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Gogoporen has been drawing since he was a youngster, but it’s only been in the last few years following the NFT revolution that he has been able to make a living from his art.
“Art was never a full-time thing for me,” he says, “I was working in the advertising industry, but I got tired of the never-ending deadlines and long hours, and so I quit my job and decided to put more effort into my art.”
Gogoporen began exhibiting his work in group shows and doing murals for brands. He later returned to a less-demanding advertising role which still gave him time for his nascent art career.
“I was able to pursue my passion and keep things in balance – working on my art for various community projects and within the skateboarding scene as well as keeping a day job.”
Gogoporen says anxiety and his questioning of existence feed the themes of his work, which combines pop culture references with allusions to mental illness. But there’s always a colorful, fun approach that helps viewers see his work without feeling too gloomy.
“The inspiration for my work comes from everywhere; it could be a song, a picture, or a feeling or quote,” he says. “But mostly it happens when I am alone, and my brain is in overdrive.”
He says he was aware of NFTs for a few years before taking the leap and joining the world of NFT art.
“I was a skeptic at first, but then some friends started making them and I got curious.” Back then, he says, the NFT world was exclusive, and artists needed invitations to join the networks, but this has changed with the rise of Tezos and the ecosystems around it, he adds.
It was May 2021 when he finally took the leap into the world of NFTs – but for a fairly mundane reason: “I needed money to buy a PS5.” He initially joined Hic et Nunc (HEN) after asking friends and colleagues about the best way to start minting NFTs. “Also, the gas fees on the Tezos blockchain are very low,” he says.
“After I joined HEN, I was blown away by how supportive the Tezos community is. I was just starting out and only had a few followers on my Twitter, but the Tezos community helped me grow my followers and allowed my artwork to gain more recognition.”
Gogoporen has sold over 5,000 NFTs on the Tezos blockchain, while his GOGOS collaboration with artist 0x10 was made up of 5,555 editions and sold out in less than three hours from going live with a stealth drop. “There was no marketing and we kept it secret until it was time to mint.”
Since then, Gogoporen has exhibited at Singapore Art Week alongside many other artists working in the Tezos ecosystem.
His NFT work, Galan’s Hunger, depicted a Marvel Comics supervillain who is known to swallow whole planets lying in his path. “It was intended to reflect the seemingly unstoppable surge of cryptocurrency in general and NFTs in particular.”
His advice for up-and-coming NFT artists is simple and refreshing, saying all they need to do is keep creating, stay healthy and stay sane.
