CryptoPunksBut the first effort, Artist Nina Chanel Abney was previously named the inaugural selection for the Punk in Residence program, and over the weekend unveiled her new collection, “Super Punk World.” Following an opening event at The School at the Jack Shainman Gallery in New York, Yuga Labs and Abney revealed the planned NFTs on Monday.The Punk in Residence program was designed to generate on-chain collaborations that foster creative experimentation around the project and NFTs more broadly.”CryptoPunks are an iconic, pioneering project that has played a crucial role in the creation of the digital collectible space,” Abney told Having previously released a digital art collection titled “Super Cool World” through the This collection, randomly generated and then hand-curated by Abney, draws inspiration from iconic CryptoPunks traits and Super Cool World attributes. “What we wanted to do was kind of introduce wallets and generative art, and Web3 and NFTs, to this more traditional art crowd and group of collectors,” Nathalie Stone, General Manager and Brand Lead of CryptoPunks, told “We’re trying to bring CryptoPunks to the masses here, in a way,” Stone added, “but also have them understand why digital ownership matters.”Abney’s digital worldview reflects on virtual versus real-world identities, addressing the pricing disparities between digital avatars based on gender and skin tone. White, male avatars tend to generate higher secondary sale prices than their darker-skinned or female counterparts in prominent NFT collections.Her hybridized figures fuse racial components and aim to blur the lines between masculine and feminine, challenging societal notions of inherent value and pushing viewers to confront their implicit biases. However, after Abney’s riff on CryptoPunks was revealed earlier Monday, the project received substantial backlash across social media.Serious question: did y’all reach out to collectors to find out if this was a good idea? https://t.co/Tsy55K1zFz— Bharat Krymo (@krybharat) May 20, 2024Some commenters have taken aim at the art style itself or the concept of even trying to reimagine an iconic project, while others have levied “woke” accusations due to its emphasis on race and gender, This is a masterwork compared to the new punks. The stupidest shit to put behind the @cryptopunksnfts brand: “blurring the line between genders”, just block @yugalabs and move on.Thousands of great assets. If you choose some woke shit stickmen you’re out of your mind. pic.twitter.com/G65U0m3RgN— quary.sats (@const_quary) May 20, 2024Go woke, go broke.Yuga killed Punks today At least they have Moonbirds tho https://t.co/LKOMu3YdIH pic.twitter.com/NfUmM1vulb— MK (@MKSevenn) May 20, 2024It has also received negative attention for diluting the original Punks collection, with some collectors upset about Yuga Labs attempting to expand a project is considered a valuable, “blue chip” Ethereum NFT set.Yuga Labs initially declined comment to gm,wanted to share an update on punks: when we acquired the collection a couple years ago, we did so with the intention of preserving the legacy of the collection.we see punks as the early cave paintings of this new medium, and we were heavily influenced by them when creating…— Garga.eth (Greg Solano) (@CryptoGarga) May 20, 2024“Yuga will no longer touch Punks,” he wrote. “They will just be decentralized and preserved on the blockchain. The only thing we intend to do is support a few museums and institutions in their quest to acquire a Punk and help educate their audience about them.”Abney affirmed Solano’s statement “I am utterly disgusted with some of the racist, sexist, homophobic, [and] transphobic comments the controversy around this project has unearthed,” she wrote.“What’s really at the underbelly of this space?” Abney continued. “Now more than ever, I will continue my mission toward an inclusive community where everyone is accepted, and ideas that spark productive dialogue are welcomed. No hate tolerated.”
