Federico Clapis

di Ivan Quaroni

His art is the result of a spiritual epiphany, an enlightenment that led him to abandon in 2015, at the height of his popularity, a career as a youtuber, actor, and performer with a large following to devote himself solely to the creation of his works. 

Born in Milan in 1987, Federico Clapis is one of the most well-known artists in the crypto scene, but his works have existed since before NFT was born. His sculptures were made of bronze, resin, and cement by mixing digital design and refined craftsmanship techniques. His research revolves around two polarities, one inner, based on individual introspection through the exercise of meditative practices such as the "Out of Body Experience," the other outer, focused on the observation of society and its possible trajectories. The central theme of his works is, in fact, the relationship between man and technology. Or, better, the pervasive role that it will have in the daily life of the next generations, shaping the habits and customs of a civilization that the artist imagines from a retrospective point of view as if it was an archaeological discovery made in a distant future. His NFTs also retain these hyperstitional qualities. In reference to the term hyperstition invented by the accelerationist philosopher Nick Land, they are self-fulfilling prophecies simply because they have penetrated the collective imagination. As in the case of the now-iconic works "Babydrone in Space" and "Connection in Space," which tell, and at the same time shape, the idea of a plausible future, where even the experience of motherhood can take on new developments and new meanings.