Brief Biography
Thank you for agreeing to the interview. please tell us about yourself!
Hello, I am Ryan Scardecchio (scardecc), a digital collage artist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I started making digital art a few years ago to escape the horrible living situation I was in. Putting on music and creating drowned out the noise and disfunction going on around me. It took some time to garner my own style and technique, but it was always rewarding to see a vision in my head turn into a finished piece. Being a graphic designer for my day job, I do not have the creative freedom to make whatever I want. With digital art, there are no rules or guidelines to follow, the only limit is how deep in my mind can I go to find an idea.
My goal is to overwhelm the viewer when they see my art. By using bold colors, striking figures and psychedelic elements, I am forcing them to remember my work. They literally have no choice but to look at it over and over again because their brain can’t process what they are looking at first glance. If my art doesn’t make them stop scrolling and go “Woah what the hell is this” then I haven’t done my job. Luckily, I am extremely selective of what I put out and don’t mind spending weeks or months on a single piece to get that wow factor right.
Tell us a little bit more about your background.
As I mentioned earlier, I live outside of Philadelphia, home to Rocky, cheesesteaks and drunk sports fans who throw popcorn at opposing players. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with drawing Allen Iverson. I can’t think of a better person for me to sketch, considering the way he dressed and the number of tattoos he had. Every tattoo on his body, every wrinkle on his jersey, every blemish on his face had to be perfect. Unironically, my drive for detailed perfection started all those years ago with him.
What is your favorite thing to do on a weekend?
Aside from being a digital artist selling NFTs, I am also a full time designer for Event Strategy Group, a brand experience agency, which means during the week, I am designing anywhere from 14 to 16 hours a day. So to answer the question, my favorite thing to do on the weekend is to look at my laptop screen as little as humanly possible, and go have fun with friends. And naps, lots of naps in between.
One thing you cannot live without?
Every artist is different, but for me it is essential to have my mind and body be in sync to create. I believe eating well and exercising is extremely important for me to be able to design 10+ hours every day. If I skip a day or eat something bad, the drive I have to design disappears. This topic is unfortunately not discussed much in the community, partially because of the glamorization of the starving, depressed, crazy artist.
I really think this stigma has affected a lot of artists, I see it all the time on Twitter openly talking about their mental health and how depressed and angry they are. It has become normalized for an artist to be that. That is bullshit propaganda – a healthy mind and body can make the difference in your design. As within so without. As a community I think we have to stop promoting this lifestyle and do better promoting fitness, meditation ect.
Who is your favorite artists (Non NFT)?
I guess technically they are selling NFT’s now but without question it would be the legendary duo Frank Moth. When I first started researching digital collages, their works were life altering for me. Their vintage 1930’s aesthetic mixed with sci-fi is so iconic that I would wager almost every 2D digital artist has been inspired by them, with or without knowing it.
Who is your favorite NFT artist?
There are so many talented artists in this scene, its virtually impossible to name one. I could scroll through my timeline at any given time of the day and find hundreds of jaw dropping art from people around the world. But if I had to choose..some that inspire me on a daily basis are Leeaux, A. L. Crego, Darkened_m00d, Kidmograph, Griff, NoCreativeAbode, SurrealSerpent and HairofMedusa.
What made you pursue NFT art?
A friend of mine introduced me to NFT’s November of 2020. Him and I have been discussing crypto for years, so he naturally passed this along for me to research. The first site I looked at was Makersplace and within 20 seconds of reading it, I KNEW I had to be apart of it. It was mind blowing to find out that my hobby of making digital art was now in demand and selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. I got in early enough before the madrush to make a name for myself and eventually get on Makersplace where I nearly have 500 followers and almost 10k views present day.
What is the one piece of NFT art you wish you had purchased but missed out on?
DEFINITELY one of those overpriced, shitty celebrity cash grabs on the platform who’s drop lineup looks more like Coachella every week…yea I am SOOO upset I missed out on all of them. I wonder where they all are these days? Hmm…
If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go?
Clearly Antarctica, and anyone who gives another location is severely messing up. I’m sure you get a lot of Area 51 but lets be honest – I think that’s all smoke and mirrors. It’s a front. Back to Antarctica though, what the fuck is going on there? In the middle of major wars and conflict, a bunch of countries sign a treaty essentially banning any travel to Antarctica. Now, technically you can go there, but you have to fill out a form 3 months in advanced to the Department of State where they will set you up with expedition guides. You are only permitted to explore the designated treaty area. Everything else is off limits and you will get shot on site if you try, I’m not joking. CLEARLY something is going on there. It’s literally off limits to independent exploration. The creative in me is envisioning some weird Prometheus giants frozen under the ice and as the ice melts they’ll be revealed. Or maybe it’s the entrance to Hollow Earth, I have no clue. Either way something is weird is happening there and I want to find out.
Where can collectors get to know more about you?
https://www.scardecc.com/
Social links:
NFT marketplace links:
https://makersplace.com/scardecc/