BISKET BACKSTAGE: Artist Interview with GRIDA
Self-introduction
Hello, I am Grida, and I am currently working as an illustrator living in France.
How did you start your career?
I have been working on fashion illustration in Korea for about 10 years, working with fashion magazines, publications, and beauty brands, and I thought I would like to do some work in France based on those experiences. That’s when I found out about NFT, so I started with the joy of having a stage to show my own work.
Brief introduction of the artworks you exhibited in BISKET-HYBRID BOUQUETS
I experimented a lot with various visual techniques while working on NFT this time, and as you said, the ones I exhibited in BISKET are part of the Hybrid Bouquet series. As I will go in deeper later, in my case, I live abroad, and I am a member of a multicultural family, which means a mixture of various cultures permeates my daily life. So, I thought maybe it can be expressed as a bouquet. We are all beautiful flowers, and because we are, I thought it was a very interesting point for us to share each other’s daily lives in one space with one culture. That was the beautiful part. In fact, bouquets don’t have roots. So, it is slowly dying from the moment it was made. That’s why I got the feeling that the bouquet was very fierce. Whether it’s at a wedding or whatever they do, they do their best to stay alive, and then they die. That’s why I feel a little sad about flowers and bouquets, and that’s why I wanted to include a bit of support for making the present-day bloom.
What is your motivation?
First, the motivation behind my work is the results that help to recover my self-esteem after showing off something. It’s like a treadmill. Like a treadmill with a good influence, when I show something, it leads to sales, which is the best motivation, but when I drop a project, the conversations I have with the artists and this stuff motivates me to work. It can be dangerous though. Because the results might not come back as much as I’d like. At that time, I get inspiration from seeing past masters in Western art history, and there is a painter named Rembrandt. He looks like he has been through a lot, and he had been. His life was fancy at one point, then rough at another point… He was a court painter, but he passed away with nothing but a few paintbrushes in his hand. His life is kind of consoling to me.
How do you decide on the color palette?
Thanks for pointing it out. I am very sensitive about colors. Colors have significant psychological meanings, and I put a lot of thought into what color can deliver my message the best. When I was young, I was crazy about colors, so I wanted to become a colorist and got all the licenses. In the process, I learned how to make colors and the combinations of colors that will complement each other in general. I think it shows in my work as well.
Has NFT affected your work?
Yes, definitely. I worked as an illustrator in Korea for 10 years, and illustration is a kind of design. Clients always suggest the work and I get creative within the theme of the client. So it can be fun if we get along, but I always have to accommodate because I am being paid to work. So for 10 years, after I work with other clients, I had to detox for a bit by working on my own art… It’s not like the clients are toxic, but I had to get myself together. But when working on NFTs, there’s no need for all that because it begins with me and ends with me. I can talk freely about what kind of art I am making, and it’s not a vertical relationship so I can talk casually. So this kind of gap was very fun for me.
What made you choose BISKET?
About that, I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say this, but Philip and Artist Suzy played a big part. Because I think it’s all done by people. There is metaverse, Ethereum, and all the artworks, but behind all that is just people. So we view what the person is working on, and we can feel the energy when we look beyond that. I was already disappointed by other platforms, so the relatively open conditions and atmosphere of BISKET were more appealing to me. And I was satisfied with the result. When we had a meeting, in the beginning, I felt like he was sincere about this business. So that energy, other artists joining, having a lot of Korean artists, and the fact that it is a curation-based platform, these things were appealing to me. BISKET’s promotion is more specified and passionate, and they take a part of our duty and do it for us. I liked that part of BISKET. Also, BISKET is based in the UK, so I expect to be able to widen my stage globally.
Your opinion on the NFT market’s prospect?
This is a hard question. NFT market’s prospect… I think it is a very approachable market. But because it is so approachable and profitable, I will have to keep myself together to keep this pure. Because if the market grows, of course, the bad side of it will grow along with the good side. So I should stay balanced as an artist because this market will grow explosively. It is still at its starting point, but it’s already made this far. And as it grows more, and goes up and down, I think it might become part of our daily lives. Anyone can be a collector and an artist. Maybe a world like that will come.
Yourself in one word?
Oh, me? Kook. I think I can call myself a kook. Yea.
