11 Aug 2023/7 min/Max Osiris
MLow X Max Osiris
Max Osiris, co-originator of Trash Art, on how the movement was born from platform bans, why he declared it dead, and the two clocks a crypto artist lives on.
MLow opens with the definitional question: what is Trash Art? Osiris gives the origin from inside. He and ROBNESS were banned from a platform at the same time, and ROBNESS launched Trash Art as a rebellion against the bans. The aesthetic was PhotoMosh: deliberately low effort, and that was the point. Everyone was welcome to make trash art, which made it an on ramp for people who did not think they could make art at all. Then came the break: he and ROBNESS fell out over moves Osiris did not agree with, and Osiris declared trash art dead, a declaration he cheerfully admits is itself a trash art gesture.
Asked to classify his own work now, he lands on visionary art, a label he saw applied to a neighboring piece in Prague. He likes it precisely because someone else assigned it: if I call myself visionary, I'm an idiot, but if other people do it, it's not so bad. On the market, his all time high sale is about 90k and he is openly campaigning for a million dollar sale, while noting his collectors hold because they understand the art of things is a long curve. Five years is nothing in art time and an eternity in crypto time, and crypto art itself is, in his phrase, the heavy Adderall bastard child of tech and art.
The back half is MLow touching live wires. He asks for favorite artists (Joe Pease, Marcello Pinelo, Die With The Most Likes), then whether Osiris can separate the artist from the art (mostly not), then names Hackatao and Pak directly. Osiris calls them his smart enemies, admits he still follows Hackatao and throws the occasional snide remark, and closes with the observation that most people are not pricks in person, which is what keeps NFT beefs from becoming real ones.
What this episode teaches
- Movements can be founded by exclusion
Trash Art existed because two artists were deplatformed at once; the ban supplied both the grievance and the aesthetic. Censorship worked as a generative constraint.
- Low barriers are the feature, not the flaw
The point of PhotoMosh era Trash Art was not output quality, it was participation: even if you don't think you can make art, make some trash art. It gets people creating.
- Let other people name your work
Osiris refuses to call himself a visionary artist but accepts the label when a Prague show applied it. The rule underneath: positioning that comes from outside is credible; self mythology is not.
- Run two clocks at once
He measures his career on the art world curve, where five years is nothing and he jokes about his 50 year anniversary, while crypto art discourse runs on months. Applying the wrong clock is where the anxiety comes from.
- You can kill your own movement to keep moving
Declaring trash art dead was both an exit from a soured partnership and a way of, in his words, swagging his own path. A movement's originator is allowed to leave it.
- Beefs stay online because people are people
His observation about rivals: most people you have not met are not actually pricks in person, so coming out swinging when you finally meet another artist would be ridiculous.
The conversation, topic by topic
Origin of Trash Art
Osiris and ROBNESS were banned at the same time, and ROBNESS launched Trash Art off the back of it, asking why are you banning us. PhotoMosh was the tool: put a photo in, spit it out, low effort by design, and the debate about what is and is not art was the engine.
The egalitarian pitch
For a while the movement's whole appeal was that everyone was welcome. Osiris calls it an egalitarian, welcoming thing whose real achievement was getting non artists to create anything at all.
The falling out and the death notice
He and ROBNESS started disliking each other after moves Osiris did not agree with, so Osiris declared trash art is dead. He immediately flags the meta joke: declaring it dead is trash art, the movement is obviously still huge, and the declaration was also him swagging his own path.
Visionary art as a label
Asked to classify his work, he recalls his piece hanging next to another labeled visionary art in Prague and adopting the description, with the caveat that the label only works because other people apply it.
The million dollar campaign
Asked what collectors should know, he jokes they cannot buy his Mona Lisas no matter what, then says his million dollar sale is long overdue and he keeps yelling at the internet about it. His closest so far is an all time high around 90k, which he credits partly to collectors like Rudy who know what's up.
Art time versus crypto time
His collectors store his work because they understand the art of things is a long curve. He is five years in, nothing in art terms, an eternity in crypto terms, and he describes crypto art as the heavy Adderall bastard child of tech and art.
Favorite artists
Joe Pease, whose work he calls profound and awesome and who MLow notes is all over the timeline; Marcello Pinelo, described as trippy, metaphysical, spiritual and colorful; Die With The Most Likes, who doesn't miss; and Mohara, always good. He worries about leaving anyone out.
Separating artist from art
MLow asks whether he can separate the two; Osiris says for him, kind of not. He mostly likes the art of people he likes, and cannot currently name anyone whose art he loves but whose person he cannot stand.
Hackatao, Pak, and smart enemies
MLow names them directly. Osiris calls them his smart enemies, admits he still follows Hackatao and sometimes throws in a snide remark, then softens: most people are not pricks in person, and NFT feuds rarely survive an actual meeting.
In their words
“Everyone's welcome to make trash art. Even if you don't think you can make art, just make some trash art.”
Max Osiris“If I call myself visionary, I'm an idiot, right? But if other people do it, then it's not so bad.”
Max Osiris“In the world of art it's like nothing. In the world of crypto art it's a lot.”
Max Osiris“Crypto art, which is like the heavy Adderall bastard child of tech and art.”
Max Osiris“What are you going to do, come out swinging when you meet another artist? That would be ridiculous.”
Max OsirisCite this conversation
Max Osiris in conversation with MLow, "MLow X Max Osiris," The MLow Show, 11 Aug 2023. https://show.mlow.xyz/e/2023-08-11-mlow-x-max-osiris.html. Quoted from a machine transcript.
Quotations come from machine transcripts. Check wording against the audio before republishing.