The Me Llamo Art Podcast
The Me Llamo Art Podcast
Episode 0 - Interview with founder Me Llamo Matt
Welcome to Episode 0 of the Me Llamo Art Podcast. Our host Jordan Banks is joined by Me Llamo Art founder, entrepreneur, collector, and community builder Me Llamo Matt.
Matt became fascinated with NFTs and the underlying technology and immediately recognized their potential to revolutionize the art scene. He decided to leverage the technology available and founded Me Llamo Art, a Web3, nonprofit supporting artists and helping them reach their full potential. It is a platform committed to inclusivity, transparency, and positivity while providing significant opportunities for the Web3 art community. In this episode, Matt shares his knowledge and insights into Web3, NFTs, art, and Me Llamo Art itself.
Learn about his background and past business experience, the journey to starting Me Llamo Art, and how his personal collection helped form the community. Hear behind-the-scenes stories about connecting with other artists, collectors, and enthusiasts, the role digital art can play in bringing attention to the importance of social justice, managing expectations in a bear market, why some artists are struggling right now, and much more.
Sit back and enjoy the ride as Matt takes us through his journey into web3 and NFTs as he searches for the next big opportunity.
Key Points From This Episode:
- An overview of Matt’s NFT journey and how the idea of Me Llamo Art originated.
- The experience Matt had that led him to start and manage Me Llamo Art.
- Find out how Matt leverages technology to manage his businesses.
- The community event that caused Me Llamo Art to change its trajectory.
- We discuss the future potential of Me Llamo Art as a community for artists.
- Matt highlights Comp Stomp Studios and the upcoming collaborations planned.
- He shares his method and approach to art collecting.
- Matt tells us about the art piece that got him hooked on collecting.
- Why supporting artists through a community approach is so important.
- Hear about a controversial auction that Matt hosted regarding Drift’s work.
- His opinion on using editions to sell art pieces to the community.
- Learn some essential advice for using editions successfully.
- Advice for artists to help them through bear markets and remain sustainable.
- We find out more about Matt, his passions, and what motivates him.
- How Matt is able to manage his expectations regarding digital art.
- We discuss emerging technology in the space and its potential.
- Reasons why artists need to remain current regarding technology.
- We unpack the current state of the market and its future.
--------------------------
Episode Links
Episode 0 - Disrupting the Art Scene with Me Llamo Matt
[INTRODUCTION]
[00:00:02] JB: Welcome to our first ever Me Llamo Art Podcast. For episode zero, I'm joined by Me Llamo Art founder, legendary collector, good friend, Me Llamo Matt. Let's go.
[EPISODE]
[00:00:18] JB: Hey, Matt. How you doing? Great for you to join us today. It's a real pleasure to kick things off of this podcast with you, the founder of Me Llamo Art and the brainchild behind it. I mean, that's a real great place for us to start. How's everything going? Are you busy? Keeping well?
[00:00:30] MLM: Jordan, thanks for having me today. Yeah. Things are going great. The holiday season is upon us. Families are coming into town, so it's a little hectic, but things are going well. I'm just having a good time.
[00:00:40] JB: Sounds like fun. Sounds hectic. I can imagine what is it like with my little ones running around for Christmas and things, it's full on. I’m sure it will be a fun time. We've got a lot to get through today that we want to try and delve into. I'm going to kick it off with, how did the idea about Me Llamo Art come about? How did it pop into your head? Where did it originate from?
[00:00:57] MLM: That is a great question. I could probably talk for an entire hour on that. I don't really know. It's evolving. There's no precise moment where it came to be. It just is. When I started my NFT journey, I figured out right away like, I don't really understand these things. I don't really understand Web3, but I'm super excited, because I can see there's definitely something here and it's going to be amazing. I thought, well, I'll just start collecting, I don’t know why they're called ‘collect with a purpose’. I keep my options and opportunities open. Then as my knowledge of Web3 increased, and as the spaces evolved over the last year and a half. I just want to keep it open. I kept moving forward.
At the beginning, I was just collecting pieces personally, and creating a brand, and trying to help artists so if I collected an artist, I tried to help elevate them, maybe I would say like use the collection as marketing and that someday we're going to do something to this collection. I just don't know what. Eventually it came to the point where I was like, “Hey, let's evolve one person's personal collection into a community of everybody.” The purpose or the mission of the collection is to create a safe, inclusive community to support artists and help them pursue their passion.
I reached out to a few people that had more knowledge than me on Web3. One, which was Jack Wartell. Jack created a brand brief for me. He was the mastermind of the nonprofit idea. He's like, “Matt, have you thought of making this a nonprofit?” He said, “I always thought there'd be a lot of potential for a nonprofit, and nobody, to my knowledge, has done it to this point.” It just clicked. I was like, “Yeah, that would be great.” Everything I want to do about this is to have fun and help people. It wasn't necessarily or wasn't in any way whatsoever for personal financial gain.
Jack caused us to move forward in the nonprofit. Then I just created the team that we have today and continuously evolves. Up until Miami, we jokingly said, we don't really know where this project is going. It might just be a quirky little fun project that just makes people feel good or it might become giant, and be able to generate huge revenues that we can then put back into the artist community, and we’re going to fall somewhere in between. Miami was so amazing. I will get to that soon, but Miami was so unbelievable, that I think the idea that we're just going to ever be a quirky little project is not the case, if we truly want to achieve our potential. I think that the jury's still out on what we're going to be able to accomplish, but I think it could be pretty great.
[00:03:10] JB: What struck me what you said early on, as well, when you entered into this space, you didn't necessarily know that it was going to be Me Llamo Art, but you were collecting with a purpose like you said. You knew there was something bigger to this, it was, just stay in this space do you and then be ready to take those opportunities, which is a great ethos of this space as well, just be open to ideas and opportunities as they present themselves. Maybe don't try and push it, but put yourself in a position where you're aware of the fact that opportunities are going to arise and can arise where you can make a difference in whether it's a person or a nonprofit, or as Me Llamo Art, I think that's great.
That leads into as well, I think what in your life had led you to be able to think you could undertake this project of managing a team of people and especially artists, as you're finding out though, the creatives were not the easiest people to keep track of and manage. What's your life beforehand that made you think you could manage this or experiences you've had or have?
[00:04:02] MLM: It was similar in a sense. I have for many years, built what I call a Web Zero Company. It's in the hospitality industry, specifically fast food or quick service restaurants. Back when I started, there was no internet. There was no technology to speak of and the general consensus of the restaurant industry was, you could run one restaurant, you had to work 70, 80 hours a day, you got to personally take the bank deposit to the bank, and you had to control everything.
Then with franchising, it was like, “Well, maybe you can own two because you can still visit each one every day.” That was about it. Then as technology improved, and the Internet came and then we used to have all these tools and what we call the web zero business. I was able to – again, I didn't really understand it, but I just thought there was something there. I just thought there was something there and I kept my options open much like we're doing with Me Llamo Art. I was like, “Let's just see where this takes us. I could get to three or four stores just based on my energy and my drive and my personal impact I cut off at each location every day.”
Then as I started being able to use the internet to track real life sales, look at transactions, see if our people are putting the money in the bank, check our deposits every day, cameras, and all the different things that we could use with technology. I learned that I could build these teams of people literally all across the United States. We had a team in Minnesota that started building restaurants. Then we put a team in Utah, and then we put a team in Portland, Oregon. Pretty soon I was doing something that technology was allowing me to do and up until that point, was considered just an absolute not possibility in my industry.
