes that organic patterns are often thought to be more soft and curving, and she wants to draw attention to nature’s sharp geometric patterns.
Upcoming NFT Drop
You guys can look forward to Spring 2022 as Maggie West is dropping her next NFT collection on Nifty Gateway on April 8th.
The new NFT collection delves into the natural mushroom growth process. West has been growing and photographing various species of mushrooms for the past three months in her studio.
This collection differs stylistically from her previous collaborations with Nifty in that several pieces will be available only to current collectors.
Stay Tuned for the NFT Drop!!!
Conclusion
Maggie West is a living example of how, when you combine your passion and hard work, success will undoubtedly come your way.
Not only has she made a name for herself in the photography industry, but West has also carved out a niche for herself in the NFT space with her unique ideas presenting the fusion of nature and NFT.
So, for all the women who wish to take their first steps into the NFT space but are nervous, here are a few words from Maggie West herself.
“Don’t be afraid to try new things. I think it’s easy for artists to get comfortable doing one medium or visual style and stop experimenting. But the artists that I admire most are constantly pushing boundaries and exploring new concepts.”
Also Read: Yam Karkai: The Face behind World of Women NFT Project
