Josie Bellini - Owner of Josie.io

In this episode, Josie Bellini joins me as a guest to discuss her crypto artwork. She is one of the most popular, up-and-coming crypto artists in the game. We take a deep-dive into the meanings and complexities behind her amazing work.

Josie Bellini
--- Twitter: https://twitter.com/josiebellini
--- Website: https://josie.io/

Transcription

​Brandon Zemp  0:09  
Okay, cool. So How you doing? 

Josie Bellini  0:11  
Good, good. How are you? 

Brandon Zemp  0:12  
Awesome how Chicago?

Josie Bellini  0:14  
It is great finally getting warm, so I can't complain.

Brandon Zemp  0:19  
Nice. how warm is it to get there in the summer?

Josie Bellini  0:23  
It can get pretty hot. Sometimes a little bit uncomfortably hot. But right now it's, it's in the nice range. So it's good. So I was just set Bitcoin 2019 and San Francisco. It was actually a little bit colder than I thought. But I had never been to San Francisco and everyone I met that was pretty typical. So

Brandon Zemp  0:44  
Well the Bay Area's at sea level. So you get that sea breeze a little bit? Yeah. Yeah. How was the conference?

Josie Bellini  0:51  
It was great. It was their first year putting on something Bitcoin focused. They had done one other thing before that, but I thought they did an excellent job. The conference was still small enough where it was intimate. And you can talk to whoever you wanted to talk to, but a good size and really quality people were there. So it's great. They launched their 2020 conference dates. So I'll probably end up going to that as well.

Brandon Zemp  1:19  
That's sweet, where you displaying your artwork there.

Josie Bellini  1:21  
I know, I had a, they reached out to me Actually, cryptography which is so much easier to say. But his real name is cryptography which I need to say. He kind of organized all the artists there, which was really great. So I think there were 10 different crypto artists there and the entire lobby of the main stage was filled with crypto art. So it was a very cool experience, not like anything I had seen at other conferences, because that's normally not a huge focus. But it's really interesting to see and meet some of the people that we you know, no banter and follow each other on Twitter actually meet them in real life.

Brandon Zemp  2:04  
Yeah, that's always fun, especially when you're on discord or Twitter, Instagram and you're talking to some of these people in the crypto space like day in and day out like religiously and then you finally meet them. It's like super exciting, like, like getting talked to Ben Nolan was pretty cool for the first time like going back and forth with Him forever. So a number of other people I've met in person

Josie Bellini  2:27  
speaking of actual I met up with a couple cvpr crypto box those people in San Francisco which was really awesome, because now that I mean, we've talked so much on Discord. And now that I've got to put a face to name it just makes it that much more personal. So it was very cool meeting them.

Brandon Zemp  2:46  
Who did you meet?

Josie Bellini  2:47  
So this time I met steady spider monkey. And then one other guy which I don't know if he goes by his real name on discord I forget, I'm not gonna say it just in case. And then in the past, I've also who originally got me into crypto box holes. I met gin in New York at NFT. NYC. So I met those few people, which are pretty awesome people and CV, so I'm glad I've got the chance to meet them in person.

Brandon Zemp  3:18  
Yeah, that's awesome. I talked to them all the time. So yeah, but you had a blast talking to them about CV a little bit.

Josie Bellini  3:23  
Oh, yeah. We went out for drinks and played games. So it was really cool.

Brandon Zemp  3:26  
Very cool. So how did you get involved in all this, and blockchain and art and whatnot.

Josie Bellini  3:33  
I originally, I had heard about Bitcoin in college. But then in 2014, there was actually a speaker that came to our school. And I was studying finance. So my professor told us, hey, go to this talk and write a page on it and get extra credit. And the talk ended up being about Bitcoin. And that kind of I mean, it pulled me in right away the speaker, I wish I could remember who it was. He was amazing. And he started his talk, which I will never forget, I went to a really small school, like less than 2000 kids, but we had a ton of international students. And he started his talk saying, who owns Bitcoin in the room. And there were four people that raised their hands. And every single person, those four people were all international students from China. So that and he, he wasn't surprised at all. He seemed like, that's totally what he expected. And then I was totally drawn in for the rest of the talk. Like, what is this? So he did an excellent job. I wrote a write up on Bitcoin, me and my friend, we went to the library, and we he tried to buy bitcoin. It was, I think, 300 bucks at the time. And it just was too difficult. We were like, now whatever, and kind of, you know, forgot about it after that. But that's when I first started learning about it. Then not until a couple years later, I was working after school and finance and Private Wealth Management. One of my colleagues told me about a theory. And I made a small investment in a theorem. And from there, basically, my investments were growing. And I was really interested wondering what is going on. So I just started learning everything I could about crypto and blockchain and decided I want it to work in that field. So I ended up going to Northwestern to take a full stack dev class. And I decided I was going to build websites for crypto companies. And that was going to be my end. And so I started doing that definitely lean more towards the design side. And I still actually do some work for some really amazing companies. The main one is blocks route labs, here in Chicago, which is a ton of Northwestern and Cornell PhDs that I have created a scaling solution for blockchains. But I started doing that. And then I was doing art. On the side, just personal art that I was interested in posted on Reddit, one of my my very first crypto art piece, and it blew up. And everyone was asking, Hey, I want to print this, like, how can I get this? And I was like, No, I have no idea how like, this is my artwork, I just wanted to share. And after that, I just decided there's a market for it. The most powerful thing that humanity has is storytelling. And there's a story that they're like to tell in this situation. So I just continued with that and started my company.

