In early September the Cryptonomist attended Castle Party 2023 – an NFT event organized by artist Trevor Jones. We took the opportunity to speak with Trevor about his career, his events, and his plans.
Summary
Summary
Why did you decide to organize Castle Party 2023 to take place in France?
Will you donate the proceeds of this party to charity?
In what ways do you collaborate with MakersPlace, which is a sponsor of this event?
How is it going with your EthBoy project?
What do you like most about the NFT space?
How did you enter the NFT space, and what was your background?
What are your plans for the future?
Why did you decide to organize Castle Party 2023 to take place in France?
The idea for the Castle Party came about in 2021 after the Bitcoin Angel drop. One of my big collectors jokingly said, “You should have a castle party.” and I had a laugh. But the next day I thought it was actually not a bad idea. It can be a way of celebrating and giving back to the community and to the collectors, so my team and I started to look for a castle, and we found Stirling Castle in Scotland. It was an amazing place, and we made it the venue for a fantastic event with 350 people from all over the world.
But the problem was that it was just for one night. The castle is open to the public until 5pm, so we had just a couple of hours to set up after closing time, then a few hours to have a big party, and then leave by midnight. When we decided to have another Castle Party, we wanted to try another country and find something where we could have more time. We looked around Europe and found Château de Vallery here in France, where we could host up to 400 guests over two nights.
Will you donate the proceeds of this party to charity?
A friend of mine, Alotta Money, passed away a year ago. He was a big influence on me and on the NFT community. He was my first collaborator in the NFT space, and when he died of cancer it was hard for everyone as he was such an amazing individual.
So, we decided to raise money for Maggie’s cancer charity. We’ve invited 30 amazing artists to create NFTs in tribute to Alotta Money. These artworks are on display here at the party and will be auctioned for charity on MakersPlace. The proceeds from the auction will be evenly split between the artists and Maggie’s.
In what ways do you collaborate with MakersPlace, which is a sponsor of this event?
I have dropped some NFTs there. I am very selective with my drops. It depends on what I’m trying to do and what makes the most sense, so sometimes I drop on Nifty Gateway, OpenSea, Manifold, Async or whatever, it all depends. But I do have a soft spot for MakersPlace because it was the platform for one of my biggest drops in 2020 and they’ve always been very good to me.
How is it going with your EthBoy project?
We’ve reached the fourth chapter, and I think the 31st of June should have been the fifth chapter, but I’ve put it on hold for the time being. I do a screenshot every day of little EthBoy going up or down in this world, so I am still collecting all the information, but in this bear market the last two chapters have not sold.
It’s a tough market. It takes me three weeks or so to work on each piece, and I had the Castle Party to organize, so I am going to wait till the market improves and then I will refocus my energy on the rest of the chapters. It is difficult not having Philippe (Alotta Money) here to help me with the work but of course it’s important to me to keep this unique series of artworks going in his name.
What do you like the most about the NFT space?
The people. The good people, because of course the space is also filled bad actors and scammers. But putting that aside, there are amazing people; artists, collectors, builders and this whole Castle Party experience helps all the guest to meet other good people, to make friends and build real relationships. Twitter is fine, but actually sitting down and having a beer and a chat with a friend and building that relationship is the best. Nothing beats that.
How did you enter the NFT space, and what was your background?
I went to art college as a mature student. I graduated in 2008 when I was 38 years old, and I was interested in bringing together art and technology. I started painting QR codes as a way to be unique and explore my interests in new technology and innovation. I was using augmented reality in 2013, so before most people had even heard about this exciting technology, I was already creating AR paintings. Unfortunately, commercial art galleries didn’t understand what I was doing, so I had to organize my own exhibitions. I was inviting my friends, trying to build my own community around my art and tech. It took a good six years of hard work, perseverance and also losing a lot of money, building on the possibility that art and tech would come together. It was a huge leap of faith.
I had a successful show in 2016 called Would I Lie to You: the Art of Politics and Propaganda, an exhibition of augmented reality artworks. Six years of being a professional artist, it was the first time I made money lol, so I looked for a way to invest and in 2017 bought bitcoin. I ended up getting REKT with bad trading, but I was consumed with the ethos of this space and the technology. I felt like I could create a whole body of new work telling a story about this space. I looked online and I couldn’t find anybody in the world doing it, so I worked throughout 2018 on a new crypto themed series and launched my Crypto Disruption collection at an Edinburgh gallery that I’d hired for 10 days to exhibit the AR infused oil paintings. Additionally, I posted the art and the exhibition on Twitter and there was a lot of interest in it. This time almost everything was sold to anonymous people paying in bitcoin or ether. It blew my mind. Then in 2019 SuperRare, KnownOrigin and MakersPlace launched, so more artists came into the space and by 2021 the floodgates opened and this is where we are today. The space has gone through major transformations since 2017/18.
What are your plans for the future?
I like to be busy. I have a big drop coming on Nifty Gateway on the 18th of September – The Legend, a physical print and NFT derived from my 2018 portrait of John McAfee. McAfee was a genius, an innovator, a provocateur and a legend. Interestingly, In 2018 he invited me to his beach house to do an art residency. I declined because I was a bit unsure of this online persona, he put out there, this lifestyle, drugs, guns, etc. I am married, you know lol. But now I wish I had gone because it would have been great to have met him.
Then I have a drop on MakersPlace in October, and I am finally getting close to dropping my 21 bronze Bitcoin Angel sculptures.
I’m working on a lot of things; however, I’m not the kind of artist that constantly creates work and drops it every week or two on a different platform. I much prefer big projects. I’ve been working on some pieces for over two years now, and I am just waiting for everything to line up before I release them. I think patience is important in this space.
