Disk(E:)go
Video, 2023
About the artwork
Perhaps someone would be interested in knowing the story behind the name 'don’t buy'? That's exactly what we have a portrait work on - the Ego.
My introduction to NFT happened in early 2022. It's important to note that prior to this, for 7 years, I was involved in physical art, searching for galleries, curators, and collectors to develop myself in this field, but I didn't find success. I saw NFT as an opportunity for earning through art. That's how my initial artist nickname - Buy - came about. I'm trying to explain that for me, there has always been a certain 'divide' separating these two directions. On one side, there was physical art, exhibitions in galleries, private collections, and on the other side, digital art, NFT, IRL-exhibitions, and people who collect digital art. At the end of 2023, my account on one NFT marketplace was blocked. After some time, it was unblocked, and all my works became available again, but this situation helped me realize that there is no real distinction between art and NFT. Your physical works can be destroyed; no museum or gallery can guarantee that your art will be preserved, just as there are no guarantees that your digital art won't be blocked or deleted, or that your NFT wallet won't be hacked. After this, I changed my nickname to 'don’t Buy' because ultimately it doesn't matter whether the work is sold or not. I can't guarantee that it will be preserved; I just continue to do what I love to do.
Sound design
Audio explanation
Listen to don't Buy discuss this work.
Don’t Buy is a visual artist who creates digital paintings, videos, and GIFs using artificial intelligence and mixed media. Embracing a moniker that itself subverts consumerist language, he approaches art-making with a hacker’s spirit – repurposing AI technology to explore the beauty of errors and the aesthetics of early digital culture. In his work, glitchy abstractions and retro graphics converge to address themes of identity and imperfection in the online era. “When a cold, mechanical machine makes a mistake, it becomes a little more human,” Don’t Buy notes, reflecting his view that technological faults can reveal human qualities. This philosophy underscores much of his art, which often highlights the serendipity of algorithmic mistakes and the nostalgia of outdated interfaces.
A participant in Fellowship’s AI art program, Don’t Buy has presented projects that encapsulate his ethos. Notably, his series 404: SELF NOT FOUND (2024) is an assemblage of AI-generated imagery probing our entanglement with digital identities and the nature of error. Through a mix of dark humor and experimental technique, he transforms mundane clicks and computer glitches into artistic meditation.