We had all these teams within teams. We had one large team that oversaw the entire operation. Then in each geographic region, we would have a team that would report to the large team. Then within each region, we had multiple teams, basically, every restaurant was a team or is a team. So over the years, we've evolved and evolved to where now we have about 72 restaurants in six states probably have 1000 team members. That is the exact blueprint I'm using for Me Llamo Art. We don't know how big we can get. We don't know where it's going to go. We just know that five years, 10 years, 20 years from now, it's going to look different than it does now.
[00:06:13] JB: I think that's like what you say – like I was seeing the similarities. Obviously, one real, our web zero, as you say at business is on a much grander scale at the current state of Me Llamo Art. By the way, you were saying people all around the country and state and whatever and it's exactly the same as what we've got in Me Llamo Art, especially seeing the back-end of things of where we're all based in time zones and things.
[00:06:33] MLM: This is not unusual for me. This is just like, it's like an organized chaos is what I call it. We're just building teams and doing the best we can. Just like any team and anything, some days we have good days or good games, good matches. Some days, we have bad days, but if you're a team, you can always regroup and pivot and keep moving forward.
[00:06:53] JB: You just mentioned that as well, the technology used when you first came into the business was like no way, this isn't even a thing. Obviously led me to think, you're probably like one of the people who's on the cutting edge of technology or trying to keep on the edge of technology. Is that something that's led you into Web3, do you think?
[00:07:07] MLM: 100%. I don't understand technology. I don't have a code in mind. I'm much more of a big picture mind, vision, things like that, and gut feel. What I do know is when computers started like, I have no idea what these things are for. They’re just word processors, I don't get it like, aren't they just a typewriter? But I bought one. I was like, well, somebody understands these. Somebody says, this is a really big deal. So I bought one. I started using it. Then when the internet came, I'm like, “What is this?” Like it just seems it's for bad things at the beginning. But you what? There's too much talent invested in the internet. This has to be something.
Then I brought it into the business. Then we use it in the business. That allowed me to grow. Then when Web2 came, same thing. It's like, I didn't really understand it, basically, but we better embrace this. Web2 allowed us to grow our company dramatically because all of a sudden we could have some more communication amongst our teams with Web2 like whether it was through slack, or whatever they used at that time. It’s like texting and all these things we take for granted. Email. None of those existed when we started. I was trying to run three restaurants. None of that existed. We didn't even have fax machines when I tried to start.
Both with Web1 and Web2, I didn't understand them at all. I had this hunch there was something there and I used them to leverage my business, but I didn't truly take advantage of either one in it. Maybe I made 10 time games, but I didn't make 100 time games. When that Web3 came, and I read a book called Bitcoin: Hard Money You Can't Fuck With. It just clicked on me like, the Blockchain made sense. I was like, “Oh, my God. This Blockchain technology is there's so many real life uses.” I was like, “Okay, maybe this time I could actually be in it.”
The first two I use to my advantage with a third one, I could be an early adopter. I'd already missed the Bitcoin. I missed the huge price increase, at least thus far, right? We don't know where it's going after this, but that's where then I learned about NFTs and I just bought in. It's the same feeling I had with Web1 and Web2. I don't fully understand it, but I'm telling you, I'm telling you, there's something here, and it's going to be here in 10 and 20 years from now. It's going to be even bigger.
[00:09:05] JB: Your stories are very similar in the way like you're saying. I missed the first two, but it felt like I'm in the right place in my time and life and I happened to stumble across Web3. It's like, I can be part of the beginnings of this and much the same as you. So that's great. We hit on it a bit earlier. You're talking about Miami and Art Basel. What happened now, obviously, that was our first IRL event, which given how long we've been running is a pretty amazing feat. I think that we managed to put that together in such a short amount of time. Obviously, as I know and you hit on it, vastly change the projectile of Me Llamo Art. Do you want to tell us a little bit about what happened and what made this change? What are this progression really jump in and take it to the next level.
[00:09:47] MLM: Yeah. Miami was very transformational. I'm sure when we're years down the road and we look back at the evolution of Me Llamo Art that's going to stand out. First of all, it's odd because you know how does the Web3, you talked to people and your video calling. So you think you've met people. Then you realize like you haven't. Like you and I have met in New York, and we spent some time, but a good chunk of our team I never actually met. So we had our first in real life meeting. We had a live event. It was the morning of the event. We like, “Hey, we better have a meeting.”
We have some talking points, and some plans, and some thoughts on what we're going to do. We're just sitting in the hotel lobby and there's six or eight of us, and it was like, holy crap, you would just think this was just a normal company that had had weekly or monthly meetings for some time now. The interaction was phenomenal, the feedback, it was just amazing like, it was just like an “aha” moment for me to see people pitching in and given their vision and we’re going around. I was like, “Wow, this is unbelievable.” Like, we are really dialed in here. We don't really realize like – we are dialed in. We know what we need to do.
Then we went to the event. The main reason for our event was to bring 50 people together, all ranges of experience in Web3, but bring them together and that are like, say, “Look, you are the community. You are part of our community. We're a safe, inclusive community, look around. Do you like hanging out with these people? Because if you do, then you're part of Me Llamo Art.” The event was insane. All it was, was a happy hour on a rooftop bar. We had an open bar and they are known for tequila. It seemed pretty simple. The vibe was amazing. It was a two hour event, open bar, the event closed at four. When they shut the tab off, they kept pouring drinks, but people had to start paying and nobody left. Nobody left at four o'clock. As a matter of fact, people were still coming in because traffic was bad, people were still coming in 10 minutes before the event ended, because they just wanted to say hi and see what was going on.
Hour later, hour after the event ends, almost nobody has left, virtually nobody has left. They're still buying their drinks like this is amazing. Another hour later or two hours after the event has ended. There's still a significant amount of the Me Llamo Art community hanging out in this bar. The management of the bar doesn't know what to do because there's a new event starting at two hours after ours ended. There are people who have actually showed up and we still have them outnumbered. So finally, we're like, Guys, we got to go.” So we move around a corner to a small burger shop. We literally fill up the burger shop. There's like 30 of us hanging out in a burger shop, because we just don’t really want to leave. It was crazy.
After the event, I went to the All Ships event with Dave Gregman that night. I had never actually met Dave. Dave's like, knew who I was. Asking how Me Llamo Art is. He wants to help. People are coming up to me that weren't even at the event. They're like, “I heard you guys had a great event.” Multiple people are telling other people that it was the best event they'd been to. That wasn't the point, but it was just like overwhelming, overwhelming.
While we were in the event, we had a brief chat with everybody. We're like, “So here's our next step. Our next step is New York City and NFT.NYC, where Comp Stomp Studios is going to have their Gallery in the same location the Lower Eastside and now Comp Stomp is a part of our family. Me Llamo Art is going to have two events at Comp Stomp. One of which is going to be a charity auction where we hope to raise a significant amount of money for our programming and our annual budget. When I made that announcement, six artists came up to me directly thereafter and said, “Count on me to donate a piece of art.”
One person, just an absolute legend of the industry, one of the top-selling artists came up to me and said, not only did this person say, I'm going to donate. They said, “Matt, I know which piece I'm going to donate to Me Llamo Art.” That meant so much. Our eyes just opened up. Then we had developers and really the best tech people in the world come up to us and say like, “We're going to build the back-end for your live auction.” Like, “We're going to build it. We're going to do things that have never been done before in an auction.” I mean, think about that. Things that have never been pulled off at a Sotheby’s, or Christie's are going to be in our live auction.
