Much of the beauty of Web3 lies in its sense of togetherness. Artists, coders, collectors—individuals from all around the globe—have found themselves woven into the rich tapestry that is our community. The space thrives on connection, and we believe it is at its best when talented individuals come together to make something truly special. For the fifth Lvcidia Experience, we’ve decided to showcase not just one, but three immensely skilled artists whose 3D work always leaves us breathless: David Ariew (AKA Octane Jesus), Hayden Clay, and Stuz0r.
None of these artists’ style is quite like the other, and yet there’s a universality to the emotions they capture. The worlds they create ask you to be present within them, if only for a moment. Simply scrolling past the work is doing yourself a disservice. These are artists who have climbed to the top of their field, the tools they wield now a part of their very beings. Listening to their stories lends a new dimensionality to their work. Take a moment, and let yourself drift away in the current they’ve created. The process is often meditative, revealing, and even healing.
Whatever meaning you find on this journey is yours to keep.
David Ariew: Galactic Grail
Lovingly referred to as ‘Octane Jesus’ by his community, David Ariew does indeed practice what he preaches. In addition to having an esteemed career as a 3D artist—producing visuals for the likes of Beeple, Katy Perry, Zedd, and plenty more—he’s also become a respected educator for Octane and C4D. His artistic breakthroughs are shared with the world openly, in the form of step-by-step tutorials. There’s no fear of being copied or imitated. To Ariew, it’s the artist’s unique sensibilities that will make their work stand apart, regardless of if they followed the same general process. “I’m not worried about people coming in and taking my job, as it were. I really do just want to help other people.”
“I have several artistic styles because I love to experiment and try out new techniques and workflows. Much of my work is very cinematic, and I focus on the lighting, the camera movement and storytelling, but I also love creating wild pieces for concert visuals that are super tightly synced to the music. “
Over the past few years, Ariew’s work has blossomed into something he never expected. Where his early NFT mints were primarily narrative CG short films, his latest work has broken outside the confines of traditional storytelling. “It’s way more emotionally impactful. And it’s not narrative, but art doesn’t have to be narrative,” Ariew explains. After a high-profile project requested he create an infinite mirror room in 3D space, Ariew developed a workflow to make their dream a reality. He assumed he’d move on from it immediately after.
“But something about it I really connected with. I was surprised that it was even possible.”
People tend to assume that the infinite mirror rooms Ariew creates are generated with something like a mirror effect. On the contrary, these are actual simulated digital spaces. They’re grounded in the reality of how light and reflections work, using 3D to operate on a greater scale than would otherwise be possible. And the process of creating these infinite mirror rooms is especially freeing; they push back against the traditionally meticulous nature required of detailed 3D artists. “I would change around the geometry of the room… what’s emitting light in the room… and I would get these completely different psychedelic reflections that I was not expecting,” says Ariew. “It almost feels more like revealing the artwork, rather than creating it.
Galactic Grail—Ariew’s contribution to “3 Dimensional”—is an audiovisual odyssey. Originally designed for VR, he spherized the work on the recommendation of artist Hideki Tsukamoto. The resulting effect is beautiful and compelling. Viewers glide through the space in a trance as the ethereal lights evolve organically around them. As if watching thousands of puzzle pieces move into place, stunning formations are formed out of the disorder. You are always moving forward, the world taking infinite new shapes around you. The visuals are as much tied to the music as they are to your body, your breathing, your pulse. “And to me, it almost gets me comfortable with death… it feels like it could help relieve people’s existential anxiety.” Within the darkness, Ariew’s work assures us that there will always be light.
“Now it feels like I’m actually on the road towards producing experiences that can change people or could heal them… this is definitely the most meaningful [work] to me that I’ve found.”
Hayden Clay: Checkerboard Sea
Hayden Clay describes his style as “feel-good surrealism”, showcasing worlds of impossibly vibrant color and dreamy subject matter. He always knew he wanted to be an artist, but for most of his young life walked down a STEM path instead. It wasn’t until college that he was able to truly explore his latent artistic potential. “That’s kind of when I got seriously into art. I was really into film photography, taking pictures in the same style of the artworks I make now. They were double exposures and very surreal, very colorful, very dreamy,” says Clay. “And I was just obsessed with creating these images and these worlds.”
However, after a few years photography lost its luster for Clay. What had once been a space of exciting experimentation for him was now becoming predictable; he knew how the photos would come out before even developing the film. Furthermore, the environment he was in was limiting what he could capture through his lens. “I had these ideas that I feel like I couldn’t really make with a camera. I was also in the winter in Maryland, and all these trees are dead… it’s all barren,” Clay explains. “I want to make something colorful and surreal and pretty, and there’s nothing alive around me. So I decided to learn how to 3D render.”
“When I make 3D art, I don’t really want it to look like 3D art. I want it to look like a soft illustration, a dream, a film photograph. I want it to have flaws to it.”
Where many people might find transitioning to a new medium daunting, Clay felt energized. One of his first renders—Summer Games—captured a flooded tennis court, intended to create awareness for climate change and rising sea levels. “I was looking for a tennis court to flood [in real life]. And I was frustrated because I couldn’t find this thing. I felt so limited by my surroundings.” Clay was determined to make the concept a reality, and it became more and more apparent that 3D was the only way to do so. “A fun little phrase I’ve heard: resistance is redirection. If you feel this wall, just try doing something completely different. I got over it by changing to a different medium.”
“Within 3D art, I haven’t really felt any lack of ideas or creativity.”