Brandon Zemp  6:45  
Did you ever think that that's how you would start your career?

Josie Bellini  6:48  
No, definitely not. I've always been interested in art. And it's been a passion of mine. But I've always kept it as a hobby. Because I mean, the school for finance, not because it's interesting, but because it's my passion. So once I figured out that I could have a career in art that changed everything for me, I realized that I can make a living that way. And from then on, I just haven't stopped.

Brandon Zemp  7:13  
Yeah, crypto definitely opens up all kinds of new avenues, especially for artists and whatnot. And it's kind of funny how that works in life. Especially like when you're coming out of college and or you're working on a certain track or you have a certain major maybe finance or in my case and in neuro. And then you end up doing something completely different or something that isn't necessarily related to whatever you thought you would do. It's it's cool hearing stories like that. Yours is definitely very interesting.

Josie Bellini  7:41  
Yeah, no, I agree. It's and like you said, it opens so many doors, which is so true. And not only does it open doors, but you can create your own door, which is kind of cool. I mean, there was barely any, there's two crypto artists I knew when I started and that was crypto graffiti. And then coin artist who at that point had already moved on to blockchain gaming. But you can really open your own door and create your own path right now in this space, which is just so unique. And really awesome.

Brandon Zemp  8:12  
Absolutely. And you mentioned how important telling stories are? What are some of the stories behind your artwork?

Josie Bellini  8:19  
Yeah, and when I say storytelling, I it's just, it's so important to me. And some people get a little bit confused when I say that. But it is one of the most powerful forces that humanity has. storytelling, you know, starts religion, politics, it starts everything you can tell one person had to climb a mountain and they can climb it with you. But if you get the story to 10,000 people, they can move it like do you know, it just has crazy crazy. Yeah, power. So for me with my pieces. I, I feel like I'm in the right place, right time to tell the story of crypto and the change that it's having on our society. And I basically tell that through my art, so I guess we can go into a couple of the different like pieces if you want to talk about the meanings. But each one of them.

Brandon Zemp  9:23  
Yeah, definitely. Yeah,

Josie Bellini  9:24  
each one of them has their own story. And I guess I could start with my for very first piece I made, which was in 2017. And the title of that one is Genesis. And it's a female with a bear and bull mask. So a bear head with bull horns. And she's looking upwards. And this was like in the height of the market in 2017. With all these like crazy Icos and whatnot. And then the background in at that point, I was like watching coin market cap every hour are all the time, like, seeing where my investment, watching my portfolio like crazy, and thank God, I don't do that anymore. But I mean, I was it was hot. It was addictive, you know. So I made Genesis.

Brandon Zemp  10:15  
Oh, yeah, I would never get any sleep, especially in 2017.

Josie Bellini  10:19  
No, because you're just, I mean, the whole market was just going crazy. But that piece I made I it kind of like bringing back into, you know, all the things I had learned in finance. And all this, I was like, there's always a correction bound to come when it's on a run like this, which is why I have she's still looking up because the market was going up at that time. But she still has the base of her mask is a bear. So just kind of like a subtle warning, I guess. And also just to like, bring everyone back down to earth and myself included. But in the background, it has all of the top 100 market cap coins, hand painted. And there are some spaces that are left blank, which represent the coins that were yet to come because like I said those that crazy Ico phase. And even now looking back on that piece, it's such a cool piece, because not only was it my first one, but it's like a stamp in time. And it shows what was hot at that moment when the market was going crazy. And it even show stuff like big Connect, which obviously was like the biggest Ponzi of all time. But it's still important to show because that is a part of the history. And that was in the top 100 coins and pretty high up, which is scary to think about but also is hopefully a warning and a lesson learned moving forward. So that was really interesting to have that in one of my pieces. I'll probably never pick

Brandon Zemp  11:51  
which one was that one called bit Connect. OB Connect. Is that one on your website?