I don't even know what that means because like I said, a few minutes ago, I don't even understand what's going on, but all the doors are open. We're not saying no. We're going to do some amazing things. That night, somebody asked me, we're sitting there like, “Matt, how do you feel?” I was just like, “Today was just completely overwhelming. I don't even understand what happened today. It was all great, but it’s overwhelming and at the same time, it adds new responsibility to our team.” It's like, holy cow. It was just unbelievable, Jordan.
[00:14:10] JB: Yeah. You've given me an extra bit of FOMO there. Like I didn't have enough already. I knew it was coming when I asked the question, but I'm not surprised you were overwhelmed. I mean, just listening to you speak. Obviously, just knowing living it, as well, being part of the team. I can see how it is. It's just moving at such a rate. I think that it's testament to our team as well that everyone is just got on board with it and just like, “Yeah, this is it. This is happening. Let's go with it. Let's really drive that forward.” People want this. People appreciate what we're building here. We can really make a difference a lot quicker than, I don't know what you thought, but I mean, I ever imagined. I mean since we're August or July and we're not even closing out the year, quite yet. I mean, that's quite incredible, I think, really.
Kudos to you, I think for what you've built and it's an honor to be part of it definitely, as well. It really feels like a privilege that somebody's going to make a big difference, as we move forward. You hit on Comp Stomp there as well. I was going to ask you about that. I think you've pretty much covered that for us. I mean, that was in New York, for me who I knew as well was Comp Stomp was the home away from home, wasn't it? Or the home, I guess. I was already away from home. I'm super, super hyped to see how that comes off and all the work that you've put into that and what we're going to do there. I mean, that sounds incredible.
[00:15:20] MLM: Yeah. Let me talk about Comp Stomp for a minute, because it's super exciting. Comp Stomp was one of the breakthrough projects last year in New York City. Personally, I ended up hanging out there quite a bit, because the vibe was so fantastic. I had thought of Me Llamo Art at that point. I told a few people about it, but we didn't have any idea where it was going, but we connected really well with Chad and his team, and just all the artists that were there. Later in the summer, Chad and I were talking. Chad's like, “I think our visions aligned in many ways.” It’s like, “If we could join together the Me Llamo Art team, and all the energy we have, and the resource we have, could really help elevate Comp Stomp to an even higher level than they were last year while maintaining the Comp Stomp identity.”
They are a separate identity culture, but we will be supporting them. Chad is going to continue to run Comp Stomp, but there's going to be a lot of things that are going to happen this year, that did not happen last year that maybe they wanted to, but they just didn't have, whether it was the business experience or the resources, the people or financial, what have you. So for instance, one of the benchmarks we set in Miami, that's just important to me personally and have fun is, I love happy hours, I love happy hours with good alcohol and good food. It's just what I like to do. It's just what I've always done in life.
[00:16:29] JB: That's a good motto to have.
[00:16:31] MLM: Yes. I told Chad. One of the things we're going to do is we're going to have better alcohol like, that's not a key part. It's super minor, but I want people to, “Oh, my God.” But it's like, if somebody's going to come to the Lower Eastside, they're going to come in there and they’re going to see this gallery. They're going to be vibing with the best artists in the place give them a decent glass of wine or give them whatever we're pouring, just give them something decent. We're going to do it right. We're going to have happy hours. It turns out, there's actually a room upstairs, above Comp Stomp that Comp Stomp has access to that they meant to use last year, and they just didn't pull it off. We're going to have a happy hour. We're going to have a happy hour up there, one day. Me Llamo Art happy hour and we're going to encourage other artists, other projects to use that room. It's just going to be a place where we just have more fun, we create community, we bring people down there, it's a safe place for people to hang out.
Chad’s certainly the great curating, we're going to have the fantastic galleries. Chad will be running virtually all those. Like I said Me Llamo Art is going to take over the gallery for half a day. We're going to have our charity auction. We may have a second project planned or a second gallery exhibition for half of another day. That would be at Me Llamo Art project, it would not be a fundraiser, but rather it would be a way to support emerging artists where we will have a goal to sell an insane amount of pieces for emerging artists. We will strictly be the transaction that will place or the market maker. We will not make any money off that deal. We have some pretty cool ideas.
I haven't hit Transient up on that one yet, but I think Transient Labs could help us do some really amazing things on that, as well as our team. We may have the team donate some art that Transient then drops into people's wallets when they buy emerging artist's pieces. Then the team member that donated the art to help the emerging artists sell the piece is a kind of quasi-mentor. We can create all these dynamics of established artists, mentoring emerging artists and helping emerging artists, merging artists getting visibility to the community, bringing in collectors, new collectors, younger and Web3 collectors that can buy affordable pieces and still get a piece from an established artist that they may not be able to afford. There's just a lot going on there. I think we're going to try to pull that off, too. If we can pull that off, this is going to take Comp Stomp to a whole another level.
[00:18:36] JB: That sounds amazing as well. I love the using of technology and everything as well with the arts. I like, obviously Web3 and NFTs. If you can find a good way that's not just gimmicky, and it really makes a difference. It really adds to the whole experience. I think that's really good. I love that idea that you say mentoring or working together and really trying to bring everyone up together such a great way of doing it as well. Which leads me into what I want to talk about next is a bit about you, obviously you're collecting and your art buying the process and what the process and method behind your collecting. I know you've delved into it a little bit there like earlier on, but what matters to you in terms of, do you just see a piece and sometimes snap it up? Do you like, look into artists? Does it vary? Do you have stuff on a wish list or what's your process and finding pieces?
[00:19:21] MLM: All of the above. I have to connect with the art for sure. Sometimes I see pieces – well now I pretty much know most of the artists, but I still come across artist I don't know. Sometimes they just connect with a piece I buy it. Sometimes I connect with an artist and they just don't have any available artwork that I connect with, but I just talked to him and keep working with them until they either mint something or sometimes I'll find something on their website or on their Instagram. I'll ask him to mint it. The personal connection means a lot, means a huge amount. I can give you like a balance of those two things, but it's definitely both.
I mean, the most amazing thing about collecting art in Web3 is the personal connection. The first piece I ever collected was – I think it was Chris Hytha’s Rowhomes. Chris is a cousin of mine. We talked about it right before he released the Rowhomes. I was in Philadelphia for his brother's wedding. We talked about it. I didn't really know what's going on. I had some crypto. I'm like, “Hey, I'm going to check this out.” I think it was the second or third piece I collected that was really the difference maker for me. That was a piece on the secondary. It was a long exposure, which it turns out I love long exposure. I didn't even know it at the time.
It was a long exposure shot of a boat in distress half song from Jose Kosala, a Spanish or maybe a Catalonian artist. I think he lives near Barcelona. It was on the secondary and DopplerJess was the owner. I know I didn't know either one was. I just bought one or two pieces. I had no idea. So I put a bid out, we negotiate a little. I buy the piece. I'll never forget it. It was a nice day in the summer. I'm sitting on the deck in the back of my house with my wife and I buy this JPEG. I don't know what it means and within 10 minutes, both DopplerJess and Jose had reached out to me. I'm like, “What? What's going on? What is this about?” Like I bought stuff in art galleries before, way more expensive and never heard a thing. I buy a 10, 20 times when I paid for that piece, never a thing.
