Tell us a little about yourself

My name is David Maxwell. I was born in Lomé, Togo. I was raised in Paris, France. I came to America to learn English and pursue college, I now live in Los Angeles. I like plantains 🙂

I get that. Can you tell us about your artistic influences, some of the technology you use, and your thought process when working on a creative project?

I am fascinated by building worlds, and working through different mediums to convey an alternate reality, you know? We live in a multi dimensional world. We were born with layers of senses, for a reason, and all of them should be stimulated. That’s why we love ASMR so much haha. I graduated with a double major in accounting and biology, taught myself design tools on youtube and left my accounting job for that reason. Sometimes my way to convey a message is through a graphite portrait, sometimes it’s a short film, sometimes it’s a song, sometimes it’s a piece of clothing, and more time than not, it’s all at once.

Digital Communities, Collaborators, and Networking. You seem to work a lot with like minded individuals has it always been that way?

In school I was always one of those rare, masochistic students that enjoyed group projects haha. Not to lay back and not do anything, but to obtain as much information as possible, bridge gaps and make absurd combinations work. I try to meet as many people and hoard as many skills as possible at the peril of spreading myself thin LOL! I still have that mentality ‘til this day. I have a wide range of interests and made a lot of friends between digital arts, fashion, music, church.. and all I want to do is create a gigantic, artistic party among all of them.

When you’re coming up with a new track, do you usually start from a visual idea or an audio inspiration?

They generally happen simultaneously, I get inspired by all and nothing. Traveling to a new place might inspire a set of lyrics, just as taking a shower will do the same thing. The train of thought will often get interrupted by a visual, which will then guide me back to the song. Sometimes days, weeks, or years after the fact.

Could you give us a little background on where the idea for the box came from?

The box is my dream space, and an imaginative room for anyone interacting with it. A little joy. It stems from my cloud light installation, ØVERCAST, which I originally made in 2015 while I was living in Minnesota. Surviving the cruel winter, trapped inside of my apartment it was a fun reminder of the outdoors. People experience seasonal depression a lot over there, and I wanted something to combat it. In light of the times we’re, the box is also a symbol of hope to get everyone out of their boxes very soon. I want this concept to serve as a staple.

You’re always on the cutting edge pushing boundaries in your projects, how do you see the future of art and technology evolving?

I think technology is the present and future of art. Especially in times where physical moments are limited, technology keeps us together and inspired. I’ve been following Dope Rad Cool for years, now. We’ve collaborated on a few powerful projects but never met in person. That’s the power of technology 🙂

After being introduced to the blockchain, and NFTs. How do you see it impacting media and music in the near future?

NFTs are huge for music and art in general. We’re living in a direct to consumer season, where labels are starting to become obsolete. We’re also living in a world where everyone craves exclusivity, and NFTs will facilitating those areas. Who knows, maybe we’ll even see some NFT tied to clothing from LACLEANIC someday.

What drew you to Joy world?

JOY World is an augmented and virtual reality experience, which reduces art’s distance between reality and imagination. With VR/AR headsets and glasses we will be able to view digital art pieces the same way we are used to with physical ones.

My first step into the JOY World was actually with a toy, which is a great low budget entry into the JOY World. I got interested and tried to learn more about John’s (@JohnOrionYoung) project and his vision.

His art pieces are multidimensional. The idea is that they can work across the entire metaverse in the future. Basically anywhere you can log in with your wallet. I liked that a lot. I think John’s style and art is visually unique and so far unmatched. His positive attitude is contagious and makes you want to join the community he is creating.

And of course, it is a sound investment. All the JOYs on the secondary market have gone up in value and are being sold for a profit.

I saw the potential, the innovation, and made a bet that buying Franny would get my initial investment back. Which it did. It was a great experience to work with John and it was a very collaborative process. I was involved in John’s decision on how many of Franny’s toys are available and how they are priced. I would love to work with him again.

Anything you would like to talk about.
Your collection, NFT collecting, artists or collector tips / tricks?

I was an early collector but kind of dormant for a while. I am now looking to have a diversity of projects and artists in my portfolio.
What I recently added to my portfolio besides JOY was B.20, which bundles some of @beeple’s work into fractionalized ownership.
I’ve been adding more art to my portfolio now. Some of them are from @Sabet, an Iranian-American, who’s work I really like.

Platform-wise I am huge fan of http://artblocks.io. They offer works from various artists in low edition numbers, with generative art projects.

What I’ve learned in this never sleeping, always evolving and innovating NFT space though, is to take your time. If everything is FOMO, nothing is worth the FOMO. Do your research. Ask yourself some tough questions, engage with the community and try to reach out to critics. Never look back. If you missed something – so what, there will be another opportunity. If you sold something and it moons – no worries, other things you hodl might moon as well.

Very important: Educate yourself regarding taxes on crypto and NFT in your country. I think what a lot of people are underestimating right now are taxes. Your earnings might simply disappear if you are not careful.