Second Realm’s Genesis Years spanned from June 2019 to June 2023. These four years marked a period of intense exploration and innovation as an artist. During this time, he explored different identity concepts, pioneered two crypto-native art movements, Trash Art and Alt-punks, and developed a diverse art practice that encompassed three areas of exploration: digital paintings that reflected his mental health journey, conceptual artworks that examined remix culture and art law, and innovative projects that incorporated NFT, AI, and Web3 technology.
His digital paintings, particularly the Brutalist Mannequin series, gained recognition for their vulnerability and emphasis on color, texture, shape, and shadow. Second Realm often represented himself as the female mannequin, creating a sense of connection to feminine energies. The mannequin became a recurring element in his artworks, including the SINthesis Avatars and the Dream Realms generative art pieces on Async.
One of Second Realm’s most well-known conceptual artworks is the Unofficial Punks project, which explored themes of remix culture, appropriation art, and art law. Launched in February 2021, it was originally met with a tremendous amount of criticism, but it started the alt-punk movement and paved the way for the now wide-spread acceptance of derivative artwork.
He also created The People’s Potato, a memetic artwork that turned a non-fungible token into a fungible pseudo-currency, which was short-listed for the most innovative NFT and ultimately received the 2020 NFT Awards’ People’s Choice award.
During this period, he continuously innovated, launching a memecoin in 2020, inventing social liquidity mining, and being an early adopter of the Open Edition use case. His Down The Rabbit Hole project gained widespread recognition for making use of storytelling and unique Web3 capabilities like the burn-to-redeem, airdrops, free claims, and token gating as a way to distribute NFTs to collectors.
His final release of the Genesis Years was Diamond Hearts. A free claim collection that rewards the 2263 wallets that collected his work throughout these four years.
Overall, Second Realm’s Genesis Years marked a period of remarkable growth and innovation as an artist, and laid the foundation for his continued success in the Web3 space.