dB: Tell us about yourself as a person, not as an artist. How old are you? Where are you from? Where did you study?

U: My name is Hugo Charvaux. I am 25 years old, and I come from Saint-Gilles, a village surrounded by vineyards and meadows in Burgundy, France. Now I live in the city of Lyon, and I have studied jewelry and various other fields, but my main job is jeweler.

dB: Oh cool! Jewelry making is a very interesting and unusual direction, why did you choose it?

U: In my professional journey I've worked in the steel industry, learning skills like polishing, welding, and metalworking. However, I yearned to work with more noble metals like gold, silver, and platinum. In search of creativity in my work, I naturally shifted towards the field of jewelry.

dB: How did you start making art?

U: During the lockdown in France I started getting into art by painting. Later on, I stumbled upon CryptoPunks through cryptocurrencies, and that led me into the world of crypto art, which was pretty quiet before the NFT craze. Research was tough because there wasn't much information; all I could find were CryptoKitties and CryptoPunks in 2021.

I decided to use my money to buy a powerful computer and learn 3D design for creating NFTs. The idea of being part of this new digital art movement got me really excited, and I still feel the same way about it.

dB: Oh yes, but now you seem to have completely moved away from 3D? How could you describe your artistic style now? By the way, if we look at your work, for example, from a year ago they are completely different. Was it a part of the search process? Is it over now or are you continuing to experiment?

U: Well said! I dedicate myself to what I'm passionate about, experimenting with various aspects of digital art and art in general. I started with 3D. I create what I love and what resonates with the audience. When people appreciate my experiments it motivates me to delve deeper into that direction. Collectors play a crucial role in my artistic journey, as their encouragement influences the artistic direction I take in some way.

At this time when we do this interview, I would describe my style as "digital paint," and I believe it incorporates elements of glitch art and pixel art as well.

dB: You often do collaborations, for example, your last one was with @nipetrov, who, by the way, is also participating in our exhibition. Tell us what it looks like to work together with you?

U: It is initially an admiration and respect on my part towards the artist's work. After expressing the desire for collaboration, we decide on how we can align our styles to implement them together. Magic happens usually with a few file exchanges until the final phase when I am happy with the work and my colleague too!

dB: Tell me about the OK digital project in which you are actively participating.

U: OK digital is an entity dedicated to digital art that I feed weekly and primarily operates through an Instagram page and a Twitter account.

It offers selections on Foundation and Objkt, having already presented two curation seasons featuring around thirty artists. Some have created their Genesis NFTs with OK Digital, and I'm delighted to have introduced them to the world of Crypto art, where they now experience a certain level of success!

The focus is on the culture of digital art, exclusively chosen for curation.

Although I aspire to include hundreds of artists, the organization requires time, so I'm progressing at a steady pace. The future of OK Digital can take various forms but will always remain centered around curating artists in the digital art realm.

dB: You’ve recently released your token — $UGO, is this some kind of performance, maybe a statement? Tell us about how you came to this and what is the meaning of your statement? Was it technically difficult to do?

U: Noticing Uczine and Mek had their own tokens on Tezos, I found it interesting. Later, I discovered they weren't the creators, but that didn't bother me. Out of curiosity, I decided to make a token on Crunchy. I followed tutorials though some tech stuff confused me. I named it "UGO" like BTC or ETH. Supply was set at 69,420 tokens, a S/O to Tezos vibes. After creating it I told friends I made my own crypto and gave them a 69 $UGO airdrop. Their excitement inspired me to share more within the community.

I wrote a white paper, gave out tokens, and the price surged over 400% in 2 days. Thanks to speculators, quite a ride! I declared this initiative as a performance art piece, considering that owning $UGO is an integral part of the artwork.

Now I will use $UGO for Airdrop my collectors on Tezos as a reward :)

dB: In a recent interview with ACCA you were asked: Tezos or Eth? You’ve chosen Tezos. I want to continue this topic and ask you, Tezos or Zora?

U: I love both a lot, and I won't make a choice. Zora is super practical with its system, you can customize your minting page and provide feedback. The team is very attentive to their community, and communication with them is easy. For N3XTWAVE collective drop, Zak Krevitt and Jacob Horne helped me a lot in setting up our drops on the homepage, offering COEs ready to engage with users for the best possible experience, which is rare, I believe! Anyway, I really appreciate their enthusiasm for art in Web3, and they create a ton of innovative things, I'm thrilled to use it.

Objkt is like my home, on the Tezos blockchain with people more or less old-timers who knew Hic et Nunc for example, creating a familial atmosphere where we've all seen each other evolve. I'm very attached to it.

The homepage curation is handled by very good curators, such as Kika Nicolela, and Cabline, for example. The platform has recently been updated with a new design and new features, so I'm also delighted to use it. You can find a lot of experimental art here because of the low-cost mint, and I love that.

dB: Well said! Hugo, recently my artist friend told me that I came here too late, if I had done it a couple of years earlier, I would have seen the blossoming of this community. What do you think about it?

U: I think it's never too late! Imagine when Niepce invented photography; those who built the community around this new technology likely said the same thing to those who joined after it had started. That never prevented the creation of stunning photographs and the emergence of artists for almost two centuries.

dB: What would you advise those who are currently thinking about whether they should join our community?

U: So, if you want to enter a field, go all in, and immerse yourself in what's new. There's no point in being nostalgic for a time you haven't lived. Just understand the history of your field and continue building on it.

Unidentified Art Object is an urban AR exhibition brings the artworks into the urban spaces. What has been hidden and undetected, needed to be found - is all around you, above you! Now the streets of the city are the gallery space. All you need to do is just open the Holst app.

Unidentified Art Object – like a UFO – will be travelling between the world's major cities in the first half of 2024. You can follow it in the Holst community and app.