RAW Review

In this episode, Matthew and Brileigh are joined by Shane Lavalette. Shane is a founding artist of RAW DAO, the former director of the non-profit Lightwork, and one of the co-founders of Assembly, which is a gallery, agency, and creative studio supporting visual artists from around the world. Today, we’ll talk with Shane about how he got involved with NFTs, the story behind Assembly, and his collection One Sun, One Shadow which was recently acquired by RAW DAO. Topics discussed: Layflat Lightwork Assembly RAW DAO One Sun, One Shadow #28 One Sun, One Shadow #23 One Sun, One Shadow Chapters: 00:00:57 Shane’s entry to photography 00:03:47 Artists Shane was inspired by 00:05:37 Layflat & interest in publishing 00:08:15 Photobook as a medium for photography 00:10:46 Lightwork and how Shane got involved 00:15:33 Traditional art world vs NFT space 00:16:53 Shane discovering NFTs, and co-founding Assembly 00:20:06 Where the name Assembly comes from 00:21:27 Assembly in the physical and the digital 00:23:58 Challenges onboarding traditional artists into Assembly 00:29:24 Finding artists in web3 that we knew from the photo world 00:31:50 Shane and RAW DAO 00:35:30 Curating, and RAW’s community approach to collecting art 00:37:54 One Sun, One Shadow 00:41:12 The story behind image #28 from One Sun, One Shadow 00:43:43 Quite photographs with tension and image #23 from One Sun, One Shadow 00:46:13 Shane’s relationship to the American South while moving from the North to the South 00:48:27 The importance of building community in the NFT space 00:53:11 Reflecting on Shane’s career and practice, thinking about the value of NFTs 00:56:48 Collectors in NFT space vs collectors in the traditional art world 01:00:52 Shane’s future plans Shane’s website: www.shanelavalette.com Follow Shane on Twitter: @shanelavalette Assembly website: assembly.art Follow Assembly on Twitter: @AssemblyCurated RAW DAO Website: www.rawdao.xyz Follow RAW on Twitter: @therawdao Join RAW DAO Discord: discord.gg/rawdao Follow Matthew on Twitter @0xmatthewb Follow Brileigh on Twitter: @0xbrileigh Credits: Hosts: Matthew Brooks and Brileigh Hardcastle Production: Matthew Brooks and Brileigh Hardcastle Engineering: Matthew Brooks Music: Sam Cronenberg Cover art: Sam Cronenberg

In this episode, Matthew and Brileigh are joined by Justin Aversano. Justin is a founding artist of RAW DAO and the creator of Twin Flames, a series of photographs of 100 twins from around the world made in honour of his twin who passed away in utero. Launched in February 2021, Twin Flames has since become the highest selling NFT photography collection of all time. Justin is also the founder of SaveArtSpace, a non-profit that brings artists’ work to public space through commercial billboards, and Quantum which is a curated NFT platform and IRL gallery, co-working, and community space. In this episode, we talk with Justin about studying photography and how he almost became a doctor, the story of Twin Flames and how it lead to the formation of RAW DAO and Quantum, and his latest project Smoke and Mirrors. Topics discussed: Twin Flames - 100 Twin Portraits on OpenSea Twin Flames #49 auction at Sotheby's Twin Flames #49 on PartyBid SaveArtSpace Quantum Art Quantum Space LA Smoke and Mirrors - 78 Tarot Portraits on OpenSea Smoke and Mirrors - Physical Tarot Scrolls on OpenSea Chapters: 00:01:26 Justin discovering photography 00:03:51 Story of Twin Flames 00:06:05 Justin finding NFTs 00:11:13 Value of community building 00:14:41 Reflections on art school 00:16:08 Twin Flames #49 00:20:24 What makes RAW different than a traditonal art collection? 00:21:46 RAW’s Community Curation model 00:22:23 Quantum 00:24:44 Quantum IRL 00:25:32 NFTs as the digital twin of the physical reality - balancing both 00:29:06 The tension between community and greed in the NFT market 00:31:15 Smoke and Mirrors 00:33:33 Artists and mysticism 00:34:42 Tarot, and photography’s relationship to interpretation 00:36:51 Twindom, duality, chance, and interconnectedness in Justin’s life Justin's website: justinaversano.com Follow Justin on Twitter: @justinaversano RAW DAO website: rawdao.xyz Follow RAW DAO on Twitter: @theRAWdao Join RAW DAO Discord: discord.gg/rawdao Follow Matthew on Twitter: @0xmatthewb Follow Brileigh on Twitter: @0xbrileigh Credits: Hosts: Matthew Brooks and Brileigh Hardcastle Production: Matthew Brooks and Brileigh Hardcastle Engineering: Matthew Brooks Music: Sam Cronenberg Cover art: Sam Cronenberg