Gavin Shapiro

United States of America

Gavin Shapiro is a digital artist whose approach consists in producing works that make the viewer smile. He focuses primarily on playful conceptual works that explore how we can use digital tools to confront our expectations of what is possible in a traditionally physical art world. His works are created at the intersection of mathematics, surrealist architecture, psychology and animal analysis.


Gavin began his career as an animated graphic designer in 2009 and has since lived in New York, Osaka and Paris, working on a wide variety of projects, including motion design art animations but also television shows, advertisements, outdoor displays or large-format stage visuals. His personal works, published under the name "Shapiro500", have been used as visuals at music festivals and concerts around the world, and have been displayed on giant screens in art exhibitions in New York, Paris and Tokyo. Shapiro’s animations have garnered hundreds of millions of views on Instagram, Facebook, Reddit and Giphy.


Gavin_Shapiro_3D.png

Power

"Modernity is a deal: Humans agree to give up meaning in exchange for power."

- Yuval Noah Harari



Power vs Meaning is a conceptual blockchain artwork based on historian Yuval Noah Harari’s idea that modern society is a deal in which humans agree to give up meaning in exchange for power. The series consists of two looping animations (Power and Meaning), each minted as an edition of 8 NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain.

Playing on the idea of utility and collector rewards as prevalent themes in the NFT space, holders of Power will be granted the power to reward themselves with an additional edition of their NFT whenever they wish. Meaning, on the other hand, is simply a piece of art, and holders will not be granted any sort of utility or rewards. During the primary sale, collectors must choose between one or the other and are not able to bid on both.

A social experiment that will only be able to fully tell its story as people interact with it, Power vs Meaning asks viewers to confront their own motivation for collecting NFTs in the first place. While Power offers utility, interaction, collector rewards, a rarity system based on exponential growth, and the potential for a community to organically form and evolve, Meaning offers nothing but the chance to own a digital penguin that infinitely waddles towards some sort of glowing metaphor for human motivation. As time goes on, how will the collection change, and what will it say about us?

technique

3d

format

landscape

duration

00:12

year

2023

WANT TO BRING ART INTO YOUR SPACE?

More from Gavin Shapiro

More on digital art

Generative art
Generative art refers to a way of creating artworks using an autonomous system. In digital art, these are usually generated from code and algorithms created by the artist, often with certain predefined parameters or systems. Although these parameters guide the final outcome of the work, generative art is generally a surprising way to create artworks, as the results are often unexpected and the number of possible outcomes can be infinite.
AI
AI art is a branch of generative art that uses artificial intelligence. Unlike other generative artworks, AI artworks use specific complex algorithms and models derived from machine learning. The most common methods for creating AI art today are GANs (generative adversarial networks) or proprietary prompting platforms such as ChatGPT, Sora, Midjourney, or Dall-e.
3D
3D art uses 3D software such as Blender, Cinema4D, Houdini, or video game software such as Unity to create works of art. In 3D works, artists can either arrange assets (the 'objects' in a 3D artwork or world) that they have created themselves or purchased from other creators to create elaborate environments and scenes (an approach to 3D art called 'set dressing'), or specialize in sculpting, which involves creating their own objects and assets.
Photogrammetry
Photogrammetry is a specialized 3D technique that allows 3D objects to be created from numerous photographs taken of an object or scene from multiple angles. These photos are then compiled to determine the specific positioning, shape, and dimensions of the object in space, and then converted into a 3D model. Initially developed for engineering and urban planning, photogrammetry has become a way for artists to produce extremely accurate 3D models from real-life images.
Collage
An extension of the traditional, plastic approach to collage, digital collage involves searching for and cutting out multiple images, extracting them from their original context, and recomposing them in a new arrangement to create a work of art. Artists can use their own photographs or find images on the internet.
Illustration
Digital illustrations are created using software such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or Procreate. As with drawing on paper, the artist uses a stylus to sketch a figure or object, usually on a tablet, to construct a scene or artistic universe. Unlike traditional drawing methods, digital illustration is much more forgiving, as mistakes can be easily corrected and drawn elements and objects can be easily moved around within a scene.
Video
Video artworks primarily use a recording camera, but may sometimes include additional post-processing or editing to distort, modify or add additional elements to the image. Some artists use state-of-the-art recording equipment to create macro zoom-ins or time lapses, privileging fidelity to the subject matter. Others use additional softwares to significantly modify or warp the video, creating an alternative perspective on the world that surrounds us.

Collections with the artist

  • Acropolis
    30 artworks
  • Door_To_Infinity_4_-_Vertical_Morgane_Soulier_AI.jpeg
    • +500
    artists
    View more
    +10k
    artworks
    View more

    Where did you scan from

    RATE YOUR EXPERIENCE