constantine nicholas

Photography was one of my first loves and introductions into the world of light captured on 35mm film. From the age of 15, all I wanted to do was to take photos. I saved up to buy my first Camera, an SLR, a Pentax K1000. It cost $250 and ever since I've been taking photos of everything, playing around and pushing compositions. I got an enlarger and started developing B&W prints, making photograms, and testing developer agents in my makeshift darkroom, my parent's laundry.  I happened to win my first art prize at my secondary school's photo comp, a close up of a moth on a picket fence. That was in 1976. And since then I've been hooked on seeing the world visually. 

I love the way that photomedia can convey a compelling story through light, colour, contrast and composition. When conceived and executed well it can present worlds that can take you to the serious and the sublime, macro and micro, distorted and ridiculous, to the whimsical and fantastical. 

In this light I wanted to share my select collection of photo-based works by 20 artists on Solana. Whether created in digital, analogue or manipulated hybrid forms, I feel that these works encapsulate a unique view of the world. Featured artists include: 

@kirkenglehardt  @MrDavidTiong  @lowbrownative  @EMCN13 @superjimmer @glenmadden_  @MayneDucky  @lollygagdesign @najshukor @JamesMellor @JeroenV78, @LIGHTS_artist @notyourbdayy @hersoid @destroyxstairs @UDntKnwWhoWeAre @artpardini @hacs @sakehqueen

Above image: Constantine Nicholas, 'after burn - blue' (detail view) photomedia, 2022



photo-based

Views captured from the heights of the old city center of Sao Paulo with contrasts of dawn and dusk lights.

Arthur Pardini 
Leica Dlux7
4736 x 3552 px - 300dpi

 | instagram @art.pardini
 | twitter @artpardini
 | lynkfire.com/artpardini
 | graphic designer and photographer from sao paulo, brazil, living in ubatuba

High-Views#DamExposure

I created this in the spirit of Andy Warhol's "Urinals", a photography he may have created as a tribute to Marcel Duchamp's landmark work "The Fountain".

Duchamp is associated with many artistic movements, from Cubism to Dada to Surrealism, and paved the way for later styles such as Pop Art.

Created for the #DAMwarhol event by DAMzine

Flush

"It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves."
- Sir Edmund Hillary

Created for the April issue of Dam Zine #DamReality

Choose Your Own DamReality

Untitled 5

How did they use that door? 
Why was it so crooked?

Atotonilco, MX. 2023

Crooked door

Breathe deeply and allow the garden's peace to dwell within. Raindrops patter softly, infusing the air with life-giving waters. Step into this space, into the present moment

A quiet retreat

Heaven’s breathing
The storm is coming 
With light and rain
Coming for all of the things
I’d wish to wash away
Calm and cleansing
Free today
Heaven’s breathing
Crying rain


-Duckymayne
Submission & Editions for DAM issue #07 - DAMswap

Heaven's Breathing (Banner)

Nature and art cannot be separated..

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Handmade Mask + Photography

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JPEG

5184x3456px

96 DPI

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You Dont Know Who We Are

Issue #8 #DAMFutures

FUTURES #3

A significant solitary tree grows in an environment shaped by man. 

4739 x 1750 px

300 DPI

Nature

Holly Tears

Digital Mixed Media

2377 x 3363 px 

For DAMzine Issue #08 - #DAMfutures

Lowbrow Native, 2023

Glynis 

For @DAMzine #DAMexposure

by Hersoid

2023

Little cherub

Empty

I am witnessing this beautiful scene while eating ice cream during a trip to my hometown.

WHERE KING GOT RAINBOW

Does this image really need a description, for crying out loud. Can't you just figure it out yourself?

A Swing and A Miss

Digital Mixed Media

AI + Procreate + Adobe Lightroom 

3500 x 3500 px 

Lowbrow Native, for DAMzine Issue #11 ‘DAMreality’ - 2023

Morning Bell

Title: Luna Magica (Magical Moon)
Artist: Kirk Englehardt
Edition: 1/1
Date: 1/29/23

A magic moon glows brightly over a magic city. It's an authentic "Moon Over Miami" as seen from the top deck of a megaship turning in the harbor. You can see the turbulence of the ship's engines shining on the water's surface thanks to that beautiful lunar glow.

I felt a chill in the air, but the warmth of the city lights made me forget I was cold. I had an iPhone 14 Pro in my hands and captured a moment I never want to forget. The energy and passion of the Magic City was on display in its full glory.

Luna Magica (Magical Moon)

we've got a joke but we don't need it
we've got a joke and it's called life

Mix Media
Finished on Feb 02, 2023

Contribute to #DAMmeme by DAM Zine.


'Friendship'

He used to call me poison
Like I was Poison Ivy
I could have died right there
'Cause he was right beside me

Like I Was Poison Ivy

Artist: Glen Madden

Edition: 1 of 1

Maybe we are all lost..

Stranded

Look up. Light is coming. 

This isn't Ai or Photoshop, it's built from a real photo. When the clouds formed an "S", I smiled. And on this day, July 13, may we remember it as the day that winter ended. Summer's coming. Solana.

LIGHTS photography imagines capturing the “Big Bang” of the blockchain exploding from the natural environment. I hope you find beauty and meaning in this piece and are reminded that no matter how dark things may get, light is always on the way.