Josie Bellini  11:56  
Yeah. Oh, that. Oh, sorry. You met? I thought you met that local The piece is called Genesis. Okay.

Brandon Zemp  12:02  
Yeah, I'm kind of following along as you're talking.

Josie Bellini  12:05  
Oh, yeah. That one's on my website. It's one of that was my very first piece and the meaning you can read next to it as well. But that one is definitely has a special place for me. But yeah, you can see all the logos in the back there. And I don't know if there's like any in particular you want to chat about. But it's there's kind of a few on there. But yeah, each one of them has their own story, which is kind of cool. And it also they were created at a specific time. In my journey, and also in like the crypto sphere of what was going on in the market at the moment.

Brandon Zemp  12:45  
Who was the woman in the photo? Is she based on someone real? Or is that someone that's just fictitious?

Josie Bellini  12:51  
So some of them are real? And some of them or not? This one is not? She will she is I should rephrase that. I take a lot of different features from different people like it's kind of crazy. I have like folders, I look like a group, I have folders of all these different women. So I take different features, but some of them are actual people. Definitely, if you'll right above that, on my website is a piece called resistance. Yeah. That one is a piece for Venezuela. And this is actually my friend Marianna from Venezuela. She has political asylum in Chicago. And basically she told me her story, I was learning about how people in Venezuela were using Bitcoin. And I knew I had to create a piece to do anything I could to help. So 100% of all the proceeds raised from that piece selling their original and the prints have gone to Venezuela so far. Which is really amazing. And we've sent thousands of dollars worth of baby formula and medicine to families and hospitals there. So that one is actually a person and some of the other ones are as well. So it just depends on the piece.

Brandon Zemp  14:12  
Yeah, that's, that's super cool. I bet her story was really interesting, too, because I've talked to so many from people that have been able and have been fortunate to get out of Venezuela to get their families away. And a lot of them still have extended family and friends that live there. And they talked about how they will be sending Bitcoin or Litecoin or dash back and forth to help try and support their family and friends. They're still stuck there. And there's some really interesting stories, I bet hers was fascinating.

Josie Bellini  14:41  
Oh, yeah. And I mean, even just hearing her stories about when she was younger, and growing up in Venezuela, and how it was a really beautiful, wealthy country. It hasn't just been, you know, like this forever, it was, you know, rated one of I forget what the index is called, but really hi living, like standards and everything like that. And they, it shows what a government how basically how corrupted government can be to absolutely take over and ruin the financial system and the currency and the value of the currency. Which is why Bitcoin is so important, because you can actually own your assets. But with this piece, in particular, when she shared her story with me, and even a little small snippet, she told me that her neighbor and friend 22 years old, I believe, had a very bad shellfish allergy, and she was excellently sure served shellfish at a restaurant, rushed to the hospital, because she had a terrible reaction. And they didn't have the medication to give to her for a shellfish allergy. And she ended up passing so crazy, like the hospitals can't even help them people there, when it's not even something that's, you know, so intense, like they got into an accident, it was an allergy that they couldn't help her with. So it's, I mean, it's moving. And it's, you know, if somebody has for me, I didn't have a ton of money I could donate to really make an impact. But I had a skill that I could, you know, donate my time and effort towards to raise money for it. And it's totally, you know, open my eyes changed my perspective. When I'm at conferences I bring, I bring believers with me and give them away. And people laugh, and, you know, I get it, I get why they do, but they laugh and they say, Oh, these are worth nothing like, Can I take a stack of them or, or things like that. And it's my opportunity. And this is why I give them out, it's my opportunity to tell them that it's really not funny, you know, it could be our government, it could be in the US like, hopefully, it doesn't happen to us. But it could be obvious that this is happening to in the future where our currency is worth nothing. So it's just interesting and definitely powerful. Like I said, with the storytelling again, to share her story. And with the augmented reality on that one, you can scan it and see that the bully virus completely burn away. And the Bitcoin white papers revealed in the background, which you can kind of see in the original piece burning through and then her gas mask actually comes off. And the Venezuelan flag begins waving behind her as a stance of basically being freed. And the flag has seven stars instead of eight, the current eight stars, because the eighth star actually represents bully bar. So the she told me that Venezuelans prefer to use the flag with the seven stars. So it's, it's really cool to be able to share her story through that piece.