All of a sudden, I'm like sitting on the back deck after work having conversations with two strangers, right? One from the United States and one from Spain. I'm like, “This is amazing.” So that's when I got hooked. That was the piece that hooked me. So I said like, again, I don't understand it, but there's something here that's unlike anything else ever. I'm going to start collecting with a purpose. I quickly started collecting with artists that I could connect with. I remember like looking at Janet Dixon's pieces. I reached out to her and she responded. Again, I was like, “Wow, this person responded to me.” Then I'm like, “Janet, I absolutely love your work. I feel guilty that I'm enjoying it and I've never bought a piece, is that okay? Like, is that unfair?” She's like, “Oh, no. Just keep enjoying the art.” Finally, one day I said, “Janet, I feel I've enjoyed your work so much. I just have to buy a piece. So I'm going to pick one up.”
We became like virtual friends or real friends. I don’t even – I guess I know, it's real friends, but then I guess, I thought was virtual friends, right, with all these people that I'd never met, and didn’t think I would ever meet. I was like, “I'm going to help these people. I'm going to create a brand. I'm going create the brand, Me Llamo Matt.” I decided to way over-invest in two Blue-Chip pieces. Pieces that were way beyond my budget, I could not rationalize in any way whatsoever based on my personal financial ability to spend it. That was a piece of Drifts, and a piece of Cath Simard. I told the people in our collection like, “This is why I'm doing this. I'm going to buy these two pieces. We're going to create a gallery on Cyberdeck or wherever and we're going to put your pieces right next to their pieces. You guys can use it as marketing, because we're a team.”
There's some artists, Rach Stewart, that to this day, when I pick up a piece she says, “Way to Go Team.” She gets it. A lot of you guys do like, we're a team. We're going to do this. Then when you reach out to new collectors, I don't know who you are, and you're going to be like, “Look, go look Me Llamo Matt’s collection. You're going to see my piece on the same wall as Cath, so you're going to see my piece on the same wall as Drifts. Then by association, that must mean, I'm pretty good, because here's at least one collector who hung my piece next to your piece.” If you remember Jordan, the first piece I ever collected a years. I just thought of this right now. I hung next to Drifts. You notice that. You told me, remember that?
[00:23:18] JB: Yeah, I do. As you were telling me, there's so much has happened in this space. You're telling me, I was like, this is such a great story, because you told me, it happened to me firsthand. I was just like listening here. So I'm glad, yeah, I was totally crossing my mind. I remember telling my son. My son was just super stoked because it was in between Chris's piece, as well. Wasn't it? The Rowhomes.
[00:23:35] MLM: Yes, it was.
[00:23:36] JB: And Drifts. So I was like, “These are the two.” I couldn't be in any better location, just have you collect the piece and then I remember you telling – I'd forgotten, but like, I think it's set in me that ethos of what you built in. I mean, you learn so much. I'd forgotten the actual story until you just repeated it. Then I remember it. Yeah, word for word.
[00:23:55] MLM: I totally forgot it. I did that I was at the airport when I bought yours. We’re on the plane and we were talking and we had not met. That is like I got more pieces. I realized I only have one Drift, and I only have one Cath, and I've got all these other pieces like hang them up on the same wall. I did actually make some commitments. Actually, most of it was after New York City. I got super stoked in New York City, when I saw and met people in real life, and they were so welcoming and engaging. There's so much talent, mobility in Web3. It just blows my mind. So after that I got stoked. I picked up some other grails on the same theory that, yeah, they're cool to have and they're great. Hopefully they'll hold their value, but they just create a stronger brand and they help our entire community.
I picked a piece from Billy Dinh. I picked a piece from an IRS, Mind's Eye, Benzac. Those are some one-on-ones. I picked up some fairly expensive additions from Grant Union. I can't afford one of his one-on-ones anymore, and other people. It's the same theory now, so it's the same theory. I have these Grails throughout like they're actually not even the same gallery. If people go to my gallery now there's three portals and by the way, I'm making it a fourth portal of just generative art and degen art and Pepe’s and noble cards. I got to make that pretty quick.
They're spread out through all the galleries. They're not in one – like I didn't put out, I would never ever put all of them in one gallery go all like this. They are spread out. Then around everyone is all these other artists that can say like, “I'm in that gallery with that person.” Yeah, I'm just loving it. I’m just continuing to collect. This actually leads back with that question earlier. That's how this evolved into Me Llamo Art. It's like we're a team and people get it. We want the Grails to help lift everybody. So that's how we went into like, “Well, what's the next step?” We just make this personal collection forever or like, whatever. Really, what our personal collections for, they're really for the person that's doing it. I mean, they just are. Let's move it to the community and the nonprofit. Now we can actually generate revenues, and actually flow money back to artists, which will allow them to be freed of some of their personal day to day financial obligations, or whatever, and they will be able to go create art. That's really what this is all about.
[00:25:57] JB: I think it's so funny how things happen like you say. You just make through Chris being family. Then sitting in the garden, just taking going on, we're going to buy a JPEG, and then suddenly they get in contact with you. It's like, you're on this hallelujah moment and journey. It just obviously triggered that whole team and wanting to put it forward with the way you started collecting and building your collection to enhance others. Yeah, then led into me MOIs. Funny how things just happen for a reason sometimes on a weird level that you could never, such a tiny little thing as it seems spiraled into something so great and could go down in the history books of Web3.
[00:26:31] MLM: You can never plan it. This is why I keep my options open. I just try to keep so many options open up through life. When you do and fate gives you an opportunity, if you're in a position to act on it, then you benefit.
[00:26:44] JB: I couldn't agree more. Yeah, I mean, that's how I live my life now, just being open to opportunities. I found the hard part being sometimes not just saying yes to everything, though. I think that's a great thing that we're seeing in Web3, as well as the community is all up for that collaborations, working together, building teams and becoming something greater than just themselves.
[00:27:03] MLM: For sure.
[00:27:03] JB: I know you did something which I've actually heard. Obviously, I know the story which I'm asking, but I think you collected some Drift pieces, the additions, I believe that you did and you've got a little plan for them, a long term plan that I thought. I always think is quite interesting and unique. It really has a story behind it.
[00:27:19] MLM: Yeah. Well, thanks for asking. This is a story I love to tell. Sometimes I forget to tell it. When I bought the Drift one of one, and I got to know him. He talked to me a lot. I really respect to this story and what he's doing going forward. He's just a great person, besides an unbelievable artist. His pricing got so high that it was out of range of the vast majority of the people. He was aware of that. So he created the first day out edition. There were two sole purposes to that piece. One was to give collectors that couldn't afford his work a chance to own a piece. I just thought that was awesome. He used a piece that's like, as good as any of his work. That piece of him on the Brooklyn Bridge is insane like in my opinion, is as strong as any of his one-on-ones. Mad respect to Isaac for using that piece. I think he priced it at .2 or .25. He gave a lot of people a chance, because at the time.
These pieces were selling for 30, 40 Eth. Then the second stated purpose, which was amazing was 15% of all proceeds were to be donated to a bail relief fund in Cincinnati. I don't know how it works in Great Britain, Jordan, but in the United States, bail is a very controversial, it's really rough, especially for socially disadvantaged or financially disadvantaged communities. It's a disaster. If I get arrested, I can make bail because I'm privileged, but if somebody from lower income makes it, they can't make bail to get arrested and they just can't financially do it. Then they get stuck. It's horrific. So for Drift to say I'm going to donate 15% of this to bail relief to me was like unbelievable.
Then we just knew this thing was going to sell and sell and sell. I think he sold 10,000 pieces. I was so excited. Drift’s steam is like to the moon and ever back. I'm like this is to the boat, he sold 10,000 pieces. Unbelievable. Then there was pushback because a lot of people that didn't understand the project or their PFP people. They thought it was going to moon and anybody who understood it like this is not going to go up in value. There's 10,000 of them like, if you're buying this for an investment, immediate turn around and flip. You're getting bad advice. It's not going to go up, because there's 10,000, it doesn't make sense.
