NFT show: The Mona Lisa Effect
The Mona Lisa Effect
curated by Francesca Gavin
25. 05 - 04. 07. 2021 | Auction Live: 30. 05. 10am EST / 2pm GMT / 4pm CET
When the Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911, people lined up for two years to see the blank space where it once hung in the Louvre. Darian Leader argued in his 2002 book, Stealing the Mona Lisa, that it was the theft of Leonardo’s painting that secured its celebrity, rather than the value of the image itself. Leader suggested the fascination of the painting’s disappearance demonstrated humanity’s attraction to das Ding, something beyond the image. The La Giaconde became a viral sensation because of our primordial pleasure in its absence.
In the meme age, digital artworks have been criticised for their immateriality and ease of reproduction. However, infinite reproduction as a mode of power or value is being questioned by new networks and creative decentralised autonomous organisations. Artists are making work that addresses what we collect, consume and connect to by bringing attention to the idea of the ‘original’. The artists in this exhibition – Sara Ludy, Scorpion Dagger aka James Kerr, Damien Roach and Thomas Webb – touch on the idea of absence and presence in very different ways. Yet together these NFTs demonstrate how we engage with the push and pull with conceptual and digital, reality and meaning.
The Canadian digital artist and animator Scorpion Dagger, aka James Kerr, has exhibited at the Tate Britain and Galerie Blanc, has been commissioned by clients including The New York Times, Bavarian State Opera and Gucci, and recently published The Book of Daryll.
Sara Ludy’s digital paintings, animation and VR works have been shown at MCA Chicago, Whitney Museum of American Art, bitforms gallery, and Künstlerhaus Bethanien, and had work feature in publications including The New York Times, Art Forum and Art in America.
Damien Roach is a London-based artist, researcher and lecturer also known for his cross-media project, patten. He has exhibited at the Venice Biennale, Tate Britain, and Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, created performances for London’s ICA and Tate Modern, alongside lysergic, exploratory curatorial projects, and also design and creative direction as 555-5555 for clients ranging from Wysing Art Centre to Disney. @damienroach_
Coming from a background in magic that developed into creative hacking, Thomas Webb has created artworks for Konig Galerie, Ars Electronia, Museum of Fine Arts in Leipzig, Valentino, Mercedes and his own self-minted NFTs.
CNL is a joint project by Croy Nielsen and Emanuel Layr. It is a platform for the realization of ideas that go beyond their respective gallery programs. The website is a developing space which will be shaped by future projects. Part of its pur- pose is to create a space for artists to explore new ways of disseminating work, as well as supporting artists emerging in different contexts. Reflecting new developments and emerging opportunities, CNL aims to see how cultural and con- ceptual value can be explored in the digital arena. For this exhibition the CNL.casa website functions as a digital gallery space. The commissioned artworks created by these four artists are available on different existing NFT platforms.