UNDRGRND ARTIST: YGOR ALVES
DECEMBER 8TH, 2022
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Ygor gives his abstract portraits the freedom to move and be whoever they choose.
He often employs bold, vibrant hues to create striking, eye-catching compositions which imbues it with a sense of movement and energy.
Studying fashion design Ygor employs a stylistic flow throughout his works. Each work highlights the movement of clothing while walking, creating creases and shadows that ripple throughout the image.
The movement Ygor creates manages to capture light reflecting from outside the pane and reflect it to the viewer creating the illusion of an unseen light source making the subject glimmer.
Ygor’s abstractions of the human form bend the viewers understanding of humanity, sexuality and gender with it. This highlights how the NFT space is seen from a minority (but growing) community.
“I think we have very specific communities that are supporting LGBTQIA+ artists,” says Ygor, “and they are fighting to make things happen. But in general, I think it's nevertheless a cis-white male dominated place. This whole ‘bro culture’ is very strong in the community, and this has an impact on the absence of queer artists. Either because it starts to become unviable to stay, for money reasons, or because they don't identify enough to join.
And I say this as a personal experience, sometimes I get annoyed to see many cis men just helping themselves, and on the other side, many QBIPOC struggling to have the least money and opportunities.”
These abstract portraits by Ygor cover a wide range issues, “My work covers race, memory and spirituality. I bring these experiences from when I attended the Pentecostal church in Brazil as a child, which was an important reference in my imaginary and also very traumatic. I rescue these visual codes that are very present in the culture of the church in Brazil. Brazil has been the country that kills the most trans people. To live here is to always be in this uncertainty of feeling extremely free, but also being afraid. I think this makes us create a very strong community culture, so it's very difficult to succumb to so much violence. It's hard, but we're trying.”
But while there has been pain and frustration there has also been hope, “The (NFT) space can be very useful for us to find audience and to connect with people from all over the world. One example of a web3 community that is doing a good job of bringing Latins, QBIPOC, and anyone else who wants to be part of it together, is HivemindDAO, created by Nickelly Garbaje and Lau Mota.”
While this space can mirror the social structures of the real world, there is still hope that it can become the space that allows others to feel free to move and be whomever they are.
Just like the subjects of Ygors art.
