Decentraland Host Digital Exhibition
The user-generated virtual world have called upon the British contemporary artist Philip Colbert to create the surreal 'Lobsteropolis City'.
The user-generated virtual world have called upon the British contemporary artist Philip Colbert to create the surreal 'Lobsteropolis City'.
Decentraland was launched as the first digital world to be owned and generated by its users in 2017. It's a key space when looking at the future of the internet as it shifts towards the metaverse - a space where physical and virtual experiences combine. Users are already investing time and money into creating their own worlds, and a patch of virtual land in the online world of Decentraland, which is built on the Ethereum blockchain, sold for nearly $1m worth of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) last week. Now launching their largest-scale artist venture to date, Decentraland and the British artist Philip Colbert present Lobsteropolis City.
Fashion editor Andre Leon Talley once described Colbert as 'The godson of Andy Warhol'. The neo-pop surrealist artist, whose work has been exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery in both London and Los Angeles, will host his first fully digital exhibition on Decentraland. His cartoonish, lobster-centric paintings and sculptures in vibrant primary blues and cherry reds translate seamlessly into a digital world, with works curated specially by Simon de Pury. Users will experience Colbert's work in a virtual sphere via their own unique avatars, experiencing the district of 'Lobster Land'. Complete with a museum, a live DJ set at Lobster Land Records by American new wave band DEVO, and an unseen NFT artwork in collaboration with the band up for auction, Decentraland say that it's their most ambitious artist-led project to date. It's a natural partnership for Colbert, who has been experimenting with digital art for several years, having had a lobster robot open his 2020 Saatchi Gallery show.
Lobsteropolis City launches Wednesday 30 June, 2021. Play here.