Brandon Zemp  17:57  
Yeah, that's really cool. It's really fascinating. Because I, when I see your pieces are like super cool, and you can use like the AR features and everything. And they really bring like a different aspect to how you look at art. And it makes it like more. Almost like watching a video. It feels really interactive. It's fun to look at. And yeah, regarding her there's a there's just so many stories and experiences from people that have come out of Venezuela, and they either do or used to have the largest oil reserves in the world. So very, very wealthy. It's just unfortunate situation they're going through, but yeah, I bet her store it was incredible. And we don't have to talk about all your art. Quite a few but one that I really liked that you did recently it was the tune in one do you want to talk about that one a little bit? I really thought that she the girl on there was from a leader.

Josie Bellini  18:57  
Yeah, I've had I've had that actually afternoon said it I had a couple other people say it to me and then there was one other are actually don't two other people that they compared her to which were like living women and they like shared their Instagrams with me and I was like, Oh, cool. Now I'm following them because they look awesome. Um, but she is just made up. I didn't plan her off of anyone. But I do love the comparison of a leader. I still haven't seen it, which I need to.

I think it's the perfect comparison.

Brandon Zemp  19:31  
Yeah, you gotta you gotta watch it.

Josie Bellini  19:33  
Yeah, I know. I know. I do. Um, but yeah, I mean, when I created her, I just wanted this like, like, kind of like real looking at some points. But then you know, the hair just totally like this Stark like really, really light purple, just to like show that. It's also like this, integrating with some bizarre, like, character aspects. And then obviously her suit, which is kind of like robotic looking. But still like almost

I don't know the word like,

like Special Forces, like some bizarre, you know, bizarre thing with the TV's behind her. So this one is, I was really excited when I was making this one because it was kind of just my story into my interest into NF T's, which started honestly, relatively recently, I went to an FT. NYC in February. And it totally changed my entire business, changed my perspective on NF tease. I had known about them and kind of blew them off a little bit thinking, why would someone ever want to hold a digital piece of art in their wallet and never be able to truly show it off? Like what what's the point of it, basically, and I totally wrote it off. And then I went to NFT NYC, my opinion 100% changed. I realized that VR, I thought VR was just for gaming. And I've never been a gamer. I always thought it was interesting. VR was interesting, but just never really dove into it. And then I met Jen, who was a big time user of crypto box holes. And he showed me a bit of what crypto boxes, but then also what he was doing. And he does these crazy like 3d scans of like, different alleyways and there's, you know, put he puts like sculptures and graffiti and like this fully, like immersive thing and VR. And he was showing me through his iPad, and I was just like, what is this? This is so crazy. And I knew he like saw my eyes completely light up. And I was like, I need a VR gallery. And he was like, Yeah, you do. And I had not realized that, you know, everyone was saying I need a VR Art Gallery. Not everyone. But you know, there were already those types of things in crypto. So I was totally excited about it. And I realized that and FT art specifically, obviously gaming is little bit different. But now there is a place crypto foxholes, and I'm sure more to come to show off these things. Because it really is a way to be social and to have that gallery in your house, in your store and your whatever, have all these art pieces that you can say that you own, and you show them off in that way. I mean, that is the new social media that is the new conversation starter like that, that is wealth in the virtual worlds. So that my opinion totally changed once I figured out that you can actually show these sorts of things off. And I was always I've been friends with the founder of neon district and plasma bears. I had a few crypto kitties when they first came out, I met the founders of chain breakers, I got super interested in crypto box hills, which made me learn about DCOD Central end. And then obviously, crypto punks is just kind of like a really cool long standing collectible that has been around for a while. And then auto glyphs are they're relatively new project that is completely generated when the transactions went through. Its, I guess, I don't know how to explain that for someone who doesn't know. But basically, when someone went to buy an oak Lyft, the code of the transaction created its own art piece through circles, squares and lines. So there was only 512 released and they're super rare. And they're like the first completely generated by blockchain code art. So I had to create a piece on it. Because it just blew up. And it was all that I've been excited about recently. So that was kind of my piece in there in TV, these screens which so which is so dated, but kind of like a cool look, in my opinion. And the title of the piece is tune in. So you know, turn on your screens and tune in to what's going on around you. And really see how this like World of NF tease is totally going to change everything in gaming in virtual property. And all of those aspects. So that piece was really exciting and fun to make. And I was super thankful because that piece sold out before I even officially officially launched it, which was kind of also another hint to include that everyone else was really excited about this as well.

Brandon Zemp  24:44  
Yeah, this was a really cool one. I really liked the TVs in the backgrounds and that you can see like the different dapps on those TVs like crypto boxes or crypto kiddies, crypto punks, you Central and a few of the others. And I'm not as familiar you're with. But it was really cool because it kind of made me think of having those gaps like appearing on like every single different channel on TV or whatever. It being kind of almost like futuristic and everything. And then you have this like Robo girl and everything like on the front and it feels kind of an artist in some ways. Also, like futuristic. I don't know, it's really cool kind of sci fi almost. Yeah, that might be my favorite one that I've seen you come out with is also got a lot of detail it to

Josie Bellini  25:32  
thank you. Thank you. Yeah, that was a fun one to make. And the AR for it was also really fun. Have you seen that? AR?

