Operation Bellevue by Futura 2000

Artist FUTURA2000—most commonly known as a pioneer in New York’s “Subway School” of Graffiti, and as a forefather of global streetwear—has an almost three-decade career as an early mover in another genre of creativity: Digital Art. Inspired by seminal life events such as his seeing responsive HUD displays on fighter jets while serving in the US Navy, to ingesting the dense compositional architecture and technological overlays of Stanley Kubrick’s "2OO1: A Space Odyssey” in 1968, Futura’s mind has always had a driving undercurrent from “The Grid.” Now, in 2021, the creation, distribution, and transaction of art on a digital platform is simultaneously welcomed—as it is perhaps overdue, unique to him.

“My thoughts about my arrival on this new platform, aren’t much different than those I had almost a quarter century ago, when I embarked on a journey to a new destination called the internet” states Futura. "the term platform in this context hadn’t even arrived, but in so much as I was self publishing my own digital content to an unknown global audience, (it) gave me an exhilarating sense of creative self expression.” In 1996, Futura became intrigued with the systems architecture of the Internet: not only the connectivity that self-scribed websites provided, but also how they were built; for him it was a new canvas for expression—that was interactive, adaptive, and communicative: language and imagery, all congealed by code. "since that first website, back in (1996) a creative timeline has sustained my quest in and out of that digital arena. adaptability to changes, and accessibility to numerous applications along with those public social media windows, has enabled me to continue to share my visions and content and ultimately meet the moment, for my recent uploaded ARTWORK for NIFTY GATEWAY."

Futura, like his son 13thWitness, are autodidacts; 2020, the year of isolation, essentially became their prototyping playground. Hunkered down in their studio space, the duo began collaborating on various digital art experimentations—landing firmly in the field of 3D sculpting and printing. It has also given Futura the opportunity to reflect on the interconnected path he’s taken—within technology—that uniquely equipped him for this very moment. "from DOS, to HTML, to (SHOCKWAVE). from FLASH to PREMIERE. with the help of the ADOBE SUITE and of course tech pushes as in scanners, printers, sculpting and ultimately 3D printing whether that’s FDM or SLA. incorporating CAD programs and virtual modeling software (I’ve done and am proficient in all)”

Futura’s release on Nifty Gateway has been conceived of, designed by, and animated entirely by Futura and his son 13thWitness within the digital realm. Each element of every of NFT was created using a digital device—entirely by design: illustration was all executed on a tablet, photo and video editing was executed on a PC, video capture was made on a DSLR camera, the 3D characters shown are printed sculptures that were fabricated by Futura—and all IP that was minted has been registered on the digital copyright registration platform CXIP. Whereas there is a tremendous amount of momentum and “tip of the zeitgeist” energy around NFTs at the time of this release, Futura is once again most excited to cast a line into the digital ether and to see what happens, and with whom he meets, as a result of his technological tinkering—that always persists at the speed of tomorrow.