Since the beginning of Shanghai’s lockdown in early April, lockdown art has really come into its own. From a hilarious rap song inspired by panic buying and a spring onion-themed exhibition to a popular series of ‘popaganda’ artworks and a piece of performance art staged by a rock star, this wave of creativity is now joined by Stay Negative, a series of NFT artworks assembled with a charitable goal.
April 29 saw the launch of Stay Negative’s 20 designs and 219 pieces on NFT marketplace OpenSeas. Exclusive serial codes make each unit unique, and prices begin at 0.01 ETH (approximately 18.8 USD).
The artists, a dynamic team of expatriates working and living in Shanghai, will direct 50% of the exhibition’s proceeds to a charity organization that lends a helping hand to Shanghai’s hungry and homeless.
Spokesperson Mario Rossi (alias) tells RADII that the idea for the series was born as a way to cope with the stress of lockdown life.
“We thought, why don’t we do something creative while trying to help the less fortunate?” he says.
The crew’s initial plans had been to release a series of T-shirts emblazoned with the illustrations, but they finally agreed that NFTs made more sense.
“NFTs are such an interesting medium. They allow us to connect with a broader audience and to bypass the difficulty of selling material goods during the lockdown,” explains Rossi.
Stay Negative marks the artists’ first time working together, but they all agree that their diverse backgrounds and great synergy have helped them navigate the crypto-world.
“Some of us were very unfamiliar with NFTs,” admits Rossi, who added that they still have difficulty answering technical questions from NFT-savvy buyers.
Challenges aside, the project has received positive feedback. In fact, a quarter of the collection has already sold.
Elated by their success so far, the team plans to release more artwork.
“We are unsure as to how our future collaborations will look. Perhaps we will adopt the same humorous tone to talk about events happening in other parts of the world,” shares Pavarello.
The group hopes to hold an offline exhibition and sell physical merchandise as soon as the lockdown is lifted, as they believe that there is more charitable work to be done.
This article was updated at 6 PM on June 6, 2022, to remove the name of the Stay Negative spokesperson and replace it with an alias. This was done at the request of the individual
All images courtesy of Marco Rossi