Brandon Zemp  25:40  
Absolutely. Yeah, they are one's awesome. Yeah, what? So I know you've been using an app to like animate your artwork via AR What's that app called?

Josie Bellini  25:52  
So the app that I use is not what you used to animate it. But it's basically what it's called Art survive. It is for iOS and Android. It's a free app that really anyone could use. But what the app does is it registers image of your actual art piece, and then you register it to link to the video or the animation that you create separately. So basically, it's just the database that links everything together. And then you you know, it sets the bounds of what sides the art pieces, and like once it gets registered through the camera to actually play the augmented reality.

Brandon Zemp  26:30  
Yeah, I'm very familiar with like, VR, virtual reality and everything. And AR is one of the few areas that I'm still trying to completely grasp because it's, you have to use like a phone or a device or you use like a wearable. And it kind of like overlays, like your actual environment and everything exam, but it can also bring like real world things to life, like your artwork, for example. Exactly. It's super, super cool. How do you see AR kind of shaping art, because it seems like there's a lot of parallels there.

Josie Bellini  27:02  
Oh, in a lot of ways, there are already some museums that are beginning to use AR and not only not necessarily to move the pieces and do all these crazy things, but to scan them and begin to show you details of the actual artist and when it was painted. And even like show the process of how is painted. So I think that is such a cool, unique way of bringing a VR kind of to the mainstream art through, you know, museums and basically giving background facts. But for someone like me, I also think it's it's just such an exciting way to really experience and immerse yourself in the story and the meaning of it versus just viewing it on 2d, which is amazing. I mean, when I first started creating my art, I had no idea that I was going to be implementing augmented reality. So I created them to be viewed and enjoyed as a they were, which I still do. But adding those different layers of augmented reality really is just a game changer. It's it's gotten so much more interest in my art, which is exciting. But I've also been able to share how I create things with other artists to get them to start to do it as well. And I think that crypto artists are already on the edge of you know, pushing the box and not going with gallery representations and doing their own things and selling via cryptocurrency so they can own or so they basically cut out the middleman. So why not continue to push the envelope and add a new features that a lot of the main art world hasn't adopted yet.

Brandon Zemp  28:48  
I was talking with someone couple days ago about how a lot of these like FTS and these projects, including like the art and stuff. They're very like one dimensional. Like if you buy a crypto Kitty, there's what's really behind the crypto kitty other than the subjective value that we give it. Like what can you do? What can you do with the crypto kitty? Where can you take your crypto kitty. And the really cool thing about AR and VR is that you can take like an NFC like a crypto kitty and you can layer it like you're talking about. But you can layer it in such a way that may be in crypto Vauxhall's, you can walk your crypto Kitty, or maybe in the real world, you can see your crypto kitty like in the grass or on the ground. Kinda like Mongo, or maybe you go out and battle your crypto kitties. I know there's some work being done on that as well. But yeah, AR and VR definitely have some major parallels with crypto and everything and you really cool to see them take some of these dap projects and really merge them together and create like more usable use cases for them.

Josie Bellini  29:56  
Absolutely no, I completely agree. And I am actually did a commission piece to paint someone's crypto kitty not that long ago. And we did fun AR with the background changing colors, but just That in itself shows you that people want to have their NF Ts also in in real life, it's not just a digital good they want they want to bring it I mean, it's something obviously you know how passionate the NFC community is. So it should ones like that and have that as something that you can own in real life as well. Your family probably think you're crazy, you know, getting painted paint, but but I mean the the value that you hold it that especially if it is something that either has sentimental value or actual real, you know, monetary value is really exciting. And people want it, which is also really awesome, which is why VR and AR has been so such a huge pivot point for me. And I can tell you a little bit about where I've been see everything going and some of the fun stuff I'm working on. But the AR app or the VR aspects, obviously, you can do pretty much anything in VR, you can fully be immersed in, in my case, an art piece. And if you know the art piece has TVs playing, and there's 12 TVs in the painting, why not have you know, hundreds of TVs around it all flickering all doing these crazy things, and the crazy noises and things are popping out at you and the you know, electricity is flickering and like all these insane things. Well, instead of that just happening in virtual reality, you can overlay these things in augmented reality and have them in real life. So you can experience the things that you're experiencing in VR. And AR, if that makes sense, which my something that's more important to me is bringing all those pieces together so that it's not just owning a cryptocurrency in your wallet. It's having that piece of art also on your wall has having that experience that moving and doing these crazy things also on your wall so that you can share with your friends and family.

