Spirit in the Night Sky 01

Vladimir Nabokov spent most of his life researching, collecting, and studying butterflies. He was so interested in it that he could have pursued a career as a researcher if the writing had not become so successful. He spent countless days of his childhood hiking around St. Petersburg and Crimea, looking for different species of moths and butterflies that he captured and analyzed obsessively. Hundreds of drawings exist, illustrating wings, patterns, and body shapes to great detail. His biggest dream was discovering new species, which he did, upstate New York later in his life. Damien Hirst had a similar fascination with butterflies, but he was less interested in studying them and more in exploring the idea of death (most butterflies live as little as four weeks). “In and Out of Love” from 1991 is said to have used more than 9000 butterflies that ended up dying in the room or where pinned to the canvases. I guess we have some sort of an obsession with these beautiful creatures, maybe because of their brief lifespan. It is like we want to preserve beauty forever, like a cry at our own mortality. I don’t know why I started drawing butterflies; it could be because I saw them around on fashion items, or maybe because they stayed in me from the Alexander McQueen hats… I don’t know for sure, but my butterflies have not been captured and glued on a painting or a vitrine; they live special lives in a world of their own. They are the direct expression of my inner thoughts on paper. Their patterns are my pattern, and they live forever. I have been drawing them on rugs for a few years, and now I am using the latest technology to make NFTs. Each drawing is made by hand, either on paper or a tablet, and then animated on AfterEffects. Even the music is improvised directly on the piece, it’s not coming from a record label or a musician. Designing a rug or now an NFT is creating a new world detached from the physical one. In this parallel universe, different laws apply: you step in it, and you are transported into a different reality. When a kid plays with his own toys, barbies, superheroes, and action figures, he infuses life on the toys; when I draw, the same magic happens on the paper, and that’s what happened the day I started sketching wings on my notebook. I imagined these creatures taking a life of their own and flying away. I imagined them interacting, playing, and multiplying. I imagined the most beautiful patterns and colors for them, and then slowly, these drawings came alive. Sergio Mannino
Token
1stDibs.2
Token ID
58
Token Standard
ERC-721
Edition
1/1
Medium
MP4 Digital Video
Dimensions
1080 x 1080
Artwork CID: QmV1jhabbxXYnTJh7YcKW1m8voW4M6TEf8T6nF67QynbQU
Token Metadata CID: QmT93Lfdc7h19gSW1mvCBjDoyZ1eDb7cAyCNRBPnPzvSWn
"Design is about magic. It should be measured with your soul, not your intellect." Sergio Mannino's passion for design comes from his mentorship under Radical Design Masters such as Ettore Sottsass and Remo Buti. After graduating, Sergio decided to move to NYC for a one-year experience, to be followed by one year in Tokyo. Twenty years later, Tokyo is still waiting, and New York has become his permanent home. Sergio's work is clearly influenced by the Italian Radical Design experiences of the 70s and 80s. He was already Remo Buti's teaching assistant before graduating and, as a mentor for his final thesis, he called Ettore Sottsass. With him, he designed a series of houses in Warsaw, Poland.

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