A lot of people got really aggressive that didn't understand, not the people like not collectors, not the people in our communities. People that came in as PFPs. Drift took it hard, man. He did, because he was like, “You guys, I was really clear. This is just to collect the art and it's to help a Bail Relief Fund.” Because that's all it was. So I was like, “Screw this. That's crap.” So I pinned the tweet, and I left there for quite a while. Actually, till I moved to Me Llamo Art, I didn't tweet because we got to promote, but I made a conscious decision. I bought a bunch of them. I'm never selling them. I made a conscious decision and this is the long answer to the story.
It's like my pin tweet said like, “Today I bought multiple pieces of first day out and I've set aside at least five of them for children that are either very young and my family or have not yet been born. There will wait till each of those children hit their 18th birthday and on their 18th birthday, I will set up a wallet and I will put one of Drifts pieces in that wallet. We will have a conversation that day about the man, Isaac Wright, as well as social justice.” That's a commitment I'm very serious about. I'm going to hold those pieces and I'm going to donate them to kids in my family nieces, nephews, grandkids, what have you, as they turn 18. I'm legitimately going to have that conversation with them about Isaac, as well as social justice.
[00:30:36] JB: I think that's absolutely amazing, every time I hear it's just such a great idea. I mean, hopefully these issues by the time that happens, we won't have any such of issues like that we might have got to a better place. I think it's so important that people understand what people went through and going through. That's a very easy way to hit home. I mean, I know when I saw it, it's a very simple way to just try and vaguely understand a world that you don't understand, or I've never been part of have not had to witness firsthand. I think that's incredibly admirable what you've done there.
[00:31:05] MLM: Thank you.
[00:31:07] JB: Any move on from this was going to have to be a lighter note, isn’t it? It was quite a –
[00:31:11] MLM: Right, yeah.
[00:31:12] JB: I was thinking, how I’m going to transition out of this like, it's got quite deep. Obviously, that was an open addition that Drift did. We're seeing a lot of addition at the moment and open addition. I'm not comparing what's going on now to what Drifter, but just in this of using as a segue. How do you see the addition obviously, whether it's collector addition, numbered addition of one to 50, or 100, wherever? Then we've got open addition and what if you've got any views or take on it? Something I've open so busy working outside of Web3 and just trying to keep present in Web3. I've missed my opinions on it, really. I haven't taken part in it and haven't really kept my ear to the ground, but I see it going on. I'm hearing different views, and they pick things up. What are your thoughts on it?
[00:31:53] MLM: Obviously, it changes fairly often. This is today's answer. I don't know if it'll be tomorrow's. It'll be close, though. It will be close. I do have strong opinions about additions. There's certain things about additions I absolutely love. There's other things about additions that I think are really quite problematic. I have actually incurred several artists to bypass. Right now in the bear market, so many collectors have stepped aside or waiting, or they're in the field, but they're not committing to one-on-ones. I even I personally have a hard time committing to expensive one-on-ones right now. Additions have been a great way both for artists to get art in the collector’s hands, in the bear market. It's a great way for collectors to collect art at a lower cost, while there's all these uncertainties. It's also a fantastic way for artists to generate revenue.
The business side, I know it's a little controversial, but I firmly believe the business side of NFTs for artists is hugely important. Artists need to create art to create art, but they also need to make a living. That's one of the reasons why NFTs are so great. You guys could all create art previously and sell it for like five cents or have it literally, or have it stolen and you'd see it all over the place and you got no reimbursement or renumeration. That's not fair. You absolutely as an artist should never ever be apologetic for raising revenues so that you can support your family, support your lifestyle and continue to create art. Additions are amazing in that way.
Now with that being said, I have a couple of just personal requirements is not the right word, just like, I would encourage artists to do the following. An addition, in my opinion, should always be a strong enough piece that you as an artist would be comfortable putting it out as a one-on-one. If you wouldn't be willing to put it out as a one-on-one at whatever rate you're currently selling at or had been selling before the bearer. If you're not willing to do that, then it shouldn't probably be an addition.
I wanted to step aside for a second. I think with Ben Zank, Ben Zank just takes a lot of risks and some work and some don't. I think what he just did the other day was brilliant. He actually had a super rare one-on-one piece that hadn't sold yet. So he burned it, and then created an addition. I thought that was fantastic because here's a guy who actually lived, he's like not only do I believe this piece could be a one-on-one, it was a one-a-one on SuperRare. I just thought that was awesome. He had great success. He opened addition to it, and he sold a ton. He actually generated two to three times the amount of eth that he would have had, he sold that as a one-on-one. I just thought that was super cool.
That's the first piece. Your first benchmark for me as the piece has to be started with a one-on-one. I also for the most part, even though I just referenced an open addition with Ben. I really discourage artists from doing open additions. I've seen way more times than not where the open addition, I think hurts the artist. It's not a good look. Ben obviously, is risk taker, a pioneer. He's just out there on his own at a whole another level. He has the following. A lot of people are making open additions and they just don't have the following and they might sell 30, or 40, or 50 or even 100. I don't think that's a great look for the artists. If they're like I got an open addition to the world, then only 50 people mint it. You're like, “Oh, that didn't – he/she only has 50 followers. It's not great.”
I don't even like too large additions. I had an artist asked me, “Well, what do you think about additional 100?” I'm like, “This person had a sold out open sea addition and maybe one or two sales on foundation.” I’m like, “Honestly, I don't think you have 100 followers. It's essentially the same as an open addition. You put out 100 pieces, and you're not going to sell out. That's not a good look, either. This is my opinion.” I believe in addition size that the person will sell out in a reasonable amount of time. I don't think you need to sell out five minutes. It can be a week. It could be a month. It could, whatever. I think they should be set up at an addition size that you'll sell it in a reasonable time that you'll generate a little bit more eth than you would have on a one-on-one.
For instance, if a person's been selling pieces at, say, one eth. Then I would encourage them to roll in addition of maybe 20 at .069, because that's like, 1.2 eth. 25 at .05, because that's 1.25 eth, so they're getting just a little premium over their one eth piece, but it's a number they can sell out. I think the best addition to the ones that create the most FOMO or when the artist sells out relatively soon. Then if you do sell out real soon like, can you sell in a day? Will not that's a tool that's an arrow in your quiver, you can use again relatively soon. You could roll another addition on soon.
I had an artist approach us. He had four pieces, beautiful pieces. This bear market, wants to sell them on foundation. He's like, “Matt, what do you think about me selling each of the four at .5?” Which was in his range. “So I could get two Eth.” He said. I'm like, “Well, in the bear market, nothing is selling.” I said, “These are really, really nice pieces. They are related to each other. They're the same subject, but shot in different ways and gorgeous work.” I was like, “Why are you going to put these on as a one-on-one and they may not sell or only one artist can collect each one, and you're only going to get two eth? Why don't you create additions of 20 or 25?” Like whatever it was .05 or point .06, I can't remember. You're going to be able to get these beautiful pieces – I think he went with 20 in the 20 people's hands times four possibly 80 people can get your artwork, and you're going to generate – it was over an eth per piece.
