The award-winning New York pop artist appeared at LaunchPad’s unveiling during BitBasel Miami, where she presented on the increasing importance of ownership in digital arts.
MIAMI–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#NFT—Kristin Simmons, the sassy social satirist whose provocative and hilarious style has earned her a reputation as one of New York’s hottest young artists, has been chosen to help kick off a groundbreaking new tool for creatives, Alteon LaunchPad.
Exclusively available for Opera Crypto Browser, Alteon LaunchPad lets creatives of all backgrounds mint NFTs instantly by dragging and dropping media files into their browser window. Users don’t need any special knowledge about Web3—Alteon LaunchPad was designed for everyone to explore the buzzy, burgeoning world of digital collectibles.
Simmons was commissioned to craft an original work to fill the wallpaper of Alteon LaunchPad upon its release in Q1 2023. Her piece blends various styles and influences, matching the eclectic style that’s made NFTs famous. In the future, the LaunchPad team will rotate out her art to spotlight a new content creator each month, building and celebrating an excited community of diverse Web3 creators.
Over the past year, she watched the NFT boom and bust cycle with skepticism, believing that true art relies deeply on its medium. But, as she explained onstage at BitBasel, once she learned more about the underlying technology, she became excited about the storytelling opportunities and agreed to create something unique to the digital landscape that could not be replicated elsewhere.
“I came from the advertising world, and the last thing I wanted to do was look at a screen when I got home to work on my own artwork,” Simmons said onstage, in front of an audience of several hundred people. “What helped me understand NFTs was realizing what digital art can do that a painting or print cannot do: it can change, it can move; being attached to the blockchain, you have a sense of security, providence and ownership that you didn’t have before.”
Also onstage during the special BitBasel event were Miami Mayor Francis Suarez; Matt Cimaglia, CEO of Alteon.io; Susie Batt, crypto lead at Opera; Andrea Virgin, president of The Center for Arts & Innovation; and Samuel Armes, president of the Florida Blockchain Business Association.
Alteon LaunchPad will debut in January 2023. To download the Opera Crypto Browser, click here.
About Kristin Simmons
Kristin Simmons uses paint, printmaking and mixed media to provide a running commentary on herself and her contemporaries. Her work, which focuses on hedonistic pleasures—and in particular, the absolute pleasure of consumption— is as acerbic, provocative, and unapologetically clever as it is empathetic and vulnerable. She is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Orra White Hitchcock award, and the National Endowment of the Arts Award. Simmons received a dual Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History and Visual Arts from Columbia University. She has had six solo shows and has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including at the 2016 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum in New York.
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