Exploring the art and mind of neo-regional artist, Grant Yun
Exploring the art and mind of neo-regional artist, Grant Yun
Neo-Regional. Minimalist Artist. Co-Founder: @Mystudios_io. Member: @Tungsten_DAO 🧊
I can’t pinpoint exactly when I discovered Grant Yun on Twitter, but I know that when I did, I became instantly obsessed with his art. It was the simplistic beauty that really caught my attention. Pieces like For Lease or Empty Roads makes me feel so nostalgic, like i’ve been there before. Not to mention how calm I feel staring at any one of his pieces.
I have many regrets since entering the NFT space. One of them includes not figuring out how to collect a 1/1 when they were still available and in the 1 Ξ range. Grant is a multi talented artist with an already-stellar list of collectors.
In his free time, when he’s not creating 💎💎💎, Grant attends medical school. The hunger is real with this guy! So excited to present this interview to y’all featuring one of my favorite artists, soon to be Dr. Grant Riven Yun.
You’re an all around creative person. When did you understand this about yourself?
I remember when I was a little kid, maybe 5 or 6 years old, I told my parents I wanted to become a photographer when I grew up. I used to take all these photographs on our family’s digital camera back when I was a kid and I always felt such a huge attachment to them. I also absolutely loved drawing as a kid. I remember I would go to school everyday to show my classmates what I drew the day before. I essentially have never stopped illustrating since those days in elementary school!
I remember seeing a video of you breakdancing! First of all that’s super legit, and second, what kind of music do you vibe to mostly?
Haha, music runs my life! I have the biggest appreciation for all genres. Some of my favorite genres include classic rock, jazz, blues, acid jazz, funk. Recently some of the artists I’ve really been listening to heavily include Jamiroquai, Steely Dan, Bill Evans, D’angelo, Tyler The Creator, Stone Temple Pilots, Michael Jackson, The entire Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, Debarge, James Brown, … I’ll just keep going on and on, so I'll stop right there.
Did ever take art classes or training at all to learn how to draw?
Nope! I have never taken a single class. Even on adobe illustrator or photoshop I’ve never watched a tutorial. I try to teach myself here and there through books but for the most part it's all been just learning from myself.
That’s amazing. Your work seems very precise. Are you using a ruler or any measuring at all?
No ruler! Actually it's funny you mention this because sometimes my perspective is off in some of the illustrations. This doesn’t bother me one bit and I think it makes my art unique. The precision comes from the shapes tool on Adobe illustrator. I’m essentially starting with a rectangle every time I put a new shape down and I morph each corner manually to give it unique shapes.
As I’ve gotten to know you, I see you’re quite knowledgeable about art in general. How did you learn about art history? (Personally or in school?)
No school! I try my best to read tons of books on art. I love learning about art history and the development of art over time.
How did your early art style come about?
As a digital artist, I started almost a decade ago. I began illustrating on Microsoft Powerpoint by using the shapes too and literally just stacking them on top of one another. It was extremely rudimentary but it got the job done. I did this for a while and finally moved over to a dedicated platform Adobe Illustrator. Despite the tools I had on Illustrator, my style and technique changed very little. I still to this day continue to use individual shapes and layer them on one another or morph the corners one at a time to create unique compositions. It's a style that came naturally out of necessity and limitations from the tools I had at my disposal. But I am so happy w/ how things came out and very humbled people recognize the style and love it!
How has your style changed now in your more recent collections from your Neo-Regionalism series?
So Neo-regionalism is just a term I gave to my art in general. Between my California, Midwest, and now Life in Japan series it is all a unique representation of everyday life in these areas of the world. My goal is not to create wildly fantasized pieces but to ground my art in reality. These illustrations I mint on the blockchain are intended to show a more realistic vision of life here on Earth. Maybe a little romanticized but my work is really focused on showcasing the beauty of our world.
Literally all of your pieces are so relaxing and pleasing to me. Where did your Americana art style come from?
My biggest inspirations really came from the realists and regionalists of the 1900s such as Hopper, Wood, Curry, etc. etc. and really learning from their illustrations helped me shape how I want to showcase my work. In addition to this, my biggest focus in illustrations is color. While I’ve never read a book formally on color study, I do my best to look at as many paintings as possible and really grasp how certain colors help create powerful compositions. I think additionally, this style comes from my love for Bauhaus and mid century modern as design styles. To me they represent a sense of freedom in style and the concepts, theories, and styles from this era of design really shape how I create art today.
Considering the cultural significance of the Pepe meme, can you explain how your piece PEPESUPREM came about?
Yea! To me art represents culture. Within art, memes have a very very special place. They have a much greater impact on society than we would like to think. Pepe along with many other meme icons represent internet culture, 21st social interactions, and web3 humor. No matter how serious of an artist or collector you are, I think it is important to be part of this social narrative that helps bring our community together.
While much of my art isn’t very emotionally provoking in the sense that its humorous or sad or etc etc, I wanted to create a fake rare in my own style. This came while we were creating Primera. You may notice the extremely similar style that Primera is built on. And so this pepe titled PEPESUPREM is a pepe that represents the blueprints of our generative project Primera and also represents how we can interpret these 20th century art styles of suprematism and constructivism in a 21st century lens.
Additionally I created this to join the fake rare community. Many don't realize how powerful this community is and will be. Many people discuss the relevance of rare pepes but neglect the role fakes will have in the coming decade. Essentially all of your favorite 1/1 artists have created a fake. Danguiz, ACK, Seerlight, etc etc. It is a community of some of the most prolific artists coming together to help push our culture forward and bring us all together.
Putting aside you as an artist for a minute, you’re also finishing up medical school to become a doctor. What drives you to continue at this point as you’re already being compared to great American artists such as Edward Hopper.
