If you see a Zhuk portray, there’s no mistaking it as anybody else’s work. The Azerbaijani artist’s type has turn into a staple of Web3 over the past 12 months, injecting a digital-heavy NFT house with some refreshingly historic aesthetics. A 3rd-generation household artist, Zhuk brings a uniquely trendy lens to classical figurative portray, usually depicting the human physique as if suspended in water or seen in a dreamy, flow-like state. This method permits her to play with form, distinction, and coloration in fascinating methods.
Zhuk’s work has been featured in Time’s NFT initiative Slices of Time, collected by a number of the greatest names within the house (together with Cozomo de Medici), and featured at legacy public sale home Sotheby’s, a notable achievement for any artist. A deserving honoree of 2023’s NFT100, nft now caught up with Zhuk to speak about her work, how she obtained into the NFT house, and the way she’s constructing a Web3 model to succeed in past the partitions of her canvas portray.
A gradual and regular rise
In April 2021, Zhuk entered the world of NFTs when she minted Dualism — a chunk depicting a person seated in a watery surroundings and evoking Rodin’s The Thinker — on Basis. Shortly after, the piece was purchased by NorCal Man, a collector recognized for serving to shine a highlight on up-and-coming artists in Web3 by accumulating their work.
“I discovered concerning the NFT house from the information, and it immediately obtained my consideration,” Zhuk defined whereas chatting with nft now. “I beloved the thought of an area the place you may current your work to a large inventive viewers. My first step was the Basis platform, the place I used to be fortunate sufficient to satisfy a collector who appreciated my work. All people is aware of Norcal Man! I’m very pleased to be part of this house.”
Since that sale, Zhuk has constantly engaged with the neighborhood, placing out one mesmerizing piece after one other. Amid a bear market, Zhuk’s 1/1s usually promote for 15-20 ETH, numbers that appear to defy the gravity of present developments.
A contemporary lens on custom
As Zhuk comes from an extended line of classically-trained artists, she has a pure curiosity in combining these traditions along with her up to date imaginative and prescient, a method she describes as “trendy with a classical method.”
“Any viewer can attempt [my characters] on themselves with a view to really feel the environment and feelings that I need to convey by means of the canvas.”
Zhuk
“My artwork is just not centered on the human physique specifically, no matter whether or not it’s feminine or male,” Zhuk stated of her work. “The picture of a personality in my works is simply a human kind, which any viewer can attempt on themselves with a view to really feel the environment and feelings that I need to convey by means of the canvas. I depict bare our bodies as a result of that is how we come into this world, bare and within the water, which I additionally use in my works. Thus, I attempt to take away the complete materials and on a regular basis layer of our life, leaving nothing else however pure emotions.”
Zhuk’s NFT drops usually revolve round historic themes, a conceptual lean maybe most evident in The Seven Virtues and The Three Graces collections, which deal within the rules and ethics of historic Greek mythology.
“Advantage promotes the enhancement of the human particular person past what has been imposed upon us by societal requirements, dominant ideologies, and our personal wounds,” Zhuk stated of the thematic grounding of those initiatives. “Advantage teaches us that we should suppose, act, and communicate primarily based on ethical rules, not primarily based on how society or the media tells us to.”
Zhuk’s plans for the following 12 months are as bold as anybody’s and embrace aspirations to collaborate with artists within the house, promote her work at Christie’s, and construct a private model wherein her artwork will “prolong far past the canvas.” And after that? “Have just a bit relaxation,” Zhuk says. It’s not a nasty plan; in spite of everything, she’s earned it.
Need extra NFT100 honoree interviews? Get the full listing of everybody we spoke with right here.
