WITHIN WITHOUT by David Ariew
WITHIN WITHOUT
Bio
David Ariew is a renowned 3D artist who has sold his work on MakersPlace, SuperRare, Nifty Gateway, and Sotheby’s, where his collaborative work with Jia Aili, “The Road Ahead” sold for $224,000. He designed two of the 3 Beeple x Madonna NFTs and exhibited his work at Beeple's grand opening. He has also created an immersive exhibition for the Digital Art Fair Asia in Hong Kong and his work has played on The Sphere.
Ariew was an artist on Pak’s ASH II drop and he has collaborated with top artists including Katy Perry, Zedd, Calvin Harris, Keith Urban, Morgan Wallen, Drake, Travis Scott, Megan Thee Stallion, Missy Elliott, Mariah Carey, and Deadmau5.
Ariew is known for mesmerising abstract animations built from 3D infinite mirror rooms, creating a meditative and peaceful feeling for the viewer. He is also an esteemed educator in the 3D community; his tutorials and courses have been instrumental in training thousands of digital artists.
About the Work
3D art is a very technical craft. I wouldn’t recommend it for people who want the instant gratification of self-expression. It took me so many years to get to a point of mastery over the tools, to where I felt the tools were finally out of my way and I could do almost anything, but creating 3D art is always a challenge and is always painstaking. Everything has to be planned. Every detail has to be laboured over. And there are rarely happy accidents, unless it's after I've already built out a detailed environment and I happen to move the camera to a place where I discover a new and interesting composition.
But that’s the key word for me: discovery. It’s what I was missing, that is until I discovered a form of art using infinite mirror rooms in 3D. It feels like a realm of serendipity. It’s a place where I go to play, and the results are always shocking and beautiful and unexpected for me. It’s a place where I can finally get out of my head and into my heart, and it has led to me transforming from an atheist into a spiritual person.
I don’t even feel like I created this art. I feel like I revealed it, and that it’s a realm where the gods live, a place we have forgotten and a place we will return to after this experience we call life is over. I have cracked open a hole into another dimension far more perfect and serene than ours, and I just want to explore it for the rest of my life. I want to share this place with you because it’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen, and it fills me with pure hope and positivity. It expands my consciousness and feeling of connection to everyone and everything, and I want to take you there because I believe it will help you too.
I believe that artists can bring heaven to earth, and that in our search for beauty, we can touch the lives of others and bring them knowledge and transmissions from the divine. I don’t think art is a luxury anymore; I believe it is a necessity for our society and a way to touch people, to unlock and heal their souls.
About This Piece
With my piece for CryptoCubes, I had the idea of combining two of my styles together; the first style being space-themed sci-fi imagery with cinematic camera movement and the second being my abstract infinite mirror rooms.
I took the CryptoCube form and I textured the exterior like I would a detailed space station, with blinking lights and greeble panels, but with the interior, I gave it a full mirror finish and placed a geometric light emitter inside. When the camera enters the ship, the difference in the interior creates a feeling of being sucked into another dimension, and because of the mirror effect, the interior feels far more vast than it is. It's as if the viewer gets sucked into a new realm and they're suddenly bathed in golden light and infinitely complex technological advancement, which is a huge contrast to the cold space exterior.
My composer, Abel Okugawa, also did an incredible job with that contrast in his score. The exterior has subtle, mysterious music as if transmitted across the vast distances of space, and the interior has hard-hitting tech vibes.
I also made a point of creating a seamless loop for this piece, which ensures there's no beginning or ending, just as a permanently existing piece of art should be.
Future
Without NFTs, I would have never discovered myself as an artist. It gave me the time and space to go completely down the rabbit hole on my personal style and finally discover what is meaningful to me in the realm of 3D art.
It allowed me to take a step back from the endless grind of client work and really take a look at my life, what I love doing, my purpose here, and to become a more well-rounded person. I connected more with myself, with my wife and family, and came out the other side much better for the experience.
Not too long ago, I also created my first fully immersive piece of art for the Digital Art Fair Asia, a 9 minute meditative, 4-wall seamless experience that surrounds the viewer in my golden realms. I also created a 2.5 minute VR experience that's unlike anything I could describe because it fully transports the viewer into my art and allows them to experience the added sense of depth, feeling the infinite complexity and endless beauty within my spaces.
People who go through my VR piece come out the other side with their faces completely changed. They describe being more relaxed, joyful, and like they know what it is to leave this world and that everything will be ok on the other side.
As an artist, there's nothing more gratifying and powerful than seeing these reactions, so my commitment for the future is to continue building out my worlds in VR, as well as doing bigger installations with LED walls and projections!