Brandon Zemp  32:06  
Yeah, I think people are craving especially people in the NFC community are craving something physical or something more visual that they can interact with. Like for example, I had people like looking over my shoulder because it looked like I was on Minecraft, like on my phone walking around and everything. And they were like, Oh, you can play Minecraft on your phone wizened old black and white and everything. I'm like, No, I'm buying virtual property. And weird is look like. It's like I was like completely crazy, like virtual, like, like how do you invest in real estate that isn't real, or something that you can't see or touch or walk on or survey. And the same thing with like, crypto kitties, and crypto punks, and like all this other stuff, and then just trying to explain it to people. It's can be a little bit of a headache sometimes. But yeah, it be really cool to have like, some way to make it more physical or make it more visual in the real world or interact moves. It's, it's frankly, at least hard to explain like that. Yeah.

Josie Bellini  33:13  
Oh, yeah. And a lot of people think my work is all digital. Because of much. I'd say a huge percentage of crypto art right now is digital, like with platforms like super rare unknown origin and maker space, which is so cool. And I love the platforms, but it is all digital. So I always try to say hand painted or you know, something of that realm. So people know that my work is physical. But it's also I mean, at some point, you just have to show them. So I have T shirts that you know, when you scan the T shirts, they do something different than what the painting does in some cases, or they do the same thing that the painting does. So you can just have give someone your phone and say scan my shirt and you know it starts moving so they can see a little bit of what's going on. And I'll tell you that at these conference is like people are Mind blown. People are like, what the heck is going on? Like what is this sorcery. So it's it's kind of fun to show them something they just have really never seen. Yeah, I need to get one of your shirts. And I also need to get some stickers too are those on your website. So stickers are sent out with every print for free. I don't have them up on my website. But I actually have created the new stickers that are going up soon. The issue with some of my old stickers on my website just gets crazy when I'm shipping internationally and basically I end up paying more shipping costs than what people pay for stickers. Um, I do I do free shipping on my website. So that's where it comes into play. But no, I have some new ones coming up very soon that are cool and there I'm working with you know company that has warehouses in different countries. So the shipping actually gets a little bit you know better better prices for stuff like that. So it will be up there soon, but I'll still hook you up with some stickers. I still need to send those out.

Brandon Zemp  35:12  
Yeah, just need let me know when you put the new ones up to all buy some a whole bunch I freakin love stickers.

Josie Bellini  35:19  
There. They're very everywhere. One of my new pieces the Choose piece that I recently released on open see that one is coming to a T shirt and a sweatshirt soon. And really any of my stuff if someone doesn't really want a short sleeve, but they want a long sleeve where they want a sweatshirt, I can do pretty much anything custom. So those are coming up. So yeah, I think

Brandon Zemp  35:42  
that's the one I bought, actually. A couple days ago. Yeah, I'll have to get that on T shirt. That one was cool too. I think that was the first Art FT. thing that I bought from you as well. And you're you have a gym or is it a marketplace on open See?

Josie Bellini  36:00  
Yeah, I have a storefront on open see. And choose I have tune in up will tune in, like I said was sold out before I officially released it. So the NFC is going to the prints. So anyone that purchase or print also gotten NFT. So that one is up on open sea, but already all spoken for and then choose just went up on I think July 2 or July 3, or July 3 and within 24 hours completely sold out of all the NF tease, which I'm super thankful for. That was so awesome to see. And out of many one is the next one that will be released on open see. But yeah, that was that was exciting. And I really love that piece. So I'm glad to see that it went so fast. And has already I saw a couple sales on the secondary market, which is pretty cool, too.

Brandon Zemp  36:55  
Yeah, that's awesome. I think you crack the top 12 for dapps. Last week. It's pretty exciting.

Josie Bellini  37:02  
Yeah, no, that was very exciting. I wasn't I what I honestly didn't even think about I probably should have been more strategic on what I launched. I launched us a couple days before that before they closed the top ranking up. So I was super thankful and honestly, like surprised to be on that. But how cool. It was just awesome. And they've been open. He has been amazing with partnering with me and just answering any questions that I have. So they've been really wonderful. Yeah,

Brandon Zemp  37:34  
they're fantastic. With your art actually, are you selling more NF tease than you are physical art.

