NEW YORK, NY.- Phillips announced the sale of digital collage artist Slimesunday’s What the Fork?, an NFT series that explores themes of sexism, consumerism, and censorship. A first in the artist’s career, working with photographer Jordan Knight, Slimesunday curated and directed a photoshoot to produce original images for NFTs included in the collection offered at Phillips. Open for bidding from 17-20 August, each NFT in the series is paired with a physical component and select pieces utilize blockchain technology to transform over time. The works are on view at Phillips new headquarters in 432 Park Avenue from 13-20 August.
Though the female form has been central to art for centuries, women today are consistently subjected to criticism for being too provocative in how they choose to present themselves to the world. The female anatomy has always been controlled by society, leading to repression and a lack of bodily autonomy on the basis that a nude woman can only be viewed from a sexual perspective. In this series, Slimesunday joined forces with 17 women to create a collection that celebrates female form and asks the viewer to question their own discomfort with the pieces.
Slimesunday says, “There are a lot of firsts for me with this collection... First show in NY, debut show with an auction house, and my first time being involved in the genesis of the original images used in the collages. I’ve always started each piece analog before taking it digital, usually with magazine scans. This time I've taken it one step further, by art directing my first photoshoot. I hope you enjoy the forking work.”
Rebekah Bowling, Senior Specialist of 20th Century & Contemporary Art, adds, “Slimesunday has cemented his reputation as a disruptor in the field of contemporary art, pushing the boundaries of what technology and art are capable of when brought together. The NFTs that comprise What the Fork? each aim to challenge the status quo and ask the viewer to consider their own reactions to the work, sparking a dialogue that is more relevant today than ever before.”
Growth is among the highlights of the series. Utilizing blockchain technology, each time Slimesunday experiences censorship, the event will trigger the piece to partially decensor itself. Gradually over months or years, the piece will transform as Slimesunday’s works are removed and banned by various platforms and institutions, counteracting the individual censorship events. The NFT is accompanied by a Blackdove frame and connected to the blockchain through an Atomic Form caster. The NFT owner will receive the frame and caster.
In We Eat With Our Eyes, Slimesunday comments on the objectification of women in media and advertisement landscapes. The model is part cake and being consumed both physically and metaphorically.
Perhaps, the most ambitious piece in the series is Slimesunday Vault 001. For the first time Slimesunday will be sharing his vault. Phillips will be auctioning a mystery NFT accompanied by Slimesunday’s hard drive presented as a sculptural object and loaded with unowned works that platforms like Instagram deemed unacceptable and have since been locked away. Additionally, the owner will receive NFTs of the works on the hard drive, which will only be revealed upon purchase. These pieces are special to Slimesunday and symbolic of the numerous times he has faced censorship in his practice.
Mike Parisella aka Slimesunday is a viral digital collage artist who constructs surreal, often unsettling compositions out of digital photographs to broach questions of censorship, consumerism, and sexuality. Inspired by the form of women’s bodies, the artist creates cohesive narrative images that are both grotesque and playful in their physicality. Because of the prevalence of nudity and sexual imagery, his works are often removed from his popular Instagram profile for “violating community guidelines”. In response, he has incorporated tropes of censorship like blurring and pixelation into his practice to trick the algorithm and criticize the arbitrary rules governing nudity and sexuality online.
The 29-year-old artist is now the 8th highest earning artist in the NFT space, and his work can be found in Playboy, Penthouse, Vice TV, Hunger, Plastik, and Glamour Magazine. His star-studded resume includes projects with J. Cole, Lana Del Rey, Katy Perry, J Balvin, and Beck. He is the art director for 3LAU and makes up half of the audio-visual project SSX3LAU, which has sold more than $7.5 million worth of digital art and music. He earned his BA in Psychology from Salem State University. Slimesunday lives and works in Salem, MA.
