ALEXIA RUBOD: “We are at the very beginning, and we don’t realize the kind of things we can do in the future.“
Alexia Rubod is one of Artano's most beloved artists. She learned about our marketplace while researching sustainable solutions for NFTs while also hoping to enter a more diverse community that cherishes and celebrates female representation. Soon after, she became a council member on our board, created one of the most amazing infinite NFTs and her talent and creativity never cease to amaze not only us, but NFT collectors as well. In this one-on-one chat, Alexia talked about her beginnings, struggles, passions, and ideas. Find your own inspiration in the words she shared with us below.
Interviewer Melita Turkovic
M: I want to know more about you and your art, what’s your artistic expression?
A: Well, I grew up obsessed with art, I was the kid that was always grounded by teachers because I was drawing on my math sheets. I was watching Disney and was fascinated by storytelling. I was looking forward to a time when I could create my stories. When I finished my bacc. in France, I did a lot of research on art schools. That’s how I ended up going to 3D animation school for 5 years. There I learned how to make 3D animation films from scratch, both the artistic and technical components. That led me to a studio called Illumination, and I started working on the third movie from the “Despicable Me” saga. I worked on character creation, hair and fur. The villain of the film has this crazy hair…
M: Do you enjoy doing hair, is there a specific aspect of it that you like?
A: I love to create characters from scratch, I love to sculpt and work with materials and textures. I love working with details! Hair is a big part of it because making a hairstyle look good is really hard. It’s hard to find people who do that well — I enjoy doing it because there is an element of sculpting in it, doing the volume and texture of hair. Not a lot of people are working with hair, so that’s also an element with that. But I really love the whole process, lately, I got out of just being a 3D artist, and I started extending my scope as a creative director. It’s also why I got into NFTs — because of the opportunity to create full pieces of art that all of a sudden had value. I didn’t have to be so specialized in one thing. I was talking to one girl the other night and she told me “I used to be an illustrator and now I’m an artist”, so I asked her “what’s the difference?” and she said “as an illustrator you are just working for someone else’s vision, whereas as an artist you are working on your own.” And that’s so true, that’s something all artists want.
M: Can you tell me something about the last auction we did, what’s your experience with creating Limitless NFT?
A: It was a very rich experience and very exciting for me. I got to take two main things that I was working on in my professional life that I had no idea would meet at one point in my life. That’s working with NFTs and my work as a 3D artist with Modern Mirror. It was an opportunity for me, and was challenging because my role was not only as a 3D artist but also taking on the project in terms of the promotion of the NFT. That’s one of the hardest parts of NFTs because as an artist you are also the marketing person, you have to engage with the community, and you need to know about blockchain and minting. I was also working with a lot of different teams and moving pieces because I was the bridge between Artano and Modern Mirror in a way. I also wanted to respect Sam’s vision and be in dialogue with different creative people involved, like Viktoria Modesta. It was a lot of different pieces that came together, and in that regard, it was an amazing learning experience. It really expanded my skills as an artist and art director. It was also challenging. I had a lot of responsibility for how it was all going to look because I really wanted to honor Sam’s design and Viktoria, by making something that everybody would be pleased with.
M: It’s about balancing all those people around you and still being true in your artistic expression…
A: Yes, exactly. It can be a delicate balance as an artist when you are collaborating. Because it’s about how much of yourself you are putting out there without overshadowing the other creative input. But it’s always a really interesting balance to find.
M: I like how you said that artists are also part of the marketing team in the NFT world and today it’s all about artists creating their community, whereas in traditional art world that is not the case. Essentially it’s not all about art, it’s also about being able to engage with people. How are artists coping with that situation?
A: It’s a whole new skill you have to learn, a lot of artists I know are sensitive people and are not enjoying necessarily being out there or they’re not comfortable with public speaking. All of a sudden you have to get out from behind your screen and go and talk to people on your platform or Twitter spaces. For me, I’m enjoying it more and more. I do love that connection, it’s important to have a voice on your platform. For a lot of people that can be super scary, to be seen and heard. We all want to have a voice but at the same time, we all fear rejection. I see it as more of a challenge than a problem. It’s also the fact that when you are promoting something you want to be sure that it’s something you believe in, otherwise how can you be convincing? The thing you are promoting is your own art, and sometimes artists have a strange relationship with their own art. You are putting a part of yourself out there, it’s a very intimate thing to be showing the world.
M: I suppose it’s hard to be showing something so intimate and at the same time be like “would you like to buy it”?
A: Exactly, and it’s also the matter of going beyond the “impostor syndrome” that I am sure many artists have. “Who am I to sell this art?” at the same time, you objectively look at it and realize it has value. NFTs are amazing for that.
M: Tell me something more about what drives you, what’s your inspiration?
A: Yeah, that’s a good question! So I have a traditional art background, I’ve been very inspired by classical paintings. I was very drawn to the high renaissance and 18th and 19th centuries. The themes of mythology and the female body I was also super into. I love femininity in art. My art also comes out of the existential questions that I can have, my spiritual beliefs, and consciousness. I like to play with light and darkness, day and night themes.
M: I suppose that light and dark duality can be a great theme to show and explore with iNFTs?
A: Exactly, when the Artano team explained iNFTs that’s where my mind first went! Because of that ying-yang, feminine and masculine polarities I love exploring…There are so many things to do with iNFTs, I love that I have so many ideas! They are one of the coolest features on Artano, because the possibilities are endless. Imagine a piece of art that can evolve through time with a story or something. I love the fact that it has real-life interaction — for example, it evolves with the weather or results of the game. With that in mind all of a sudden you have a real relationship with a piece of art, and that is mind-blowing to me! We are at the very beginning of it and we don’t realize the kind of things we can do with that in the future.