Josie Bellini  37:41  
So it depends. So for tune in,

I am 100% sold out of that, which means that the original has our painting has already sold and all of the prints have already sold. And the way that one is a little bit different than any of my other ones. Because I said at the purchasing a print, you get an FT. So those kind of went hand in hand. So and there was 20 prints and 21 nF T's and the way that works. And the reason why there's 21 is because number zero will always go to the holder of the original painting. So number zero is obviously the most rare and most unique and most valuable because that person paid whatever they did for the original. And then number one and number two, I will I always keep as artists edition number one is an artist edition a number two to I have a special project that I'm working on that's really unique. But if I want it to auction it or sell it or or do something like that. So number three and FT is pub, like Initially, the most rare item you can have that's publicly released besides the original, it's the lowest number that you can have. So number three is I guess, pretty, pretty valuable. And then they go all the way up to number 20. So choose Yes, I still have some prints of that, actually. But all of the NF T's are gone, because those were sold separately from each other.

Brandon Zemp  39:19  
Okay, gotcha. How are you actually creating your FTS? I know I've been using additional, which is pretty helpful as well. Do you have like your own method for creating your NF to use? Or what do you do?

Josie Bellini  39:33  
Yeah, additional is awesome. By the way, I really like the group there. And I did a little raffle with them not too long ago, which was cool to see how their platform works. But no, I I am doing mine through mentoring them through open seat. And that there is some code basically, that allows me to update my pieces with all the traits. So right now the piece that you bought choose, it just has the title and the price of it that you previously bought it at and the meaning. But just like your other entities have like your crypto boxes, it's has the property of being in Frankfurt, and being 13 meters tall. And all these things, my pieces will also have traits, which I do all through, basically code through open see that those aspects will add another layer of really exciting stuff to my work. So basically, I'm going to be incentivizing collectors by saying, hey, if you have three of these p or three of these traits in any of your pieces, or some combination of whatever, then you will receive a very limited and FT that only the first 10 collectors that basically submit the criteria will receive. So I'm able to do really cool things like that where I can basically reward my collectors based on what they have in their wallet.

Brandon Zemp  41:11  
Okay, yeah, that's cool. I didn't know you're doing that. That definitely adds a new dynamic to it as well.

Josie Bellini  41:16  
Oh, yeah. And you could do also like, I mean, that's just really scratching the surface. I'm also thinking about things where you can turn to pieces in where they get burned. And then you get a new piece that no one else has. So weird, cool. Stuff like that, that just like continues to keep changing the art and adding to it.

Just little by little.

Brandon Zemp  41:41  
Yeah, that is weird. And cool. I like it. Very, very awesome. Are you working on any new art pieces?

Josie Bellini  41:48  
Yeah, I am. I'm working on new art pieces. And then I'm also working on some larger projects. So in the way of new art pieces, I have a piece coming up. That is another one that's kind of focused on an empty space. Because so many people are like, I wish I would have gotten tune in. And this one is completely different than tune in totally different look and feel and everything. But I do have another one of those coming up. And then I have some other a theory of artwork coming up as well. So those I'm not exactly sure will know launch, but those were in the works. But then I'm also working on some other larger projects that I'm really excited about. I'm working on my own VR gallery, and not just in crypto boxes, but something like super immersive, where basically, My plan is to have a physical Art Gallery showing. So basically, we rent a huge space with all white walls and have literal, really no art hanging on the walls. But when someone comes in, and they look at this space, and they're like, okay, I thought I was coming to a gallery showing where's the art, and then they will put on a VR headset, or view through their phone, I'm still working those things out. And then they will completely be immersed in my VR gallery, which will have not just artwork hanging on the walls, but will also have like a fully immersive scene. So if something for example, has one of my art pieces has more of like a jungle vibe, or like jungle theme, there will be foliage and vine and birds flying and you know, animals coming out the walls. So very, like full experience artwork, that really there's nothing in front of you, but it's all happening in VR. And then they can obviously take a print home that when they scan it with the AR will do the same thing that they saw on VR. So that's I'm super excited about that. That is not coming out for a while because I'm 3d modeling, everything that comes with it, and I'm self taught and all that I do. So that that's going to be really exciting. And then I'm also working on another big project that I've been working on for a while. That's totally insane, and probably only an insane collector will buy it. Um, but it's I don't want to give it all away, but it's basically a blank piece of artwork that will also blow your mind at the same time. So that's as far as I'll go on. It's it's, it's definitely going to be bizarre, but really fun.

Brandon Zemp  44:53  
So it's blank, but it's not really blank. Got it.

Josie Bellini  44:58  
Right. Exactly.

Brandon Zemp  45:00  
Yeah, that sounds intense like a mat. I can't imagine just walking into like a completely blank room with like white walls, or just a plain colored wall and not seeing any actual artwork and then throwing on like a headset and all sudden, just Whoosh. You just you're in a completely different environment.