You're going to generate four or five eth. You know you're going to sell these things, instead of having them sit on foundation, and at best you can get two eth. He's like, “Oh, well, should I?” I’m like, “People going to buy the bundle. People aren't going to buy the bundle for like 25.” “Oh, should I discount the bundle?” I’m like, “Absolutely, not.” If these pieces stand at .069 then four of them stand on their own at four times at .069. Do not discount them.” I said, “If you want to airdrop a fifth piece, that's a nice touch.” Ultimately, that's what he did. He's like, “Oh, thank you.” I know this is a really long answer, but hopefully, if even one artist is listening to this and can take this advice, and then our hours well spent today, right? So keep your addition small, generate a little more eth than your one-on-ones that would be selling if it wasn't a completely dead bearer market. Don't discount and embrace quality work, quality art, and embrace additions. That's where I'm at.
[00:37:47] JB: I think that's why I asked the question today, because – like you said, with the additions is such a great entry point, as well. You can actually see some profit to keep you ticking over in this space or whatever it needs to be. It's a great option rather than just sitting there and having a high priced one-on-one that probably will sell, but it might take a few months or weeks or even longer, especially if we're in a bear market. I think I was going to ask you how you'd conquer a bearer market, but I think maybe, as an artist, how we do not conquer, but how we can survive.
I think you may have covered it with additions there that embrace them and go with them, but just I think, you hit on a very important point about actually thinking as a business or planning what you're doing not just willy-nilly doing and thinking about options, slowing down and actually working out the fees and what works and how you can move these things quicker and get them into different wallets and build the actual – what you want to achieve in the space. But is there anything you've thought other than embracing additions that you think artists could do that or practices that maybe just help them realize there's going to be another good time and see it through?
[00:38:47] MLM: Another thought is, I've been telling them some artists when you – especially if you create a one-on-one right now. Think of yourself as a collector of that piece. So you put that piece out and you don't even necessarily need to price it. Several people with that have expensive work, but why should I price that? I'm like, “It's really tough right now. I don't know what you're going to get.” So put a piece out and just don't price it, put it on foundation, put it on SuperRare on price. Then you can tweet, you can reach out to collectors and you can try to get offers. At least then you have control and you understand it.
All at the same time, mentally psychologically, you've collected that piece now. You have flagged it. Note everything like, if Me Llamo Matt has a Billy Dinh piece like, will a Billy Dinh now creates a new piece, I collected one piece, he's collected the other piece. I'm still opened to offers like I don't really sell much, but if somebody comes to me with a good offer on my Billy Dee piece I'll sell it, for sure. I mean, return on investment is part of collecting NFTs. It's the same thing. It's like, so just you’re a collector now and then when the market turns a little bit gets better, well then you can price it and then you can go back to being a seller, as opposed to being a collector that's holding it. So basically if you're doing a one-on-one now, collect and hold.
[00:39:53] JB: Are you saying try and get in the mindset at least when you hold your artwork is the asset. So, you are holding the asset the same as if you had a gold bar. You can't go and spend it in the shop quite, but you do still have an asset that when you get around to it could sell.
[00:40:05] MLM: Exactly. That's the mindset that you're a collector. That will allow you to be patient and maybe not have as much anxiety that it's not selling. That's what I would recommend on one-on-ones right now. Like, yeah, you can continue to generate them and you can continue to list them. I'd suggest you don't price them. Then you just are the mindset of like that's part of my collection. Someday I will sell that just probably not today.
[00:40:25] JB: On that topic. Say someone put three pieces out there because they're thinking that I still want these assets with four or six, and not as a collection as actual one-of-ones not one-on-one than a collection, they would stand alone, say. Would that have a bearing or do you think that's still the same if you know he put three pieces out?
[00:40:41] MLM: I think it's great to have multiple pieces available. I think one, the risk is there's a collector that may have connected with you and wants to collect your work, but they just don't connect with that piece. Perfect example is I just sat down with an artist that I met in Miami and happens to be in Portland. We'd had a beer the other day. He's made a lot of work, but he's sold it all. I've connected with him and I'm very interested in collecting his work, but he has almost no inventory available. He has almost no art available. It's like I will collect from him someday, no doubt, but not today. I would say yes, if an artist is generated one-on-ones right now, two or three, even four is good. I would not generally speaking. There's no one right answer for everybody, but generally speaking, I wouldn't have more than three or four available.
I do remember times when I've seen artists have a dozen pieces up. Frankly, just personally, there's like, there’s no urgency for me. Like if there's a dozen pieces, and I've connected with this artist and now I love for those pieces. I'm like, there's no urgency for me to buy when those pieces, so I'm going to go FOMO on somebody else. I'm going to go – there's going to be somebody else out there selling one piece. I may not like as much as the artist that has 12, but they only have one. Now I'm afraid. Like if NorCal picks that piece up. I don't ever get it, right? I'll just wait. Now, every now and then NorCal go buy 12 pieces from somebody and I’ll go, “ah dammit.”
[00:41:56] JB: You can’t account for guys like him. Trouble.
[00:41:58] MLM: Yeah. Exactly, I know.
[00:42:00] JB: But you see what I’m saying. So like, I think you can definitely have too many one-on-one pieces out. I don't think that when people talk about scarcely, we go back to additions. I don't think you can have too many pieces out sold and collected. That's why I love additions like, you can do multiple additions at 25 over a course of time and sell them and you've got two or three hundred pieces in people's hands. That is fantastic because you have all this artwork in their hands. now you have these additions and they're going to grow to love them. Then when the market turns and their one-on-ones are hot again. Your addition collectors are your most likely collectors are your one-on-one. So that is fantastic. I do think there's risk of having too much unsold art out there.
[00:42:36] JB: Yeah. That's really interesting to hear. That was a bit of a selfish question, as well.
[00:42:40] MLM: No worries.
[00:42:41] JB: Moving on. I want to talk a little bit about you as a person. What makes you tick? What inspires you in life? What are your passions in and outside of work and technology or not, it can be in tech, but I mean, outside of the business side of things?
[00:42:54] MLM: Yeah. It's not that different than in work. I'm just an extrovert. I'm a people person. I just love interacting with people. I love building teams, whether it's at work or at home or socially or what have you. I just love to have fun. I don't always have fun at work right? But it's always the goal. Even if I have a bad day at work, I'm like, “Well, how do I turn this around? How do I have fun?” I love to play team sports. As I get older and slower. There's less of those available.
[00:43:21] JB: Well, what team sports are we talking?
[00:43:23] MLM: I curl, which is a Canadian or it's actually a Irish sport, or at Scotland it may have started.
[00:43:28] JB: Curling as in on the ice?
[00:43:29] MLM: On the ice. I do curl. So that's a team of four.
[00:43:32] JB: Oh, that’s the one that everyone gets really into in the Olympics, isn't it?
[00:43:35] MLM: Yup.
[00:43:36] JB: Yeah. Everyone knows how to play. Well, obviously, YouTube.
[00:43:39] MLM: Yup. I curl, quite a bit.
[00:43:41] JB: Cool.
[00:43:41] MLM: Looks like Web3, you get a lot of people that just laugh at you and don't take you seriously. I'm used to that. That's okay. I was playing pickleball. That's only a team of two. I love playing games, card games, just anything like that. Then outdoor activities. I walk my dog a couple hours a day, and that gives me peace of mind. Then yeah, I just like hanging out and interacting with people and animals. I guess.
[00:44:04] JB: Yeah. You're always walking a dog, aren't you? Whenever I try and get a hold of you. You’re like, “I'm out walking the dog.” I just got to finish the call.
