David Alabo • Artist Spotlight

What got you in to Crypto art?

A need for a community that supports art in all its forms.

Where do you get your inspiration?

Mostly from the tropical paradise that is Ghana. I also find inspiration from surrealist movies and sci-fi dystopian novels/comics.

What do you think of traditional artwork?

I love traditional artwork and it has its place in the art world however, I do think people want new ways of experiencing and collecting artwork.

Do you think your art is fulfilling a purpose?

I believe my art, which mixes afro-futurism & surrealism, creates spaces for people to imagine alternate realities and utopias that may not be bound to realistic rules. A freedom of expression and a connection to the subject's introspective state of mind and their environment.

How did you start out as an artist?

I started creating digital collages and added illustration and 3-D to my workflow shortly after

Who or what inspires your work?

My work is inspired by images of an undulating Sahara express loneliness, alluding to states of isolation and alienation associated with mental illness, which I think needs urgent attention among African peoples. My other concerns include the gendered identities of my subjects, which I obfuscate by creating isolated androgynous figures negotiating vast desertscapes. The sum of my work is a kaleidoscopic rendering of Africanity through juxtapositions of African tropes and imaginaries, with a chromatic, shiny quality, that I refer to as “reflective points,” in both metaphorical and literal terms.

Which other artist(s) do you admire?

Dali, Moebius, Hiroshi Nagai, Basquiat, Kip Omolade, Jamie Hewlett, Daniel Arsham

Final question, what’s next for you as an artist?

Collaborating on a short film with a West African architecture & design group which includes developing a special furniture line which will be released further down the year.