Looking Up

Hanging in there is not just about perseverance, it's about having the courage to face your fears and overcome them.
~Unknown

Photographer: David T

Hanging Around

Untitled 22

Melancholy

When all has been rendered bare, we are most bold, dedicated, and surely our true selves. 35mm film photograph, rare single exposure, soaked in boiling water wine, spices, household chemicals and extracts. Illustrate the alternative nature and point our mind to the overarching psyche that lies beyond our conscious thought. A Jim Roll photograph.

The Bold in the Bear

Friday December 2, 2022 - 16:09

Somewhere in Cornwall, UK.

Souvenir 1

Forced to take in that which leaks out. 

Self portrait, all practical effects.

Leak

Solarplex community challenge theme is tree bark

Bark-1

I've always wanted to curate a show on abstract art. I mean pure abstract work. Which to me is the non-figurative, the non-literal, where the subject matter is mostly a pure form of expression - from the artist's hand or connected device. But intrinsically formed with the sensitivity of the medium in hand. 

Think about an artist like Jackson Pollock who limits his direct touch through paint with sticks, Gerhard Richter, who scrapes paint with brooms and rakes, Anselm Kiefer, who sculpts with coarse materials and flame throwers, to someone like the Australian artist Dale Frank, who pours and bleeds tinted fluids into still ponds. They all have identified a way to work that has distance. In these there are no cautious touch ups or fixes - to make things right, and there are no such things as mistakes. They all eventually reach a point or finalization that works. At some point the judgement, analysis and thinking has been kept at bay by the fluidity, the materiality and the innate feel of the medium.  

In this vein I wanted to share the works that I have collected on Solana that embody in some way, this aesthetic. Whether created in digital, photography, analogue or hybrid forms these works, for me, encapsulate this intent. It's this randomness that comes with pulling off a unique work of art that speaks to us through the material form. I hope that you can see this also. 

Featured artists: 
Silvia Anan, Ben Harley, Culture Hacker, Designz, Thorpart, David Tiong, Granuled, Yugor, Os, 000Million, Avekno, Steve Bennett,  Ed Neumann. 

Above image: Constantine Nicholas, 'Random Scrub' (detail view) pigment, pen on paper. 2024.



Purely_Abstract

This painting was channeled live during the DAMzine virtual meet up/creation space for issue #3, “The Horrors of Crypto”

A feint within a feint within…

"Purple Haze"

The “Trains Passing in the Night” series consists of long exposures and burst photos from my seat on a high-speed train. Each time we passed another train, I propped up my camera and held the shutter down until there were no more lights on the adjacent track. You can see the faint outline of the window on the lower right. I manipulated each set of streaks in post-production to bring out the unique qualities and graphic tensions that convey a sense of mystery and motion.  

Trains Passing in the Night #2

Abstract Rhythm #2

A faux double exposure using photos I have taken of brutalist architecture. Worlds collide in this piece as I form a new reality with a heavy emphasis on geometric form interacting with monochrome tones. 

2584 x 3389 px
300 DPI
JPEG

Edward Neumann aka EMCN

Worlds Collide

Streets of the Sunshine Coast after dark

Accidents happen in the blur of a moment, just like life can change in an instant. In a fleeting moment, where the world becomes a blur of light and motion, the chaos and unpredictability of life, the fragility of our existence

Camera: Fujifilm X-T30 II
Photographer: David T

Fragility



We have calcium in our bones, iron in our veins, carbon in our souls & nitrogen in our brains, 93 percent stardust, with souls made of flames, we are all just stars that have people names.

by the author -N. Gill

This piece is specially minted for #DamSwap event 


2048x2048px
300dpi


93 Percent Of Stardust

I’m off this planet at any given time with no remorse for a canvas.. What can hold me..?
I’m wrecked in the part of the mind most utilize to find a way to be stable. I don’t like stable. 

2 Acrylic on Paper Paintings
Twice Blended // Digital Edits 
2024

Put Me Away

a glitch abstract by culturehacker made for DAM issue #7: #DAMswap - an event celebrating decentralized art

DAM Ribbons 

You may need to lose all you got to the flames of harsh realities, before you rise from your ashes.

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0000MILLION X ZIONTAXI

Part of #DAMswap Issue No. 7 curated by 
@dam_zine

Dimensions: 2430 x 3240
Medium: Acrylic and Digital
Year: 2022

Rebirth

Night photography
Automatism
Color LED light painting.
30 second exposure
3024 x 3024
2023

for @dam_zine 
#DAMexposure

Light Painting 4

SCUM

Introducing 𝘕𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘦, a physical/digital mixed media painting created for DAM Issue #07's #DAMSwap Event.

Dec. 2nd - 5th 2022

Based from an original painting by Os
m. 2017
3600 x 3600 px | 20 x 20 in. (50.8 x 50.8 cm)
Acrylic and enamel on canvas
Re-worked & Digitized December 2022

Thank you for your support 🖤

Neptune

"Omen of Storms" is a striking abstract art piece that conveys a sense of impending chaos and turbulence. It is a powerful and evocative abstract art piece that captures the energy and intensity of a coming storm. It is a testament to the beauty and complexity of the natural world, and a reminder of the awe-inspiring power of nature.