NFT Collector: Giant Swan’s gothic VR dreamscapes… royalty nightmare on OpenSea
From sitting in his car crying before work every morning to becoming a successful digital artist, the story of Australian-based VR painter and sculptor Giant Swan is one of persistence, timing and pushing boundaries.
In a world where a digital artist can now monetize their work through NFTs as opposed to cheap likes and comments on Instagram, Giant Swan stands out from the pack, being the first artist to put a 3D object on-chain and for his truly unique and immersive pieces that have captured the attention of collectors all over the globe, including renowned whales such as j1mmy.eth, Moderats Art and Whale Shark.
“For me, crying in the car before work was a lot to do with knowing that you should be somewhere else. I knew I didn’t fit with what I was doing. To be where you suddenly belong, I think, is what every artist is probably striving for in some way,” Giant Swan says.
After minting his first NFT on Nov. 30, 2019, on Known Origin, Giant Swan caught the initial wave of interest in digital art. He credits the likes of David Moore from Known Origin for helping him take the plunge.
Dreamlike states
You can get lost viewing Giant Swan’s art; the depth of his work often needs to be seen to be believed. OG Crypto artist Josie Bellini described it thus:
“When I look at Giant Swan’s work, you can’t stop thinking, and you start to feel a certain way. I can see the blood, sweat and tears. I can see that he’s put his heart in his canvas and the way that every stroke he builds them in VR. They have so much depth and so much emotion to them.”
Giant Swan states, “A really simple goal of my art has always been that I want you to experience it and feel like you had a dream, or you have to describe it like you try to describe a dream.”
To create the art he does via VR, the Melbournian from Australia uses a PC VR headset and gaming rig, but said a basic Meta Quest VR headset could do the job for most people.
“I create art by turning my movement into shapes and color. I do that by wearing a virtual reality headset that places me into an empty void. There’s no roof, there’s no floor, there’s no walls; it’s just endless. That movement can be filled with an endless amount of material shapes, color, density, size, and scale. I feel that until I have a space that I’m happy with,” Giant Swan says.
“From there, I explore that space to see how I can capture a story and share that with other people. I like to make art this way because traditionally, we look at computers of digital art and we judge it by its perfection.”
“It’s the pursuit of perfection we’re hiding or imitating how we look at the world until it’s digital or not. VR art lets us explore imperfection, and in that, it enables a very digital art medium to become one of the most organic digital art forms available. I’d be surprised if you could find someone else who does what I do now.”
Notable sales
Rapid-fire Q&A
How would you describe your style as an artist?
“I’d like to think that it’s a balanced emotional take on surrealism in art. Really thrash, almost impressionistic kind of take on 3D art. I love to hit gothic notes and symbolism. I like drawing from a lot of things, but I wouldn’t know how to name it. That’s why it’s Giant Swan style. That’s why people can pick me out in the crowd because you can’t put it in a bin.”
Who are the influences on your art career to date?
“I’ve got lots of influences, but to name a few. Ashley Wood worked on Tank Girl, which is a loose inky comic book style. Also Jamie Hewlett, who does all the imagery behind The Gorillaz and Tank Girl.
“The Gorillaz were an influence on me in that you used to get their CDs and to get all the extra stuff out of it. You had to put it into your PC but they never said that; you just put the CD in, and you’d explore and find all the cool stuff. It was an experience. That really informs how I see my work. Now I want my work to be experienced.”
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Is there an up-and-coming artist/s you think people should be paying attention to?
“There’s a Melbourne artist named Mysterious Al. He is a muralist that you’ll probably recognize the moment you Google him. He’s an incredible artist.”
Who is a notable collector of yours that makes you smile knowing they own one of your pieces?
“When I think of people like Pranksy, j1mmy.eth, Josie, Whale Shark, Moderats Art and Deej, it brings a smile. These are all big whales, but they are also entrepreneurs and extremely successful people. They all saw that in me before my works became really expensive.”