Checkerboard Sea is Clay’s contribution to the fifth Lvcidia Experience. As in Ariew’s work, it’s a look into the infinite. Our eyes drift toward the horizon where the sea meets the clouds. On that path, we find every other piece of this vast ocean has been removed, foggy pitfalls left in their place. “I made this for the same reason I make a lot of artworks. It’s just something I really wanted to see. It’s this place I really wanted to go to. Making it is sort of allowing my brain to kind of take a trip to this fantastic location.”
What viewers take away from Checkerboard Sea will vary, and Clay doesn’t want it any other way: “I just want people to feel something.” The ambiguity is part of the fun; the work can take on new meaning for whoever looks upon it. What lies beneath the fog? Maybe the work unsettles you, evoking the feeling that we’re becoming increasingly disconnected from each other. What used to flow as one is now incomplete. Each of us resigned to our own square, being pulled along towards the unknown. We fall, we float back to the surface, and we’ll surely fall again. This stream is endless. But the current will always guide us forward, and we can continue on despite everything we’ve lost.
What path will you take?
Stuz0r: To Say Goodbye
Stuz0r—the final artist of “3 Dimensional”—is also our most prolific. The words “I can’t draw” adorn his various social media profiles, which may come as a surprise for an artist who has risen to the top of the digital art space. His daily works of art have made him a constant: a pillar that can always be counted on to deliver an entrancing work of art before the night falls. “Creative people, and really all of us, we do [these things daily], whether we think about it or not,” says Stuz0r. “I just make it public, so it kind of keeps me accountable.”
“For some reason, my mind thinks better in a 3D space than it does on a 2D flat piece of paper.”
While Stuz0r always loved drawing, by 7th grade he had hit a wall. “I’d practice drawing all the time, and I just never got better at it”. This problem persisted into college, where his perceived inability to draw well led him to take a 3D animation class. The new tools available to him offered an awakening. Inspired by Beeple, and fiercely determined to produce quality work, Stuz0r joined the burgeoning ‘everyday’ art movement. And every single day, he fought against burnout and unwieldy software updates to deliver his growing audience something worth spending their time on.
After years of embracing daily uploads, Stuz0r’s refined an immediately recognizable 3D style. These are visions of a future far from the shiny chromatic sci-fi we’ve come to expect. He captures distant worlds that seem to have already fallen, the inhabitants clinging to a light that has long left them. The cloaked figures are put face-to-face with larger than life forms—planets, monuments, gods. Stepping into his work often feels as if you’ve entered a holy monument, bearing witness to something extraordinary.
“The red cloaked figures… the reason I have the cloaks on them is because I feel like it represents people. It’s not male, female, black, white, anything. I want everyone to be able to relate to these things, to these people”
To Say Goodbye is the artwork chosen by Stuz0r for “3 Dimensional”. A red cloaked figure floats effortlessly above the ground, their face unknown. Light spills out from the opening in front of them. We don’t know what they see on the other side, nor what they are leaving behind. Ultimately, those details are of little consequence. What the work seems to capture is the moment of melancholic contemplation before a choice is made: the feeling that a new life awaits you, if you can just leave the past behind. Concealing the face of the figure places all of us under that cloak. It holds us in that moment.
When discussing the piece, and his work in general, Stuz0r emphasizes the importance of sound. “Most people don’t watch videos with sound… if you’d watch it with sound, I think I would change your perception of what you’re watching.” While his subject matter might seem ominous on the surface, the music has the power to recontextualize it. An otherwise haunting image is dyed in sadness, or hope, or longing, depending on the soundscape chosen. It adds another layer of meaning to the work, encouraging you to question what you’re seeing. “These characters, are they powerful? Are they vulnerable?”. Let the work inspire you, and discover your own story.
Immerse Yourself
We’re honored to welcome these three artists into Lvcidia. Together they showcase digital art’s true potential, transporting us into visionary worlds that have the power to transform us. Once our Unreal Engine platform returns, we will showcase these awe-inspiring works in the immersive environment they deserve.
- Snapshot is taken of all eligible Fvck_Crystal, holders, Artist holders, and Artifex holders on Thursday December 14th at 9 AM EST
- Holders mint begins Thursday, December 14th at 2 PM EST
- 1 Pack, 3 Possible Artworks
- Edition Sizes: Galactic Grail (15 editions), Checkerboard Sea (15 editions), To Say Goodbye (15 editions)
- Price: 0.0969 ETH
- Limit: 3 per wallet
- FCFS
- Public sale begins for all remaining NFTs Thursday, December 14th at 4 PM EST
- 1 Pack, 3 Possible Artworks
- Edition Sizes: Galactic Grail (15 editions), Checkerboard Sea (15 editions), To Say Goodbye (15 editions)
- Price: 0.0969 ETH
- Limit: 3 per wallet
- FCFS
- All artworks are revealed upon metadata refresh Thursday, December 14th at 6 PM EST
3 Dimensional Pack
“2024 marks a year of growth for Lvcidia, pushing closer to its future as an immersive universe. We curated an art experience to match, one that prioritizes not one but several artists leveraging 3D. They are accomplished. Their artworks are awe-inspiring. They expand the mind as to what is possible in the future of art and the future of Lvcidia. Enjoy!”
Artists behind the experience
Hayden Clay is a visual artist currently living in Brooklyn, NY. His focus is on feel-good surrealism, using 3D art to explore a variety of ideas, often through simple natural themes such as water or clouds. With his work, he intends to blur the line between dreams and reality.
Stuart, known by his online alias “Stuz0r”, is from Bentonville, Arkansas. His work is characterized by its futuristic aesthetics, mesmerizing compositions, and a sense of atmosphere. Through his art, he invites us to explore the boundless frontiers of imagination and challenges the conventions of what is possible in the digital realm.