UniArts’ Interview with Rashel
About Artist
Rashel is a multimedia creator, curator, and writer based in New York State. She contributed to and co-curated multiple exhibitions and public events for art organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is currently an editor of an online art journal and a collection curator of an art App.
Her narrative-driven works were presented in the 2019 Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (Shenzhen) , the Guan Shanyue Art Museum, and OCAT Institute. She received the 2020 Cornell CCA Grant as a visiting artist, and her experimental card game received the 2020 NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship.
Rashel received a BS in Operations Management and Logistics Management from The Ohio State University in 2012 and a MA in Curatorial Practice from California College of the Arts in 2016.
She recently lives in a hill retreat and tries to reclaim her ACG subculture “self” through cyberspace.
Artist Talk:
Q1. As an artist, how would you describe yourself? How do you usually describe your own work?
Answer: “Puzzle creator” would be a name that I’d love to label myself. Every time when I decided to create a work, it was usually a moment when I felt there was a story I must tell, but I did not want to tell it in flat narratives. I would adapt it into an altered one and hide the reality in the details. If the audience can figure it out like playing a puzzle game, I would feel satisfied.
Q2: What is your working method? What first attracted you to working on the Internet?
Answer: I usually use various mediums. The series of work I submitted to UniArts are screen recordings of an indie game I am working on. The main tools I use are Unity and the programming language C#.
I believe making work about the Internet is a very natural thing for our generation: We were raised on the Internet, and so will the kids be.
Q3. Why did you start to enter the NFT field? How long have you been doing NFT artwork?
Answer: It is my first experiment with NFT. Since I make digital art and video game, where are usually seen as the major domains of NFT, I would like to see if it is a chance or a trap ;)
Q4. What is the next step from the perspective of NFT art? What advice would you give to other aspiring NFT artists?
Answer: I would encourage all artists who are interested in NFT to start making NFT art now. Let your imagination fly! I think works created at chaotic moments, just like this moment when people are still trying to figure out how NFT could be used, will be the most attractive works. I believe NFT will be like many of the used-to-be-advanced technologies. Once the tool is standardized, the inspiring charms around it will soon disappear.
Q5. Do you have any ambitions in life that are not related to art?
Answer: Yes, I love the sense of living and I love solving problems. Life itself is a super-complex of puzzles, and I will try my best to collect the answers/stories hidden by the supreme “puzzle creator” who made these games ;D
