Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Scot J. Wittman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Scot, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
Currently I am at Harvard University’s Artlab collaborating on a yearlong project involving new technologies that will deliver new modes of art experiences. This organically grew out of a conversation started when someone from Harvard and MIT came to my solo exhibition in Boston in January. A life-size 3D-print of dancer Kim Landle in that exhibition became a topic of many conversations; the show also involved my Grand Jeté Photography Series, 60 of the ‘same’ drawings of a crow, slow-motion video projection of a dancer in a storm, ice structures melting during the Opening, NFTs and a smashed vase with ice and roses spilling off the pedestal to the floor. The exhibition was titled JUSTICE. All the works in the show considered the fragile moment our planet’s ecosystem is in currently. There is a short documentary of the show on vimeo: https://vimeo.com/793933774
Scot, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I was classically trained as a painter and printmaker (Rutgers, Cranbrook), and have been using the camera in recent years as an accurate paintbrush to make precise compositions. Posted only days ago, I am happy to be one of the shortlisted artists juried into the annual Royal Photographic Society show; this is the longest running photo show as it has been going on since 1854! In my photographs I draw attention to the fleeting preciousness of nature shrinking under the growing industrial cover. Discussed in my TEDx I found myself working with dancers after I recovered from being immobilized by Guillain Barre Syndrome. I photograph dancers (natural talents) amidst beautiful locations (nature) not yet altered by construction or destruction. I am very excited to make my next major photographic work soon near Jacob’s Pillow, but in recent years I have been equally excited to work in other mediums. My first feature film premiered at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival a couple years ago. Aside from the traditional digital space of motion picture, I have been expanding my explorations into the virtual world. These projects are still in development; anyone can join my Mailing List at Mapographer.com to receive updates.
Most days I’m working in my studio in Philadelphia, or taking advantage of the many thriving art communities blocks away. Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art (PAFA) is across the street, UArts is down the road, The Philadelphia Museum of Art (think Rocky steps / cue the music), the Clay Studio, UPenn’s Museum, Drexel’s labs and galleries… there’s a lot going on every day just outside my door. Soon however I will be in North Carolina as Trillium’s sole artist in residence; this will give me a chance to collaborate with regional talents near cinematic waterfalls. A week later I will return home to be inducted into the New Jersey Disc Golf Hall of Fame.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
My advice to using Instagram is the same advice I give about most things; go about it the way *you* want to, without worrying if you are *doing it right.* Here’s how I tumbled into Instagram; perhaps it will resonate with some in the fact that I started for one reason and stuck with it for completely different reasons. I started using instagram as a way of documenting a 150-foot-wide mural I was invited to paint for Jersey City; once I was no longer painting the mural I found myself with a tight-knit community solely on Instagram. ‘Keeping the conversation going’ I post a new story every Wednesday at noon (my “Black and White Wednesday story) on @OpusFlight which was the name of the mural. It’s part creative space, part micro-Mailing-List popcorn update, and part connection. Since day 1 an architect has seen every single B&W Wednesday; just that one person’s consistency is a wonderful thing. I seem to grow at a pace of one or two followers a day. I like having a large family in this space.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
I am happy that I found my way into the NFT space that is outside the hype cycle. There’s a lovely community of people helping each other out, exploring wild ideas that are best pursued in this landscape, and exchanging work with a punk band raw fellowship vibe. Initially, with little research on my own, I found out that a smart contract can offer the artist a percentage of each resale of the work from one buyer to the next. At the same time I was finalizing my solo show in Boston and wanted to offer NFTs as incentives/gifts; the timing was perfect because I was trying to find a way to display spinning gifs of dancers. I have found Tezos to be the blockchain for me, and OBJKT to be the space for my NFTs. I find it exciting that rock bands are using blockchains to sell tickets that also act as green room invites, that companies like HelloFam Wine in Israel are using NFTs to tokenize and store and sell wine, and more and more places are accepting cryptocurrencies for donations. I am looking to ever increase the ways in which I can extend my printed artworks and my NFT artwork sales towards philanthropy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mapographer.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/opusflight
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mapographer/
- Twitter: @mapographer
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/mapographer
- Other: https://vimeo.com/mapographer
Image Credits
No image credits needed; shot by me and/or owned by me.