&#34;Twin Flames,&#34; 100 photos of twin siblings tokenized on the Ethereum blockchain by Justin Aversano, set the standard for NFT-based photography projects. The project has captivated collectors, sold millions of dollars, and made it to Christie&#39;s and the LACMA (LACMA).Aversano will debut his second collection, &#34;Smoke and Mirrors,&#34; at Gabba Gallery in Los Angeles on Saturday. Aversano&#39;s &#34;Smoke and Mirrors&#34; tarot card deck, launched last year as Ethereum NFTs, has a portrait for each card. Following &#34;Twin Flames,&#34; Aversano took the photos between 2018 and 2021.Aversano told Decrypt that he got the idea for the new series while sitting in Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan&#39;s East Village and saw a man ranting about black magic with a tarot deck. Aversano noticed a growing interest in tarot cards, which matched his interest in mysticism and magic.“He comes right in front of me and he throws the tarot cards,” Aversano said. “They&#39;re all raining down in front of me, and I&#39;m like: What&#39;s going on? &#34;Hey, can I have these?&#34; I asked him, looking at the cards. Are you discarding these? &#34;Fuck that black magic shit,&#34; he says. I&#39;m not interested.”He received a tarot deck and was inspired to make his own photo &#34;deck.&#34; Aversano played the &#34;Knight of Staffs,&#34; the only card missing from the set that fell on him. He then shot Neil Gaiman, Pussy Riot musician Nadya Tolokonnikova, and the Winklevoss twins.&#34;Smoke and Mirrors&#34; is 78 black-and-white photos sold as Ethereum NFTs last year. Gabba will display papyrus silkscreen prints of the original images from March 25 to April 8. Aversano&#39;s father standing next to his mother&#39;s gravestone is the most striking of the black-and-white portraits.“This [collection] confronts fear and death, and I honor this project towards my father,” he said. My father&#39;s death card is next to my mother&#39;s grave for a reason. It&#39;s my most honest and best photo. [...] It halts you.&#34;Aversano initially planned four shows for &#34;Smoke and Mirrors,&#34; but she reduced it to two: the Los Angeles show and a Berlin show curated by Anika Meier at Expanded.Art from April 25 to May 14. His first L.A. show, at the Gabba, was &#34;the one that matters the most,&#34; he said. He and Gabba Gallery owner and curator Jason Ostro have made silkscreens in the back for two years. “I&#39;ve never seen a gallerist show up for me like Jason has at Gabba, in my life,” Aversano said.Aversano could have shown &#34;Smoke and Mirrors&#34; at a bigger gallery given his rising profile and name recognition over the last two years. Gabba is home for the project, and he called it the &#34;most honorable thing to do.&#34;“It&#39;s real—not Pace or Gagosian. Aversano called it a community gallery. “What we have here is the truth, and it&#39;s down to earth: you just need a space to exhibit, and it doesn&#39;t need to be the best space in the world. Just what feels right.” What will Aversano do after the shows, book release (via NFT redemption tickets), and project completion? “I&#39;ll disappear,” he told Decrypt. “That&#39;s my final magic trick after ‘Smoke and Mirrors&#39;—I&#39;ll disappear.”

From ‘Twin Flames’ to Tarot: Justin Aversano Exhibits ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ Photo NFTs

ItsBitcoinWorld

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