Can you tell us about the project you're currently working on? What inspired you to make it, how are you making it, what do you hope it achieves?

I'm currently working on a physical series of paintings titled You Go Girl. This series emerged from my frustration with the challenges to women's rights and the estimation by the UN that gender equality will be achieved in 286 years. These paintings serve as a personal catharsis and a platform for sharing uplifting messages. In the 1950s, women were mostly depicted as helpless and dependent on men, reflecting and fortifying traditional gender roles. Lichtenstein's artworks, inspired by these comics, captured the prevailing clichés of that era. Understanding the power of these narratives, I decided to show how women were portrayed in the biggest media franchises ever: Pokémon. I observed the presence of powerful female characters who have ambition, fighting spirit, and who are scientists, inspectors, and bosses. Through painting these empowered women, I experience a sense of healing and optimism. It underlines the progress we've made in the past half-century and how the next generations encounter fewer gender stereotypes. In parallel, I'm still developing my POST series and some of my works will be on view at the Mud Foundation in Miami until June 2024.

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Let's dive deeper into a single work, share a work with us and let us know why you love it

The first NFTs I minted were my videos TikTokTimeless. For the video about Georgia O'Keefe, I used the fact that her flowers have been given a Freudian interpretation that she always rejected. This interpretation had been encouraged by her husband and art dealer Alfred Stieglitz, who wisely thought it would give them an additional appeal. I coupled her quote "you hung all your own associations with flowers on my flowers, and you write about my flowers as if I think and see what you think and see of the flowers- and I don't." with the feminist song You Don't Own Me by Lesley Gore to support her message that only she, knows what her intentions are. I enjoyed creating that short video to share her message.

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What do you wish more people understood about NFTs, crypto art, or Web3 that would also help your work be properly celebrated?:

I'm not a digital native, and it's true that this universe is a bit intimidating for a newbie. I usually simply explain that it's a way for artists to share and sell digital artworks with a secure certificate of authenticity.

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Tell us about what your creative practice looks like. When do you work, where do you feel inspired etc.:

I like to work on several projects simultaneously, and I'm inspired both by the past, since I believe art is a continuum, and the present, since my work is anchored into the now.

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How and when did you get into NFTs?:

I minted my first NFT in 2021. I had been thinking of doing videos and thanks to NFTs, I had a way to share them easily thanks to the platform Voice.com.

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How have your views on NFTs evolved since?:

I love to see how artists are using technology to create beautiful artworks. I'm convinced that artists need to embrace technology rather than being afraid of it.

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What are your views on "the traditional art world" and how do you relate to it, or not?:

I often think there is not one single art world but rather communities and group of artists and collectors who have the same interests. My interests lie in observing our society and commenting via my art about the place of social media, connectedness or gender equality. I feel a link with people driven by the same questions, regardless of the medium they use.

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What are you doing to endure crypto winter?:

Being at heart a painter, I dived in the universe of the metaverse to explore new grounds. I feel this crypto winter is probably healthy for the market and will enable to come back to creativity rather than speculation.

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Artist Bio:

Laurence de Valmy is a French American artist, living in San-Diego. She repaints art history, combining physical and digital mediums, to bring a new light on famous artworks and artists and make the viewers ponder on our current society including the notion of fame, the place of women or the role of social media. Her work is represented by galleries based in New York, Los Angeles, UK and France and has been featured in numerous exhibitions and art fairs in the United States, Europe and Asia as well as in museums in Germany and Korea. Her paintings belong to the collections of the CICA Museum (Seoul), Hubert Burda Collection (Munich), Musée du Sourire (Paris), Eileen Kaminsky Foundation (NJ), as well as in the homes of private collectors.She was awarded an Artist Residency Fellowship by the ESKFF (2017) and was the Guest Artist Museum Week in 2019. In 2023, she was among the finalists of the Trophy of the French in the USA by Le Petit Journal NYC.When she's not painting, she writes about art on her blog The Curious Frenchy and for various art publications and animates art conferences and classes for the Alliance Française.