M: Now as we are talking about the possibilities of iNFTs and NFTs in general, I’m interested in when and why you decided to step into the NFT world?
A: So another big theme in my life has been looking for work and life balance. I am a very ambitious person but I haven’t spent a lot of time working as a full-time employee for example. I’ve been mostly freelancing because I value freedom a great deal. When you are working on something and it becomes your full-time thing it’s easy to lose passion for what you are doing. Creativity is like seasons, it comes and goes. So the question I was asking myself was how can I keep doing my personal art and projects without losing passion for it? It was challenging sometimes, because, except for getting praised for putting it on the platform, it didn’t have value in it. You can’t sustain your living and pay your rent, you know?
It was always for me the question of how do I get professional projects that I get paid for and at the same still create space for myself to do things I love. There were times that I asked myself should I get back and do traditional paintings because I do love to draw and paint. At that point, I didn’t know NFTs existed, and when I learned about them I was blown away. I started learning about crypto too and my interests were also in financial freedom. I wanted to know how someone can be an artist and still live a happy, healthy and wealthy life because so many people in the industry are completely burning themselves out. It’s so common, like a standard, that you need to spend so many hours behind the screen. Many big studios approached me and I, for that reason, didn’t want to work for them because I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my life for it. So for me, NFTs are really coming out as a big opportunity for artists and I was very excited when I heard about them for the first time.
I also saw problems with sustainability and environmental issues and that’s the reason why I first went to Artano because I started looking for alternatives. Is there a way to do that so that it also aligns with my values — integrity is very important to me. I’m also a person with spontaneous and intuitive hits — when I first learned about Artano I was like - I don’t know who these people are, but I want to help! That’s how it all went. I talked with Marija and after our first conversation, I was like “Yep I’m in and I wanna join!” That’s how I started working with them.
M: I want to know your personal opinion on how you see the future of NFTs, in terms of technology and artistic potential? Do you have any thoughts on that?
A: Well, I have hopes that it keeps being something where artists have direct access to their audience and that it keeps being a place around which communities can grow and support each other. I hope it continues to give financial alternatives for artists. One of my hopes is also that we grow in a mindful way. Because we are in the digital age, with the beginning of the metaverse and all of that in mind, it can be very harmful too. I hope we can do something with it that is beneficial to us as species. That really depends on who gets in this space and what kinds of decisions we are making and hopefully, we are making the right ones!
M: When we talk about the whole crypto and NFT space, it’s hard not to notice it’s a male-dominated space. What’s your point of view as a woman in crypto?
A: Yes, most definitely. That has been the case for me my whole career. There are more women in my industry now than 10 years ago but it’s still imbalanced in that way. I hope more women will start to feel less intimidated by the world of tech and finance. Feminine energy is very important to bring into that space. Generally speaking, in the professional business world it’s very masculine energy, in a yin and yang sense. The yin energy is always continuously pushing forward, and it’s not how it’s supposed to be because it’s all about balance. I’m hoping that we can bring a bit more softness and mindfulness into the space.
M: Yeah maybe also the problem with women joining the NFT space is because it’s perceived more as something money-related than artists, women in this case, expressing themselves.
A: Yeah, there is a lot of that for sure, and I also think that a lot of women are intimidated by that. They may think there is a lot to learn and even fear that they are going to look stupid. The financial world has not been most welcoming to women if you are not financially literate, there is a lot of shame around it. I feel very lucky that I had Artano to hold my hand through it, and have people to ask all the “stupid” questions.
M: What’s next for you?
A: I want to keep having this balance between working with projects and clients and my own projects. My main client right now is Modern Mirror, and we have many exciting things to come. The NFT part was just a small part that we do. We are developing this 3D scanning system. In terms of my personal projects, I am doing one right now that I’ve been thinking about for a few years now. It’s just in the beginning stages so I cannot say too much about it. It’s story-based with different characters and visuals I usually do with CGI.
M: Would you like to say something to future NFT artists?
A: I know it will sound cliche, but believe in yourself! Believe that it’s possible to create something meaningful with your art. Do your research and engage with the community. A lot of artists that know nothing about NFTs think they will only put it up for sale and someone is going to buy it, but there is of course a lot more to it.
M: That is very true, I feel like being an NFT artist also means incorporating it as a part of your lifestyle.
A: It is, it’s definitely a lifestyle. You can spend a lot of time on Twitter, Instagram, or Discord. It always comes down to how you shape your life and the choices you are making, and are you having a healthy relationship with that online and offline. But at the same time, we have more and more events in real life about NFTs, galleries, and live conferences. I like to connect to the community offline also as much as I can.
M: Maybe it’s time for the artists to shine again. For example, you talked about the renaissance, that’s a time in our history when artists were really celebrated. Maybe after the industrial revolution and the rise of technology, both social and humanitarian sciences were unfairly neglected?
A: Yeah for sure, that’s also the case with the traditional art market. You didn’t have any value as a digital artist because you couldn’t produce pieces that can be bought. That’s different now with NFTs.
M: That’s true, digital artists were until now needed to “get the job done” and for some specific work…
A: Exactly, it had more commercial value, you will be hired for a project as an asset because of the skill you have. That’s very different from being an artist that sells art.
