29 Aug 2023/12 min/Bryan Brinkman
MLow X Bryan Brinkman
Emmy winning animator Bryan Brinkman on building a recognizable visual language, collecting daily, and using Sotheby's as a validator for outsiders rather than a marketplace.
Bryan Brinkman answers MLow's opening question in one line: his art is colorful, animated, and reflects both his own experience and his observations of the crypto art space. He entered NFTs in January 2020, but the practice goes back to short animations for Newgrounds around 2002, then a professional run through fashion advertising, toy commercials, MTV and animated series, and a long stretch doing graphics and visual effects for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Saturday Night Live, where SNL's habit of winning Best Variety Series earned him an Emmy.
The middle of the conversation is about language and collecting. Brinkman explains his anti typecasting strategy: to avoid getting stuck doing one thing, he holds a single color scheme constant across every style and medium, so the palette ties the range together. On top of that sits deliberate iconography, wires for connection, clouds (which became Nimbus) for how we store our art, beams for building in the space, plus a recurring vocabulary of light bulbs, cats, candy, gas tanks, telephone poles, safes and diamonds. The secrets live in a second layer: visuals first, then descriptions and interpretations that candy coat harder messages. As a collector he holds vinyl, screen prints, and hundreds to thousands of NFTs, leaning generative, from early Sarah Zucker through Coldie and Matt Kane to Dustin Yellin's Nouns drop, buying something new nearly every day.
The closing stretch is the episode's most useful: a clear eyed artist's case for auction houses. A week earlier his Art Blocks collection Buds had a solo secondary sale at Sotheby's, his second appearance there after the lot of the first 20 Art Blocks projects and a one of one earlier in the year, and Sotheby's respected his royalties. His frame: auction houses are not a replacement for SuperRare or Nifty Gateway but a validator to outsiders. His grandmother does not know what Nifty Gateway is, but she knows Sotheby's. He is honest about the downsides MLow raises (slow payment, buyers who walk after an apparent sale, the hammer fee depressing prices), and still advises artists to try it once for the resume line alone.
What this episode teaches
- Hold one variable constant to avoid typecasting
Brinkman keeps a fixed color scheme across everything so he can range freely over styles and mediums while staying instantly recognizable. The palette, not the subject, is the brand.
- Build iconography as a semantic system
His recurring symbols carry assigned meanings: wires are connection, clouds are how we store our art, beams are building in the space. Repetition and callbacks reinforce the interpretations until the language is associated with him.
- Layer meaning in the text, not the pixels
His Easter eggs live in descriptions and interpretations, a second layer readers can dive into after the visuals. He calls the approach candy coating harder messages.
- Auction houses are validators, not marketplaces
He treats Sotheby's as a branch into a different world whose job is impressing people who are not his collectors, proving to outsiders that this is a valid form of art and not just something in Discords.
- Know the auction tradeoffs before you consign
From his experience: payment is slower, buyers are not escrowed like an NFT contract so they can walk after an apparent sale, and the hammer fee can mean a lower net than Manifold or SuperRare.
- Do it once anyway
His advice to artists is that the downside is small and the resume value real: sold at Sotheby's, or even shown, is a line most artists should jump at.
- Take brand work only on your own terms
He has done little brand work beyond a one of one for Puma's PFP drop, and his filter is explicit: the best briefs say do something in your own style and we'll have no notes.
- Reinvest sales into collecting daily
Once NFT money arrived he put a portion into other artists' work, building from a first deep position in Sarah Zucker into hundreds to thousands of pieces, leaning generative, adding something nearly every day.
The conversation, topic by topic
What collectors should know
Colorful, animated work reflecting his own experience and his observations of the crypto art space. In crypto since January 2020, making art since high school around 2002, starting with short animations for sites like Newgrounds.
The television career
Before and during his NFT start he worked across fashion advertising, toy commercials, MTV shows and animated series, then a long run in late night doing graphic arts and VFX at The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and SNL. The Emmy came via SNL's near annual Best Variety Series win.
A collection busting at the seams
Physically: a big vinyl record collection and stacks of screen prints from indie comic fairs, concerts and cons. Digitally: hundreds to thousands of NFTs over three and a half years, leaning generative and animated but touching everything.
Artists he collects
Sarah Zucker (The Sarah Show) was the first artist he built a big collection around; he names OGs like Coldie and Matt Kane, and had just collected a bunch of Dustin Yellin's drop for Nouns. He figures he collects a new piece every single day.
How collaborations work
Named collabs include Rich Caldwell on Transient, drops with Panter and Zeta, group projects like ArtVitares where everyone creates assets that get mixed together, and an early AI collaboration about two years prior. His observation: there is never a blueprint; sometimes one artist arrives with a full idea, sometimes each draws half.
Brand work and the no notes rule
MLow asks about big brands; Brinkman has done a one of one for Puma's PFP drop but little else. He is not against it, but it has to be interesting, ideally a brand saying do it in your style with no notes.
The constant palette
Joining the space he feared doing the same thing forever, so he committed to one color scheme, letting him branch across styles and mediums while the shades tie everything together into one recognizable body.
Symbols, Easter eggs, and Nimbus
Wires for connection, clouds for how we store art, beams for building: dioramas that tell stories about how the space is moving. The clouds became Nimbus. His hoodie alone carries the recurring set: light bulbs, cats, candy, gas tanks, telephone poles, safes, diamonds. The deeper secrets sit in descriptions, candy coating harder messages.
The Sotheby's sales
A week before the interview, a piece from his Art Blocks collection Buds had its first solo auction at Sotheby's, his second time there after the lot bundling the first 20 Art Blocks projects; a one of one sold there earlier in the year. Sotheby's respected royalties, so a check is coming.
MLow's qualms question
MLow surfaces that other artists blame auction houses for stalled careers and unsold consignments. Brinkman concedes the problems: slower payment, no escrow so apparent buyers can refuse to pay and the artist awkwardly takes the work back, but maintains the houses have helped the space more than hurt it by supplying the traditional art world's stamp of approval.
Should artists try it
Asked directly whether artists should consign once, he says yes: little downside beyond possibly netting less than Manifold or SuperRare after the hammer fee, against the durable resume value of sold, or even shown, at Sotheby's.
In their words
“Colorful, animated, and reflects on both my own experience and my observations of the crypto art space.”
Bryan Brinkman“I like when brands come and say, do something in your own style and we'll have no notes.”
Bryan Brinkman“Candy coating harder messages.”
Bryan Brinkman“My grandmother doesn't know what Nifty Gateway is, but she knows what Sotheby's is.”
Bryan Brinkman“I'm still a believer that the auction houses have helped the space more than they've hurt the space.”
Bryan BrinkmanCite this conversation
Bryan Brinkman in conversation with MLow, "MLow X Bryan Brinkman," The MLow Show, 29 Aug 2023. https://show.mlow.xyz/e/2023-08-29-mlow-x-bryan-brinkman.html. Quoted from a machine transcript.
Quotations come from machine transcripts. Check wording against the audio before republishing.