Gabriel Dean Roberts is picking a street fight with Caravaggio in his latest work, “Saint Gregory”, a modernized photographic take on the venerated master’s classic “Saint Jerome”. Saint Gregory is depicted enjoying the comforts of our time and imbued with cues to tattoo and musical culture. Saint Gregory is being sold exclusively as a 1 of 1 original work at Super Rare, an NFT platform offering top tier crypto art. While the stylistic references to Caravaggio are clear, Gabriel’s take creates a sense of modernity in its subject matter, while stretching the boundaries between the bleeding edge and the timeless: “I’m offering Saint Gregory with a threefold intent, to inject a stronger sense of maturity in the crypto art community, to take a seat at the table among the old masters, and to show how fine art can rest just as happily in the NFT revolution as any piece of 3D animation, or Bored Ape might.”
As public understanding of NFTs begins to become more ubiquitous, the question of maturity comes into play, and many collectors are beginning to show a desire for something deeper in their purchases. Not a day goes by without tales of collectible NFT projects duping would be collectors with celebrity promotions and copycat frauds looking to turn a quick buck. This ‘pump and dump’ mentality that is part of the present view of NFTs is both justified and bereft of a true vision of what is happening. Traditional collectors are entering the NFT community and are looking to pickup new art, but the roadblocks they face are myriad. Anonymity, which is a venerated trope in the crypto community, creates a barrier to trust, and many willing traditional collectors are too concerned about getting defrauded to spend like they do with physical works of art. Gabriel explains, “I’ve had conversations with numerous collectors who are taking a ‘wait and see’ mentality with crypto art, because it feels unsafe to them. I’m passionate about teaching them that the strongest possible way to ensure the health of the artist-collector relationship is through the smart contract that NFTs offer. It’s one of the reasons why I only sell my work as an NFT.”
Gabriel is not alone in his efforts to show the value of fine art; painter and crypto artist, Gunnar Magnus has translated the splattered and frenetic images of his dreamlike and macabre paintings to a fully digital medium. Gunnar’s new work shows that the mastery of the paintbrush can indeed translate to the digital tablet. Traditional painter, Farrah Fisher has also made the change to digital mediums and has shown mastery in the crossover with works like “Step” and “Float”. “When I look at what Farrah and Gunnar are doing, I see the genius of their work shine just as brilliantly as anything they put to canvas. I think this is the kind of innovation that will inspire a whole new generation of artists who can’t afford paint and canvas to pickup an iPad and pen.”
Innovation is on Gabriel’s mind as he presents “Ω”, a standalone work of art & project that represents 10 years of his artistic life. Whoever purchases Ω will accrue 120 original 1 of 1 works over the course of 10 years in addition to Ω itself. At 30,000 ETH Ω is the highest valued NFT in history and If ever resold, the original owner agrees to sell it at a value higher than the last highest completed global sale in NFTs, thus retaining its position as the “market cap” NFT.
Ω includes luxury perks and global acts of goodwill. These perks include a custom GDR designed Rolls Royce Ghost, an annual celebration, A home for Ω and its subsequent art displayed through AR at the Louvre grounds, 1 million trees planted, 1 million dollars to doctors without borders. Ω stands alone in its audacity and scope of meaning, bridging performance art with ultra-luxury and an artist-patron relationship unseen since the last renaissance. More information is available at gabrieldeanroberts.com
“I’m excited to be among such fantastic artists, at the forefront of this revolution, and I hope the work that we are doing will send a clear message to artists everywhere, that now is the time to create new masterpieces.”
Gabriel has established authority in NFTs with over 200 unique 1 of 1 sales to his name across platforms, his body of work is coveted among collectors and celebrated by the likes of VOGUE. This is evidenced by his ranking in the top unique sales ranks on prominent NFT platforms.
