FVCKRENDER Flips the ‘Hypebeast’ Magazine Cover for Our First NFT
Evoking growth and the spirit of community.
Author: Keith Estiler
FVCKRENDER has partnered up with HypeArt to release the media platform’s first-ever collaborative NFT that takes inspiration from HYPEBEAST’s iconic print magazine covers. Entitled ‘FVCK_HYPEBEAST//‘, the artist created an entirely-new CG art featuring crystallized florals with ‘HYPEBEAST’ text imposed on the digital cover. Check it out here.
The artist reinterprets HYPEBEAST’s iconic print magazine cover with elements from his metaverse from the last few years such as crystallized flowers, hands and chains. The flowers symbolize growth where the hands represent generosity. Lastly, the chains recall the spirit of community and working together. When all of these elements are combined, the resulting animation is a magnetic force from an otherworldly realm that celebrates the still-evolving technology surrounding digital art.
This joint work signals the start of ongoing NFT partnerships between the publication and leading artists in the global contemporary art sector. HypeArt aims to launch narrative-focused NFTs that tell in-depth stories between the collaborators and go beyond lackluster visualizations. The world of NFTs is dominated by a myriad of cash-grab collectibles and lacks any sort of meaning or intent.
For those who aren’t well-versed: an NFT, short for non-fungible token, is a piece of data that verifies ownership of a digital item — from a famous artwork or a highlight reel of an NBA game-winning shot.. They are created using blockchain technology. Each NFT is unique and cannot be directly exchanged. And while copies may be made, the blockchain authenticates the NFT, showing who owns the original version.
Frederic Duquette, aka FVCKRENDER, is the leading digital artist from Montreal known for his 3D loops of alien subjects to undulating forms inspired by architectural geometry. The artist uses a wide range of tools found within Cinema 4D software — heralded as the industry standard for 3D modeling — to create futuristic landscapes, crystalline arrangements and all sorts of hallucinatory renderings. It’s only been five years since Duquette started developing digital-based projects, but he has already built an immense portfolio of both personal and commission-based projects, especially in the NFT space.
Since 2016, the artist has challenged himself to develop a render each day and share it on his social media accounts. His work has evolved over the years, attracting a slew of leading major brands and artists to commission him for collaborations, including Dior, Lil Nas X, and in 2020, Supreme had commissioned the artist for original graphics to be featured on the label’s 2020 Spring tees.
To commemorate the collaboration, we connected with FVCKRENDER to give away three NFTs featuring the artist’s signature crystals motif available through our Instagram raffle here. To learn more the inspirations behind his digital cover for HYPEBEAST, check out our exclusive interview with FVCKRENDER below.
Given the longstanding publication and its recognizable print covers, what were thoughts on creating HYPEBEAST’s first digital cover as an NFT?
My goal was to recreate the iconic hypebeast paper in a Fvckrender way, including some of my most famous elements that has been following me through the last few years
For sure!! Physical I have no idea, I live in a digital realm, haha. My fav issue so far I think it was Issue 24 Covering Palace skateboard history. I think Palace shaped the skate style we are seeing right now, and we see most of the new brands are inspired by, which is dope.
Are you a longtime fan of HYPEBEAST? If so, do you have a favorite physical cover from the mag?
Yeah, my goal was to put together a mix of my most iconic element like if it was in a box, we got the head that means connections, the flowers that means the growth, the chains that means community and working together to build shit and the hand, that represent the gift, or giving to someone else. These are fuckin important keywords for my work and the future that im building my metaverse with.
Tell us about the elements found within this collaborative NFT. What were your inspirations behind the visuals?
Haha, thanks for the words, I sat down every fuckin day doing the work. everytime that my work was getting repetitive, I found new way to express it, i never sat on success but always looked for innovation. As for collecting art, I think I'm becoming a pretty good collector (I have about 600 nft collected) Buy what you like, not what's hype.
You’re considered to be a leader in your community of digital artists. What efforts have you made in order to stand out in this era of digital art creating and collecting?
Im working my ass off right now to create the sickest metaverse ever done, even though we are in early stage, i truly think the FVCKRENDERVERSE// is the sickest looking verse out there. We are working hard to make it the craziest experience possible, while maintaining healthy pace, because everything move so fuckin fast in the crypto/nft space, but I dont let this rush my project. I'm working on something that will be relevant in 5-10 years.
As a digital creator on the forefront of this still-evolving tech, what do you hope to accomplish in your NFT journey?
I think the main thing is freedom, nfts will give so much freedom for artists, as much as I love commercial work, lots of these project are soul sucking and very fuckin hard mentally, esp when they pay you shit. Being able to come up with a project by your own, and show it to the world for people to collect and support it is something fuckin insane if you ask me, Artist are getting paid for their art while being alive!
The hype surrounding NFTs is prominent now more than ever. From your POV, what implications do NFTs have for both not only artists but collectors as well?
Im working my ass off right now to create the sickest metaverse ever done, even though we are in early stage, i truly think the FVCKRENDERVERSE// is the sickest looking verse out there. We are working hard to make it the craziest experience possible, while maintaining healthy pace, because everything move so fuckin fast in the crypto/nft space, but I dont let this rush my project. I'm working on something that will be relevant in 5-10 years.
As a digital creator on the forefront of this still-evolving tech, what do you hope to accomplish in your NFT journey?
I’m all in on FVCKRENDERVERSE// even though we are currently changing the name to make it more inclusive and easier to brand.
What projects can we expect to see from you in the near future?
The most important thing is build your community, come with the intention to inovate and have fun, not make banks and fuck off, because cash grab projects are easy to spot from miles. Be patient, creating your community takes time.
What advice would you give to budding digital creators and collectors?