What’s your favorite NFT in your wallet that’s not your own NFT?
“My favorite NFT in my wallet is a pair of shoes for Cryptovoxels that n0shot made. It was so early in the crypto art culture we’d all meet up in Cryptovoxels. That was probably the first time sneaker culture really kind of teased its way into the space.”
What’s hot elsewhere in NFT art markets
Notable recent sales from Tyler Hobbs include an Incomplete Control and Fidenza that was sold via Sotheby’s and a pipe Chromie Squiggle that collector DGMD picked up.
OpenSea in royalty race to the bottom
For the majority of 2023, amid a bloodbath for NFT collection prices, the creator royalties discussion has felt like a race to the bottom and OpenSea all but confirmed this with their announcements the marketplace will move to optional creator royalties on secondary sales.
Read also
This unpopular decision probably doesn’t come as a surprise, however, with Blur marketplace continuing to dominate market share.
From Aug. 31, OpenSea will sunset the filter it introduced in November 2022 as a response to Blur and other marketplaces allowing collectors and traders to bypass creator royalties. At the height of NFT mania, the issue was heralded as the big game changer in an emerging new creator economy.
The technology remains the same, but when the market was booming — for most of 2020 through 2022 — paying out creator royalties along with OpenSea’s 2.5% marketplace fee was rarely questioned.
OpenSea CEO and co-founder Devin Finzer said:
“In November 2022, we launched the Operator Filter: a tool designed to give creators more control by restricting the sale of their collections to Web3 marketplaces that enforce creator fees in secondary sales. It was meant to empower creators with greater control over their Web3 business models, but it required the buy-in of everyone in the Web3 ecosystem, and unfortunately that has not happened. So we’re making a few changes to our approach to creator fees.”
There doesn’t seem to be any great solution to be able to enforce royalties without compromising on true decentralized asset ownership, with many having their two cents on the matter, including OpenSea VC backer Mark Cuban, artists Matt Kane and Beeple and NFT influencer Wale Swoosh.
Yuga to the rescue?
Arguably one of the most influential voices also had its say on the OpenSea announcement, with Yuga Labs — the creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club and the owners of CryptoPunks, Otherside, Meebits and many other collections — coming out strongly against OpenSea’s decision.
The statement from CEO Daniel Alegre already has most of the NFT community speculating that a Yuga marketplace will launch as part of the response.
13-year-old helping disadvantaged kids with Blueberry DAO x Nouns DAO
In a heartwarming pocket of the NFT landscape, 13-year-old Lilpurpberry from Brisbane has embarked on a philanthropic initiative in collaboration with Variety children’s charity.
Blueberry DAO, backed by funding from Nouns DAO, was created by Lilpurpberry to build a treasury, including sales of Lilpurpberry’s NFT pixel art. The treasury is to support local children’s charities, and Variety was the first recipient, with funds being channeled to the “Bikes for Kids” program, which delivers brand new bikes and helmets to kids experiencing disadvantage who would otherwise miss out.
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US steps in with a lifeline as Argentina battles peso turmoil, investor flight and President Javier Milei’s waning credibility. Crypto adoption surges.
This is the story of two announcements – and the bigger lessons they tell us about the state of our politics.
First, there was a policy announcement by the Liberal Democrats as they gathered in Bournemouth for their annual conference.
Some Lib Dems were already aggrieved they do not get coverage commensurate with their parliamentary strength, given they have 72 MPs. But there is no one outlet or platform choosing to downplay their content – it’s worth analysing why their work does not travel further and wider.
The party’s main overnight policy call was for health warnings on social media apps for under-18s. The reason this was unlikely to garner a huge amount of attention is because it broadly falls in line with existing mainstream political consensus.
Politically, it was a safe thing to call for, tying gently the party’s anti-big tech and by extension anti-Trump agenda, but it was such safe territory that The Times reported this morning that ministerial action in the same area is coming soon.
