012026
The Decentralized Gallery
My current project. The goal is to gift 100 pieces of art based on 100 small businesses around the world. Upon completion, an interactive map will be created.
Cat RussellAbout
Analog life,
digital afterlife.
In a world where anything can be created instantly, HOW we create matters. While physically out in Appalachia, Cat Russell creates art using labor-intensive methods around paper and glue. To him, the process is a core component to the art.
Selected projects
022025—26
High Fantasy
As of late I have been very inspired by the world of high fantasy. These are pieces I have made during my study of that art.
High Fantasy
032025
Etchings
A collection of one-of-ones inspired by the works of Gustave Doré. This collection of analog collages was made using his works and other engraving illustration sources. Physical included.
Etchings
042024
Some Assembly Required
Rather than create prints, for this project I created 10 duplicate wooden boxes branded with The Brand. Inside each one are all the pre-cut pieces required to rebuild this collage yourself. Presented in partnership with Colonna Contemporary.
Some Assembly Required
052024
The Brand
Many in the art world were discussing how artists are their own brand. This project involved me creating a cat-inspired ouroboros, ordering a cattle brand of the design, and branding the logo on my body. Whoever purchases the accompanying NFT is granted all copyright licenses to use the logo for anything they want, and I become their walking billboard. Cattle brand is included.
The Brand
062023
ERC 6551: Project ‘Dossier’
Probably the first art project to use the Ethereum Standard ERC6551, this project, built in conjunction with A Future Modern, involved me creating 5 'case files'. Each digital envelope was then stuffed with a unique digital art piece from one of five collaborating artists as well as prose from Luca Ponsato.
ERC 6551: Project ‘Dossier’
072022
Dark Adaptation
The first ‘Proof of Exhibition’. In partnership with Causality and with dev help by Philbert, this piece of art was published as a claimable edition on ETH. Any holders of the edition that saw it in Eth Denver 2023 or NFT NYC 2023 were able to touch their phone to the physical 18×24 and have an NFC chip permanently update their metadata to convert the collected NFT into an alternate, signed version.
Dark Adaptation
082023
Modern Mosaics
A collection of pieces minted on Superrare and created solely from tagboard and construction paper on 18×24 watercolor. Each piece is NFC tagged to pair with its associated NFT
Modern Mosaics
092023
Trap Geo
10 pieces made entirely from national geographic magazine, all minted as editions on a custom contract. When purchased from trapgeo.xyz, the purchaser is guaranteed to get 3 randomized editions without any duplicates. Every ‘pack’ of editions had roughly a 1in6 chance of pulling a ‘master’ which pairs with the original physical tagged with an NFC chip. Physical editions lie in hand poured 1/2inch clear resin plates
Trap Geo
102022
GN // GM
Situated on the last multi-contract block of Proof of Work and first block of Proof of Stake, this diptych bookends the ETH merge. The project was conceived after reading The Cryptonians by Laura Shin and seeing the recurring pattern of how seminal moments in Ethereum’s history were treated as trivial while they occurred and it wasnt until looked back upon later that their importance was fully understood. While I was watching the lead up to the merge, many in the crypto space were open about their disinterest in the discourse around it. As I believe it to be a key moment that will again be looked back on differently in years’ time, and wanted to leave my mark. The devs that made it possible for me to snipe both blocks to ensure the diptych properly bookend the merge were femzor and whitelights. As of now, these pieces have never been listed for sale.
GN // GM
112022
Otherworlds
100 1of1s created over 6 months. I worked on the art every day for this, with many throwaways made along the way. The goal was to create a series of portraits focused on single characters and explore and practice the act of daily creation. When completed, this project was launched on its own custom contract with the help of Orion and purchase was done through blind mints which revealed after the collection sold out. Following the sale of Otherworlds, editions were created and airdropped to the holders, with airdrops being of various size and based off the traits of the pieces, such as world theme. For the one year anniversary, the Inhabitant’s collection was offered as a free claim for any holder (see below)
Otherworlds
122021
God Forgives Us
God Forgives Us is a seven part fairy tale depicting the story of children embarking down a road of sin. I have taken issue with the stance of many religions that those who repent in their final breath are ‘saved’ while those who may strive to be good but fail to ‘believe’ are doomed. In my youth the inability to ‘believe’ was something I struggled with for a long time, grappling with the issue that I simply cannot control my underlying beliefs that make up who I am, while being taught a failure to somehow ‘learn to believe’ means I am a sinner. It was around the time of this collection that I begin to further question the role of code in art, with it being on one of the first Manifold contracts created.
God Forgives Us
132021
Dreamwraiths
This is probably the only collection in the archive I will not go into further with background, other then to say that it is a very personal collection to me and imagine it always being a theme I revisit in my work. As such, pieces shown here may exist outside of the otherwise chronological order of this page as this is updated with any future works depicting wraiths.
Dreamwraiths
142021
Trading Hands
A small collection of hand studies gifted to any artist also willing to take the time to practice a hand study and gift it to me in return. I, like most artists, hated making hands, but then was told by someone they felt that hands were the second best human body part to convey emotions after the face. At that time I decided I needed to practice them more and that if I was doing so I should encourage my peers to as well.
Trading Hands
152021
The Imitators
This small situational collection features the ‘imitators’ placed in nature, to observe instinct and ritual of animals in our world. First conceptualized with Imitator #01: Mother, with the idea being a creature replacing a mother bird to watch baby birds instinctively beg it for food until they starve.
The Imitators
162021—22
Early Works: The Exclusive Redeemable Vouchers
My earliest NFTs were built around the concept of an ‘Exclusive Redeemable Voucher’. In short: The holder of the NFT may at any time choose to burn the NFT to redeem for the original physical. The idea behind this was to create a method of facilitating the rights to a physical piece to trade hands without having to reauthenticate the work. These works were the earliest attempts at using collage for ‘texture’ versus ‘asset’ as is typically done in the collage world. Many of the pieces use spray paint for the backgrounds.