[00:44:10] MLM: Yeah. It's more than the dog. It’s, that's my mental health. That's my break. That gets me away from Twitter, most of the time. It gets me away from work. It gets me away from everything. It just gets me out and lets me see the world, let's me think. Now I've started shooting photography. Now when I go walk the dog, I'm looking around for pictures. As a matter of fact, I have a small camera on order that I have been waiting weeks for. When that baby comes me the dog are carrying the camera and we're going to shoot pictures while we walk.
[00:44:36] JB: That sounds perfect. That sounds pretty relaxing to me as well. I know, you seem quite manageable with social media from what I see, that you're not just caught with having to constantly be on social media or constantly tweeting. I see you probably obviously it leads me to believe that maybe you have some practices to maybe decompress or just chill out or you just know your own expectations and how to manage them.
[00:44:58] MLM: Yeah. I mean, obviously, that's why I walk the dog a lot, but I am on a lot. I'm on as a like as that collector or that shopper. I'm just looking at art and enjoying it and looking for opportunities. I'm aware that there's some anxiety out there right now. Unfortunately, we all want to celebrate everybody's victories, but unfortunately, some people are in a place where they can't, mentally and I get that. I try to be aware of that. So like for instance, with the bear market, I've tried to tone down my, what somebody will say toxic positivity. I started building the brand has been super positive. Now I've tried to be aware of it. I'm just generally an optimistic and positive person anyways. I know that even in real life, I tend to drive some people crazy. I get that. I embrace it. I'm okay with it. It's fine. When I know, when I'm aware I'm doing it, I back off. If I continue to push forward, it just means I'm not aware of it.
[00:45:47] JB: Yeah.
[00:45:48] MLM: Now my tweets tend to be a little more direct or one word tweets. But, yeah. I think it's like, I think I just have this certain expectation. It's just fun. If I'm on Twitter for too long, and I'm not having fun, then I got to get off and go do something else. Go watch TV, go do something, but if I'm having fun, I'm an obsessive person like a lot of us on Web3, I will obsess over it for times, there's no doubt about it.
[00:46:10] JB: It's reassuring to know that like as an artist, myself, and you how you can perceive people, you think the collectors have just got it all so perfect sometimes, just swirling around. It's quite reassuring in a hear the way that we have to deal with these issues as well. That's what I wanted to get into that.
[00:46:26] MLM: Oh, for sure.
[00:46:27] JB: I think that's quite important for people to hear as well. I think obviously, it's an important subject to manage to just understand that we've got to look after ourselves. We can't just be putting all that pressure on ourselves to just sell, sell, sell and be in this space and the cost of creating or mental health or whatever it might be it. We've seen it happen. It does run a risk of it happening, I think, and it's something I'm very aware off and I had to manage myself and take care of to not get overwhelmed.
[00:46:51] MLM: Yeah. You know, I think the key is patience and belief that you might miss something today. We all miss something today. I can't keep track of all the additions. I miss things I want all the time, but just patience and belief that Web3 and NFTs has an ability to create cool art, and selling it as NFT is going to exist for years and years to come. I think the biggest downfall of our community is the lack of patience. I think that's how I handle the really hard days or the hard times and it’s like, just be patient.
If something implodes and lots of friends lose lots of money like through no fault of their own, because of fraud or what have you. If you have patience and belief that we're just still early, I know that's clichéd. We're going to be going on years. It just helps you work your way through it. That doesn't mean you don't have a really shitty day that day, but you can understand like, “Hey, what really happens today is not at all relevant in the large scheme of things because we're going to be doing this for hundreds and 1000s of days going forward.” So that's what I would say is as people get too much anxiety, you need to take a break, you can absolutely take a break.
You don't have to tell Twitter that you're going to take a break. If somebody needs to take a break, just take a damn break, right? People also have to tell Twitter, they're still here like, okay, if you're tweeting, you're still here. If you're not tweeting, you're not still here. No judgment. They're both fine, right? Right? Everybody just needs to do what they need to do, but let's just have patience going forward. Try to have empathy. Try to understand everybody's in a different situation and just move forward. It's pretty simple if you try to be kind, and I'm not always kind, but I try to be. If you try to be kind and you try to be patient that can relieve a lot of stress and a lot of anxiety.
[00:48:24] JB: Yeah. Just being kind does actually right. I mean, it makes it relaxing, doesn't it? If you just don't care about things that don't need to be cared about like you don't get wound up. I think, as well, patience is one of the things that I mean, it's hot in society. We're not a patient society anymore. We're just information at fingertips everything now, now, now, but I think that's a really great piece of advice because if you learned – something that hit me was when I realized how quickly you think, that's not going to – it's going to take me a year to achieve this goal. You suddenly think how quickly a year goes, you’re like before you know it, you've reached these goals.
Like you say that one day is so insignificant, if it goes bad for one day, or it just doesn't work out, there's always tomorrow in the next 10 days, or 100 days, and you'll get there eventually. If you work hard, it does tend to happen I have found. If you really thrive for something, so that old cliché is pretty true. Moving on to tech and NFTs. Is there any tech or any ingenuity that you're seeing in the space? You're like, “Wow, that is really just cool what that person's done?”
[00:49:21] MLM: Oh, yeah, for sure. I just love how fast it's evolving with people trying new things, maybe a year and a half ago, the typical NFTs that I was collecting and they were very common in photography, were just stationary, two dimensional shots, maybe not a ton of editing. Then I started getting into the people that are editing heavily, maybe compositing, maybe they were going to a famous shot that's very recognizable and familiar to all of us. It's been shot many times, but through their editing and their artistic vision, create a mood or a sense to give you an emotion that they want. I thought that was really cool. Then people started adding movement and Ty Lackey, went to Patagonia and created these crazy three-dimensional drone shots that aren't NFT.
Then Ben Strauss did things that like, I don't even know explain it, but they change or are the people are dropping things, the light changes based on the time of the day where you are. Then it goes on and on. I just think it's fantastic that people are trying new things. I guess I would do a shout out to Tabanan and Mark and their team at Transient Labs. Those guys are insane. Anything that Transient Labs does is unbelievable. They don’t all work, right, but that's part of being the pioneer, you got to take the arrows, but they're really breaking ground.
I just think it's the same thing with NFTs like, I don't know what an NFT is going to look like in 24, 36 months. One that could generate revenues. I know it's not going to look like the ones that are generated now and that's a whole super cool part of the journey. I just want to get back to step. I think the ones that we bought a couple years ago, they're going to be historical. I think eventually nobody's ever going to create an NFT that anymore, that's just a two dimensional stationary shot, but then, man people are like, “Dang. Those are the Model Ts, or those are the icons, those are the punks, whatever.” Like Chris Hytha’s Rowhome pieces. I feel like those are going to be historical, eventually. Eventually, those are going to be like grails. Those are just some of – there's so many other artists I – has got taken with one person.
I just think the answer is I love people that try new things. I do you see some artists struggling right now and they don't understand why. I think part of it is they're not trying new things. Some people are just shooting banger shots, amazing shots, technically, artistically, fantastic, especially in landscape. They may be gorgeous, but other artists have evolved into doing all these new things and whereas those pieces might have sold a year ago. Collectors have moved on. Some of these people are left a little bit behind. It's very difficult. Then they get frustrated, they’re like, “Why doesn't my work sell. It's gorgeous.” I’m like, “It is gorgeous, but it's not current.” I mean I don't know, that may be a little brash, but I'm seeing it happen more and more.
[00:51:47] JB: You think is important then the people move with the technology and really do push this?
[00:51:53] MLM: I do, but that doesn't mean it has a glitch art or 3D. It could just be like, they just edit differently.