Josie Bellini  45:21  
Yeah, yeah, no, I'm I'm really excited about that one, especially, like I said, the our I feel like combining VR and AR into art right now is still so new. And to bring that to a physical space. And not just like I said, I'm so about having like, you know, all of the worlds kind of colliding to have that somewhere, physically and have people really experience that. Like, I think it'll definitely change their perspective on things.

Brandon Zemp  45:50  
Yeah, that sounds like something I'm definitely gonna have to come check out. I assume it'll be Chicago based. Yeah.

Josie Bellini  45:56  
Yeah, it will be. But I also am trying to figure out how to probably the day after not the exact same time at launches in person to kind of keep the, you know, keep it special, probably the day after, I'll have some sort of online version of it. So people can still experience it. If they're not if they don't, if they're not able to make it out to Chicago.

Brandon Zemp  46:21  
Yeah, totally, that that'd be really cool as well. So how do you see crypto changing art or affecting art or evolving art? Whatever that may mean to you have asked a few people that are also in involved in crypto art as well. The same question, but the answer is almost always different. It's really interesting. everyone's opinion on it. But from your opinion, from your perspective, how do you think crypto will change the way we look at art?

Josie Bellini  46:54  
I think there's a couple things I think for its it depends on which decide you're looking at it from I think from an artist's perspective, it gives an entirely new way to and even if the content isn't actual crypto, or just art in general, it allows you to be able to cut out the middleman and truly sell your own items for crypto own your own assets. Because you're owning crypto and not basically, I don't have anything against galleries. But I also don't work with any galleries for reasons. And it's because I mean, galleries take 40 to 60% of an artist's commission. So it's, it's quite a huge, huge amount. And it's, it was shocking when I found that out. So I think crypto allows for artists to really be able to earn their own money in that way and have things transparent of really who is getting what cut. But at the same time, I guess for me personally, it's given me an entirely new perspective. combining the two crypto and art an entirely new perspective on on the future on what people are interested in on, it continues to help me just push myself to learn new things. I think really, the possibilities are endless. It gives it you know, obviously there's so many companies working on things like provenance. Block, block our Codex, there's a few out there, and they're working with some really huge, you know, our art auction houses. So there, the possibilities are endless Providence, artists actually truly being able to create or make their own money and not have the gallery as the middleman. For me, just exploring more and more things and sharing my story with other people and other people resonating it and also buying the art. crypto and art is basically for me, the first thing that's allowed me to have a savings account, because that's how I accept most of my payments. So I think the possibilities really are endless.

Brandon Zemp  49:17  
Absolutely, totally agree as well. And especially from the perspective of the artist, I think there's a lot of great benefits to using crypto with your art, whether it's for keeping your royalty, whether it's for preserving your art, improving authenticity, I think there's just so many really cool avenues that are starting to be explored and ground this being broken. Love, love hearing different perspectives on that as well.

Josie Bellini  49:46  
Yeah. And I think that companies that are working in the space are doing an excellent job. And I would even challenge them to push it further. But just to break, historically, what is the norm? And I mean, places like I believe super rare does it as well. Yeah, super rare. I'm sure plenty of others open See, when your art gets sold anything any of your NFL gets sold on the secondary market, you can set it to reap some of the benefit basically have the secondary sale. So I just had someone resell one of my pieces today. And I get a small payout for that as the value of that art continues to increase and continues to sell for more and more. It's tracked with the same contract on the Ethereum blockchain. So you get to continue to get rewarded for that. So it's it's important what the companies are also adding into their platforms as well.

Brandon Zemp  50:46  
Absolutely. Are there any important updates or dates or anything in the world of Josie that the listeners should be aware of that you have going on?

Josie Bellini  50:57  
Um, I am initially going to release everything on my newsletter before I release it publicly on Twitter and different forums like that. So newsletters definitely the best way to stay up to date. But that's about it. You can follow me on Twitter, add yourself to my newsletter. And you can basically figure out everything that I'm doing from those two things.

Brandon Zemp  51:22  
How do they add to the newsletter on your website?

Josie Bellini  51:25  
Yep. josie.io is my website and you can just scroll to the bottom and type in your email it. I think it has a name field, but you don't have to fill up a name field, you can just type in your email and submit. And then my Twitter username is at Josie Bellini.

Brandon Zemp  51:42  
Awesome. Josie, thank you for coming on and everything. I know you're very busy. And you've had a lot going on. And I know that a lot of people will appreciate listening to it and hear about the stories behind your artwork and everything that you're you're working on. You're doing and again, yeah. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Josie Bellini  52:00  
You know, thanks for having me. This is awesome. I appreciate you. Going around and chatting with people and having these conversations. It's awesome to listen to

Brandon Zemp  52:09  
ya. Thanks for coming on and I will talk to you soon.

Josie Bellini  52:13  
Okay, thanks.