Art is only one of my interests in life. I love illustrating and creating, but I’ve worked as a full time artist before. I personally just love being occupied with work and keeping myself busy. At times I found myself feeling empty working only as an artist.
What would you like to do after you complete school?
I'm not 100% sure! I would of course like to complete my MD training and finish up residency. So that would be another 5-8 years. After that possibly just work as a physician and really focus on how I can help progress the web3 art space!
I only own one Primera, but am thankful to be in the family. How did you and your good friend & NFT artist 💎 Andrew Mitchell @uncut_hems come up with the idea to release this collection that’s currently headed to mars?
For several years I’ve worked on studying early 1900s art movements such as constructivism and suprematism. When I first met Mitchell, he was a recent graduate of computer science working as a software developer in Madison, WI. We got to know each other very well and have always considered doing something generative. Mitch actually did tons of generative work even before I had met him so it was only natural to create Primera once we both were well situated with the web3 space.
As you know, CT is such a wild and highly entertaining sector of twitter. What’s your favorite part of the NFT space since entering?
It has to be all the memes. I live for memes and CT has some of the best.
What’s the wildest thing to happen to you for better or worse since getting into crypto and NFT?
The wildest part for me was the week I got accepted to SuperRare in February 2021. That week I had lost all my crypto and had everything in my wallet drained. I was pretty down about it as I had worked my way up to accumulate what I had. A couple days later I got accepted to SuperRare. I had a couple hundred left in my bank account and used it all to mint my genesis on SuperRare. The rest is history. It was a really uncertain time in my life from a financial and art standpoint but I’m so blessed that it paid off.
You have a highly anticipated release coming up on SuperRare? Do you have a name for the piece yet? What can you tell us about the release?
For now let's run with “Midnight In Japan.” It's funny because sometimes I have a very very definitive title for a piece, sometimes even before the illustration is done. Other times, I think of a title literally as I’m minting. Creating names just spontaneously for a piece just reflects how I honestly feel about an illustration. I don’t ever sit down and attempt to construct the perfect title. The title should come naturally and spontaneously. It should be a gut feeling so to speak. So looking at my next mint, Midnight in Japan seems about right. Come the time of the mint, that could change depending on how I feel that day!
The piece itself is the nighttime version to “feelings.” which I already minted. That one was sold immediately to Art_Pleb who actually put in an all time high for me of 10Eth at the time. I absolutely love doing day and night versions of my illustrations. It proves my point that color alone dictates illustrations. My pieces are the same illustration but the colors are different and that's what defines the pieces. No collector or artist thus far has ever told me I’m cheating my collectors because I’m minting the same illustration twice. I’ve had nothing but support and I am so glad people can recognize what I’m trying to do!
You have a total of 56 creations in Superrare and a total of 0 are available for sale.
Do you think it’s important to keep your work scarce and rather unavailable than to consistently drop pieces or even open editions?
I think to me open editions don’t really make sense unless it's some huge huge artist like XCOPY. Scarcity to me is defined by market demand. I initially was somewhat concerned about how much I minted but I think I’ve found the sweet spot as of now. I have many collectors interested and I promised myself I would only mint a fraction of what I minted in 2021. Recently I’ve had like 6 or 7 secondary sales on SuperRare just from people sweeping my floor. It's been an amazing journey and I think my market demand at the moment can justify the rate at which I’m minting. To be honest I probably could mint a little more often but I’m comfortable with where I’m at.
A perfect segway which is, will you ever release another edition piece again? (I missed out on Cozy Homes :( )
Nifty Gateway Curated coming May!! No guarantees on the series or the mint count but I’m most likely going to do my Japan series and do a drawing with maybe 100 or so editions per piece!
Wow, I’m ready to risk it all to make that whitelist lol!
What do you think of generative art? Who are some of your favorite gen artists?
Generative art is by far my fav genre of art in CT. It is an amazing phenomenon that could only have arisen through the use of 20th and 21st century technology. It is a brand new form of art never before done due to the limitations of technology prior to computers. I am 100% in support of making sure our generative art friends get the attention they deserve. My favorite generative artists are my friend @uncut_hems of course and essentially all the artists featured by Art Blocks!
Who are some of your favorite artists in general?
My favorite artists have always been some of the top science fiction concept artists. I am a huge huge huge science fiction fan and most of my art at first was really science fiction driven. These artists include Syd Mead, Ralph McQuarrie, and HR Giger. On top of that, I love tons of artists you may see in traditional art museums including Hopper, Wood, Curry, Rothko, Diebenkorn, Frankenthaler, Warhol, Ruscha, and the list goes on and on…
From an outsider's perspective, you’ve already accomplished so much in the NFT space and with your art. What are some goals you hope to accomplish this year or in your lifetime?
Thank you for the kind words! To me I do not feel accomplished at all! I think many people attribute monetary success with some sort of accomplishment. I can’t deny that the money I receive is extremely helpful, but my ultimate goal is to be recognized for what I do. I want people to recognize my art at the same level they see art in Trad Art museums. The path to accomplishing that won’t be easy and I try my very best with each passing day to help do what I can to make this a reality not just for me but for all Web3 artists. This year, I just want to make sure I’m sold out in terms of mints and that I get my art into the hands of some amazing collectors I have on my radar. For a long term outlook, I will work to have my art auctioned off by major auction houses and to have my works displayed in high profile galleries and museums. I’m already working on something to get at least my foot in the door into some galleries but I need to keep that vague because things are still in the works for later this year ;)
Like Kanye West said once upon a time, “I might be living your American dream, but I’m not living mine yet”. In closing, I think Grant Yun will absolutely go down as one of the greats who helped to push the NFT and web3 space forward.