[00:51:59] JB: Adapt a style, generally. Just keep moving, pushing artistic boundaries, so you don't just stagnate or, yeah, I think that makes sense. I mean, I'd hope that any artist at any level is trying to achieve that. It's obviously sometimes easier said than done, isn't it, especially the more you push it sometimes as an artist. I know a few, I produce my greatest work where I'm generally least expecting it. We'd like just that shot around the corner or that spot I thought wasn't going to be very good, but actually turned out to have the greatest lie in or whatever it might be.
[00:52:28] MLM: Exactly.
[00:52:29] JB: How do you see the state of the NFT market right now? I don't mean, obviously, we know what it's like now. Do you see improvement coming? I mean, do you have any – I know, obviously, all this predictions, and how long is a piece of string, but do you think when the next Bull Run might be or when we might see some real upturn, or is it really just no way of telling?
[00:52:50] MLM: It goes back to everything we've talked about for the last hour. We just need to keep opportunities open, we need to be patient. I believe there will be a bull run. I can't tell you if it's next week, or next year or two years from now. I can't tell you that. I believe and I'm going to be patient and I'm going to wait. People when they invest in NFTs shouldn't – collectors should not use money that they need in the next couple of years for real life uses, it needs to be money that they can set aside and be comfortable with and hold on. Then they just need to enjoy the art and they need to pick up art for the sake of art. They need to have either a realistic expectation or no expectation as to return on investment.
Personally, I would expect a return on investment someday, but it literally might be 20 years from now. It literally might be my heirs. It might be 40 years, but someday, I mean, I would hope that my collection will have a return on investment. I have no expectation when I pick up a piece of art today that there's going to be a profit to be made in the immediate future, none whatsoever. That's one way to be patient. I think from a more macro, we're not going to see a return to a bull market till the world economy straightens itself out. There's still pandemic issues. The pandemic is still real. You know what China's going through right now as they give up their zero COVID policy that's going to have repercussions on supply chain across the world.
Inflation, until inflation and supply chain is fixed, then investors and other more traditional investments aren't going to be bullish. Frankly, I think it's pretty clear that crypto and NFTs do run with traditional financial markets. We might think that they don't or that they're not going to and maybe someday for instance, Bitcoin and eth will be independent of the way markets run, but the reality is they run up and down as a as a basically a risky tech stock. I don't think we're going to see a bull till the supply chain, and pandemic, and all inflation are straightened out. That's probably I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but in my opinion, that's probably going to take longer than people want it to.
[00:54:40] JB: Yeah. I think you're probably right or depends what they want it to, but I think it's going to take a bit longer and everything. I asked this question a lot and obviously I've asked it in the podcast people before and who I thought might have a sensible take on this. What you're saying is pretty much for everyone says it's that's their feeling with maybe minor differences in actual – physically thinking on timescales. Yeah, pretty much the same answer and resolving and being patient as well. Mate, it's been absolutely great to talk to you. As a founder and have you aren't kicking this podcast off is just great. If you've got any last thoughts you wanted to share with us about Me Llamo Art or if we covered everything?
[00:55:16] MLM: I'm just having a great time, I find that Me Llamo Art is super rewarding, the team. You guys are unbelievable, unbelievable. As the team gets better and better, I feel more personal obligation to help us achieve at least part of our potential. So it's really clear to me what we need to focus on in the next four months and leading up to New York and having a killer Comp Stomp Studios for the whole run and the killer Me Llamo Art charity auction, and just keep the team growing. That is amazing. I'm loving it.
I did have a couple shout outs. I always hesitate to do this because I'm thinking one person, you don't need somebody else. Mine are a little different. I have to have a shout out and you'll know this to Brynn. Brynn Schmidt, Brynn Alise, she's managing the team. She's insane. She's the glue that holds Me Llamo Art together and we would not have got through Miami at the heights we did without brands. That's a shout out.
[00:56:09] JB: Definitely.
[00:56:10] MLM: I want to make one to a really under the radar artist, a young man out of Houston, Texas, Joe Robles, he shoots lower income, Hispanic Chicano culture in Houston. He's grinding really hard. His work is amazing. His vision is unbelievable. He really wants to help his community. So Joe Robles, if you could check them out on Twitter or look at his work. It's super cool. I want to shout out Light.Art and the folks at Light Art Daft Punk, they're doing an amazing job in photography and curating. Specifically, the reason I want to shout them out is they're about to release a new project that I just think is so unbelievably cool.
The artist is Elisa Iannacone. I may have mispronounced that. It's an Italian name, but she's ironically Canadian. She lives in Mexico. I don't know if she has Mexican heritage or not. I can't do justice to this project. I think it's called the Spiral of Containment. I think I screwed that up, but either way, it is 25 super powerful shots of survivors of sexual violence. They are insane. Light Art will be releasing that very soon. Oh, newsflash. They're having problems with the manifold contract. Technology. Wow, who knew? The pieces are insane. You can go to the Light Art website and look at them. I'm committed to one of the pieces. I cannot wait for them to release them so I can collect my piece. I've heard Elisa talk a couple of times. She's phenomenal. Those are my shout outs. Then there's so many more. I think those three all deserve a little spotlight.
[00:57:36] JB: Yeah. I completely agree. Joe Robles. I think it was you who actually brought him to my attention. I didn't know anything. We hadn't crossed paths in Twitter and NFT. Yeah, big shout out to him. Obviously, I know Dapen was involved in Light Art in the first round. Yeah, obviously a massive fan of those guys. Brynn, of course, as well.
[00:57:55] MLM: Everyone loves Brynn.
[00:57:56] JB: She might have opened up the floodgates to me and she's now I see the thing coming on more and more with the silent and not taking notifications. Right now, we're all bombarding her. Yeah, definitely. Matt, it's been absolutely great talking to you. From a personal note, it's a pleasure and honor to be working alongside our team and to have been given this opportunity to work with you. I mean, it really is a pleasure. I think, for me personally, it’s something, it’s really kept me busy through a bear market, has kept me believing and wanting to build and seeing what we can do. It's phenomenal. Yeah, thank you so much for your time. Yeah, we'll keep in touch, obviously.
[00:58:32] MLM: Yeah. Well, Jordan, I just want to say thank you. It's an absolute privilege and joy to meet you in New York and hang out. I definitely consider you a close friend. For you to say this has helped you through the bear market. I mean, that's why I collect and that's what Me Llamo Art it's about, right? So that is rewarding for me to hear. I want to thank you too, for doing this. I look forward to these podcasts going forward. Hopefully if people made it through this one, there's way better ones coming up. I've seen this schedule and just wait there's some great stuff happening.
[00:58:58] JB: Way better coming not from you, Matt, from me, as hopefully I'll get better and better at doing it, but I'm really enjoying it and just getting to sit and talk to people like yourself. I get to learn a lot that not everyone has access, too. So it's a really great opportunity for me as well. I'm really enjoying doing it.
[00:59:13] MLM: Awesome.
[00:59:13] JB: Yeah. Thank you very much. Take care of yourself.
[OUTRO]
[00:59:20] JB: Thanks for tuning in. A special thanks to my guests Me Llamo Matt for taking the time to share his knowledge and thoughts on Web3, NFTs, art, are and of course Me Llamo Art itself. Me Llamo Art is a Web3, non-profit supporting creatives. To find out more or to listen to future podcasts, please visit us @mellamoart.com or you can follow us on all the usual social channels at Me Llamo Art. Thanks again. Until next time, take care of yourselves.
[END]
