Lifestyle/Art

Published on November 23rd, 2018 | by Dr. Jerry Doby

0

Avant-Garde Artist Romero Pioneers New Direction in Showing, Collecting and Authenticating Art via Codex Protocol

Avant-Garde Artist ROMERO

Avant-Garde Artist ROMERO

Who Is Avant-Garde Artist Romero?

There are thought leaders in every walk of life and in the arts and entertainment industry, there may be more than in any other. Art specifically seems to highlight minds that just flat out see things differently and when you add the current state of technology, we get something quite special. This article profiles avant-garde artist Romero, a technological wiz who decided that art was his way to change how the world thinks and sees itself.

Beginning with a massive tech background in satellite and communications, Romero has applied his around the corner thinking to the digital space and created a new era of how art can be shared and collected…nobody tells the story better than the creator and this we’ll defer to Romero in the telling of this story:

Back Story: I’ve always been an avant-garde artist since the age of 3 in a high chair in Edenwald Projects in the Bronx. Bored, with nothing to do, my mother would give me a piece of paper to draw on. I grew up on all of the New York City galleries and art museums, The Whitney, The Modern, The Met and later in high school SOHO in the late ’60s.

One of my defining moments came in 1969 at Woodstock seeing Jimi close out the show and disconnected from Afro-American mainstream. During his performance, I made hand signals to Jimi to remind him we were two of the sparse few Black Spots in the whole space!

College at Pratt was a whole other ball game. The African influences from Picasso were missing and the visualizations I had in my head were not attainable. I decided to do a Bill Gates after my financial aid was disrupted and drop out after all the early computer auto desks that I desired were not available to art students, only for architectural students.

After college, I had an opportunity to have my work on consignment in a SOHO gallery but needed to eat and pay rent, so since I could not be paid like Picasso I took my work and walked away.

Fast forward to 2006 after many jobs and family crisis including the loss of my wife in 2000, I moved from Brooklyn NYC to North Carolina and the open spaces started my artistic vision afresh.

I started a group called Ikohaus loosely based on the Bauhaus but Iko from the West African meaning “Good or well made” and Haus from the German meaning House = Well Made House. I threw away my brushes and paints and decided to go back to the avant-garde and become a purely digital artist.

In 2006 I postulated that as it was known, the avant-garde was not dead but merely sleeping and awakening again. Pushing the envelope of digital art we arrive in 2017.

I became involved, with support in 2017 from an I-Corps grant from the National Science Foundation administered by East Carolina University and Greenville SEED @ ECU. There I took the open source prototype using Google Slides as an artwork viewer and further developed a system similar to what I worked on in 2011.

At the same time, I contacted BrightSign’s Robert Wilson, my fellow artist who was working in the same line with backing and had created a work of Lady Gaga to be displayed in the Louvre. I decided to take an open source path and use free Google components.

CPN was formed in 2015 as the financial arm corporation LLC of Ikohaus, with Romero as the CTO (Chief Technical Officer) and Shariyka Romero as the “shEO” (female CEO, she coined the term shEO).

As a long time member of GreenvilleSEED at East Carolina University with John Ciannamea, we brought our project to the Willis Building where Director Marti Van Scott Director, Office of Technology Transfer and I-Corps (ECU Research), and Carlyle Rogers – Licensing Associate – East Carolina University administered a grant from the National Science Foundation administered by East Carolina University.

Getting Technical

Because our technology involves authenticating, proving provenance, providing acquisition of the artwork’s record and including a multi-platform open source viewing device, our company comes under the auspices of Telecommunications.

To pull this all together in what I call “componentization” [the use of off the shelf already invented components to do something different other than what the original intent of use was designed for] it required pulling various technology companies into the art creation process as collaborators, just the same way as Michael Angelo’s collaborative created the painting of the Sistine Chapel.

To start we use a 2TB account with Google Drive and Google Slides to securely contain and hold our digital works. I evaluated and settled on Codex Protocol for Provenance and Authentication of records on the blockchain headed by Jessy Houlgrave COO, Business Development and Partnerships. What Codex does is authenticate items on the blockchain, which are called assets or collectibles to prevent fakes and forgeries.

These ledgers on the blockchain can trace the creation of an asset or collectible through the various hands that acquire or change the record with a blockchain transaction here’s what a creation, transaction looks like on the blockchain https://etherscan.io/tx/0x767837612b985a2099bb4deb31418073c3519ad8845ba3847b3d99fd04696515.

We are currently an Art Gallery Pioneer on the public Codex Collection site an honor that makes us verified to offer Collectibles and Assets with Codex Protocol. Here is the work that the previous transaction describes https://codex-viewer.com/#/record/413

Now what we did in our vision, is to change the way that art is viewed, collected and distributed to democratize the art world in a sustainable fashion and make art more accessible. The unique numbered work record (asset) is acquired and held by one individual but the viewing app is public and accessible to all thereby enhancing the appreciation of the art. This allows the work to be viewed, displayed and enjoyed across multiple platforms freely.

Then we partnered with Project OpenSea where the Codex records are pulled into an authenticated app needing Metamask log in credentials where a patron can acquire or sell the assets to another for gain or profit or simply gift it to another user. This app uses cryptocurrency, further democratizing society by allowing for the anonymous purchase of works with cryptocurrency.

Coming to the present day, what I’ve created is a unique collection of digital assets which can be viewed on any device and now by everyone where the owner is anonymous. The object I’m going for is getting recognition for digital art and to inspire more people to be early adopters and buy into collecting this digital “IkoVuX” art and trading for profit.

The Results

While cryptocurrency and blockchain news is in decline, my art “IkoVuX” brings new investment opportunity while Crypto prices are low.

How does digital art collecting work?!

A person buys a unique work for say $250USD in crypto and it becomes very popular with the masses, they can then go back to Opensea for example or one of the other markets and offer it for $1,000USD with a $750 profit. Of course, buyers could also contact me and request for the piece to be removed from open public viewing and held in a private view collection, to be displayed as they desire. ~ ROMERO

As I said in the opening…the art world co-mingled with technology highlights some amazing minds and this new phase of digital evolution lending itself to a trendsetting opportunity to own and trade original artworks is a fascinating dynamic that portends a new era in viewing and collecting art. A resurgence in the culture of art and lifestyles perhaps almost forgotten…way to go Romero and Codex for your leadership in helping us re-explore cultured life!

Just in time for Cyber Monday, Romero’s work is ready and available to brighten your life via https://codex-viewer.com/#/galleries/ikohaus


Tags: , , , , , , ,


About the Author

Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.


Comments are closed.

Back to Top ↑