Perhaps more importantly, the idea of mandatory warnings on social media sites used by teens feels like small beer in the age of massive fiscal and migration challenges. The party conference is its big moment to convince the public it’s about more than stunts and it can pose a coherent alternative: do its announcements rise to such a big moment?
Even more depressing for activists in Bournemouth is that the Liberal Democrat announcement is being eclipsed by Nigel Farage’s immigration statement. This is rightly getting more coverage – although also rightly, much of it focuses on whether this latest plan can possibly work, whether they’ve thought it through and whether their cost estimate is credible (probably not).
Ed Davey participates in a flower-arranging workshop during his visit to Bournemouth Lower Gardens. Pic: PA
Even typing these words will draw a backlash from the parts of the political spectrum who resent the scale of the coverage a party with five MPs can muster. But just as the Lib Dems might draw lessons from their own failure to get noticed, Labour could do worse than to take note of why Reform leader Mr Farage is again hogging the headlines today.
Reform UK is proposing two things: that it will end Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) as we know it – that’s the right to settle in the UK, with access to benefits, after five years in the country. Within 100 days of entering office, Mr Farage says people would have to apply for five-year visas, qualifying only if they meet a higher salary threshold – closer to £60,000, from just over £40,000.
There are questions about the practical workings of the policy – a vastly bureaucratic and potentially destabilising plan to assess old IRL claims seems at odds with their plans to slash the size of the state. Some rival politicians would query the ethical stance of their latest intervention.
And Labour is loudly saying that Reform’s claim that UK benefits will be restricted to UK citizens will generate savings in the hundreds of billions is based on thinktank research that has since been withdrawn. But that is secondary.
The bigger thing Reform UK has done today is identify and loudly highlight an issue the Labour Party agrees with but does not dare make a big deal of. This allows Reform UK once again to set the terms of the debate in a sensitive area.
Underlying the Reform UK policy is a simple set of figures: That the result of the huge migration surge triggered by Boris Johnson and overseen through the Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak premierships, means those eligible for Indefinite Leave to Remain, five years after their arrival, is about to spike. This poses profound and complex questions for policymakers.
Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government had pledged to improve relations with Ireland. Pic: PA
According to the government, last year 172,800 got Indefinite Leave to Remain. From next year there are estimates – not challenged this morning by the government when I checked – that about 270,000 migrants will become eligible to apply to live in the UK permanently. Then, up to 416,000 people will qualify in 2027, and 628,000 in 2028. These are huge numbers.
And here’s the key thing. While in public Labour have been trying to highlight aspects of this announcement that they say have “fallen apart”, privately they acknowledge that this is a problem and they too will come up with solutions in this area – but cannot yet say what.
Labour have already said they will increase the qualifying period for Indefinite Leave to Remain from 5 to 10 years, but it is unclear what will happen to those for whom the clock is already ticking – so, those in this coming wave. More on that is expected soon, but this is uncooked policy and the government is now racing to provide an answer.
Read more from Sky News
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We seem to have politics stuck on repeat. Mr Farage has yet again put up in lights something that Labour privately concede is an issue but as yet have no answer in public. New home secretary Shabana Mahmood knows she has to show she can be quicker off the mark and more punchy than her predecessor – her rival has been first off the mark in this area, however.
But Mr Farage is also tackling the Tories too, punching the bruise by labelling the surge in migration post-2021 as the “Boris-wave”. Understandably, the Tories themselves have been shy to dwell on this. But they have also tried to make it harder for people who arrived post-2021 to get ILR and have vowed to allow those on benefits to be able to apply. But they would draw the line on retrospective ILR claims, which could turn into one of the big dividing lines at the next election. And they are not shouting about a plan which effectively criticises the migration record of the last government.
Mr Farage has come up with a deeply controversial policy. Retrospectively removing people who thought they could live indefinitely in the UK is a major shift in the compact the UK had with migrants already here. But he managed to put his rivals in a tangle this morning.
The two biggest parties give the impression they still have little confidence when dealing with migration. Until they do, can they really take on Mr Farage?
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