Renowned photographer, Justin Aversano, has continued to dominate the NFT landscape with the completion of his collection, ‘Smoke and Mirrors.’ The artist recently dropped 78 new silkscreens that feature a portrait of an individual he has interacted with, printed on Egyptian papyrus. Each item will be on display at Gabba Gallery, located in Los Angeles, until April 8.
Before the start of the show, Aversano minted all the new pieces in the series as NFTs and released them on OpenSea, where they sold out quickly. Dubbed Smoke and Mirrors, the entire collection has so far seen a trading volume of 971 ETH, or about $1,739,000, with the floor price sitting at 1.298 ETH, or $2,325 as of press time.
According to Aversano, the project took three years to complete and is meant to represent a full tarot deck. Within the period, he photographed various characters, including artists, astrologers, shamans, psychics, family members, and even famous individuals such as the Winklevoss twins.
In a statement, he notes, “There’s all these people who are in the project because I either looked up to them or they’re part of my everyday life, and they represent that card.” For a photo to be included as a sitter on his tarot deck, he notes that it needed to have a “real reflection” of what the card means.
After 5 magical years, the Smoke and Mirrors Book and Tarot deck is now live thanks to @TransientLabs
The book launch coincides with a gallery exhibition we are hosting at @gabbagallery (3126 Beverly Blvd) from 5pm to 10pm today. We hope to see you there! https://t.co/N2E31io2R9
— justinaversano (@justinaversano) March 25, 2023
An Early Trendsetter in NFT Photography
The photographer’s desire to “evolve through medium” was chiefly the reason why he chose to silkscreen the portraits. In the past, he has tapped on traditional photographic processes to add pigment to his portraits, such as polaroids for “The Birthday Project” in 2012 and cyanotyping for “Twin Flames” in 2017.
The latter was also minted as an NFT collection, setting precedent for photography projects on the blockchain. It has proved quite successful, with over 5,900 ETH or $10.7 million in trading volume to date.
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Basil is an avid fan of blockchain technology and all its innovations, and he is passionate about sharing this narrative with his audience. He has spent over five years in the crypto space, specializing in research and creating Web3 content for various media outlets around the globe.
