Searching for SuperRare

'Joined SuperRare in 2019' is a phrase you're unlikely to hear very often, yet that's when Brandon Walsh minted his first artworks. Since then Brandon has shared over 105 creations, making him an OG Crypto Artist with a multi-year lineage of work. His first three works 'The Lost Marble', 'Infinite Eyethereum' and 'Faketoshis Vision' brought him income when he needed it most.

"The Lost Marble is the first piece of digital art that I created. It was my first exploration into photoshop and painting. This was my discovery of things like layers, opacity, brush and layer effects, blending, etc. It is basically all created using the simple circular brush stroke. Or as I called it, the marble. Is it chaotic? Yes. Does it lack direction? Perhaps. But who is to say that the marble requires direction? Maybe the people who have lost their marbles have really just let them be free......" says Brandon Walsh.

Brandon was homeless, without any family or friends for support. In 2021, he moved into my first apartment, thanks to his new frens, Cryptoart.

Early Mints

Early mints aren't as easy to come by as they were at the beginning of 2021, yet they're still around. 'When Two Hearts Meet' is a 1/1 on SuperRare first minted on 27th May 2019 and now available on the secondary market for 1 eth.

Why do early mints matter? @2YeahYeah has a thesis on early OG Crypto artists and a great Twitter thread where he deconstructs what SuperRare artists have potentially my upside than they're currently being valued at.

The SuperRare Launch

SuperRare launched in April 2018. Almost all the art on SuperRare is 1/1 by its very nature...it looks rare...sounds rare and...is rare.

Many of the artists that produced for SuperRare you'll recognise now.

https://twitter.com/2Yeahyeah/status/1452368544151347214?s=20

"What existed in these early days can never be recreated A special moment in CryptoArt History What these artists created during this special period of time is more than art, much of it is historically significant moments in Crypto history This is Proof of Work." says 2YeahYeah.

Here's where it starts to get technical.

The first 4,434 tokens (SuperRare V1) look like ERC20 tokens as the original version of the ERC721 standard had a similar interface as the ERC20 standard. There will never be more than 4,434 tokens on the original SuperRare contract.

Go on SuperRare and use the search function to find some of the earliest minted SuperRare artworks.

I searched for artworks owned by the creator or currently listed with a price. Here's the search. Up pops an artwork by @BINGO first minted on Sep 22nd 2018 and currently listed by @digitalartchick ahem @punk2476.

Are these OG CryptoArtists? Probably not...as the style doesn't match the Crypto Aesthetic (read What is the Crypto Aesthetic MintFace article.) Nevertheless, this is your opportunity to own very very early minted works by artists on the SuperRare platform.

Back To Brandon's Art

Soooo that's a big side conversation. Now back to Brandon Walsh and his latest work shifts towards poetry with titles like 'What's the point?', 'Are We Worthy' and 'What's the art?'

A good question indeed. The art is the dot. The art can be whatever we wish it to be. The textured background may be the art... or it may be the dot. The point is...make your own mind up and decide who is an OG Crypto Artist you want to collect.

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If this article has made you curious about getting started with digital art, we also run the Digital Artist Economy workshop helping artists create their first digital art through a three week programme. Share it with an artist you'd like to see on an NFT marketplace.

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