The Well-Rounded Obsessive (Issue #33)

An interview with artist MEK.txt

“P2NDULUM” (image credit: MEK.txt)

1/1: Please introduce yourself.

MEK.txt: Hello, my name is Michael, also colloquially known as MEK (both IRL and also online). I’m a part-time artist and full-time designer. Naturally, as a tropical boy who has lived his entire life on our volcanic island in Indonesia, I love to put pineapple on my pizza.

1/1: What art have you been working on lately?

MEK.txt: I’ve been busy making CC0 fonts lately for fellow artists and builders to use on whatever need be: making art, websites, graphic design, even games. Just a hobby that I love to do on the sidelines while still creating pixel art and collaborating with a lot of emerging and established musicians on my pieces.

1/1: Can you describe your workspace and how it influences your art?

MEK.txt: I love to do things when I’m surrounded by my family. I have a small study room in our house, where I always leave the doors open so my sons or wife can get in just to interact with me and see what I’m creating—curious little bunch, they are. The study room itself is often messy with my sons’ toys everywhere on the floor—but the desk is always pristine and under my full control. I like it like that.

“Pixel Veins” (image credit: MEK.txt, Sachcoo THE ARTY)

1/1: What tools do you use? Do you work with any special devices or tools unique to your creative process?

MEK.txt: On more complex pixel art pieces, I often sketch things first on an iPad with Procreate or Pixquare/Pixaki and finish on desktop with Aseprite. I draw and animate manually since I really love to be in control of my own growth and techniques. It’s nothing against AI or auto-plugins—just a preference, I suppose. For typography, I combine more software. The general workflow is Aseprite→Adobe Illustrator→Glyphs Mini 2. Keeping it simple enough.

1/1: How would you describe your aesthetic?

MEK.txt: I’m seriously not good at labeling or defining myself. Some people told me that my pixel art style is very close to Vaporwave, retro dithering, 1-bit/2-bit. To me personally, I think it’s just pixel art.

1/1: What draws you to pixel art?

MEK.txt: I think apart from the usual 80s/90s nostalgia found in most pixel artists, it’s also the software. I’ve tried creating with the same software that I used for my daily work (Adobe Illustrator) to create in my Web3 journey, and it just feels like work all over again. So the change of air when I swap from Adobe to Aseprite feels dearly needed. It feels like I’m playing a game, like I’m free from my work.

1/1: How do you approach developing an idea into a finished piece? Can you walk us through your workflow?

“Restless Impatience” (image credit: MEK.txt)

MEK.txt: I don’t really have a fixed method for starting a new piece. Usually, I set a certain narrative in my mind—be it from memory, books, articles, etc.—and let my hands get to the work of drawing. Once I’ve reached a certain stage, I search out a reference image and redraw it. There’s a lot of destruction in the process. Often, I start over, scrapping the initial sketch. At times, my subjective judgment can be quite impulsive.

1/1: Can you describe a typical day in your artistic practice, including any rituals or habits?

MEK.txt: Personally, I think of the artistic side of life as tertiary—I work on the primary and secondary more. By this I mean the betterment of my loved ones and myself. So I try to keep things well-balanced and ruthlessly efficient in my timekeeping on the artistic and also work sides. That way, I can spend more time on the primary and secondary domains with family and on enriching myself with adequate supplements to mind and body. I exercise, read, watch things, and learn during every nook and cranny of my down time.

1/1: How do you feel about the impact of generative AI on the creative process? Do you have a favorite AI tool?

MEK.txt: I love Grok! The AI is a massive help sometimes to make a summary of news I missed on X—not necessarily in Web3 but also in other things I find interesting. Apart from that, I don’t really use any, not even ChatGPT to fix my grammar. I just let it be wrong so I can feel the embarrassment and learn English faster.

“Incenser's Delight” (image credit: MEK.txt)

1/1: Are there any specific works of art (music, literature, film, etc.) that inspire or have significant meaning to you in your artistic practice?

MEK.txt: In philosophy and literature, I’m drawn to the works of David Hume and Fyodor Dostoevsky. I’ve found myself increasingly humbled by them (perhaps more with Dostoevsky) ever since I hit my late 20s and took on a less narcissistic and arrogant view of the world. Quite opposite figures, I know. Such are the diametrical aspects of the human mind. I also love Japanese woodblock print masters. I love Studio Ghibli. I love old-time Disney. I love “The Lord of the Rings.” I love “Bluey.” I love “Baby Shark.”

1/1: How do you come up with titles for your work?

MEK.txt: I finish the work first, then think about the title later. Never the opposite. I think about choosing a title for a work as a continuation of crafting the work itself; sometimes, we don’t know where it will lead us.

1/1: What’s an exciting collaboration you’d be interested in pursuing?

MEK.txt: Great question. I’m currently very interested in collaborating with more musicians and sound engineers! The last Tez Vending Machine event opened my eyes on how cool the collaborative process could be, seeing musicians respond to the piece, then me responding to them, and so on. Just adding new layers and dimensions to the whole experience.

“Good Night, Hopeless Romantics” (image credit: MEK.txt)

1/1: What draws you to NFTs and how do you see them as different from traditional art markets?

MEK.txt: I think the biggest lure was when my studio partner, Tito, explained it’s just like Behance or DeviantArt—two platforms I had already been very familiar with. The ability to communicate and talk to the artists/creators in Web3 is just so amazing. Opportunities to make real connections, learn in real-time, and go deeper through collaboration seem few and far between in Web2, or at least here in Indonesia.

1/1: You recently did an X Spaces on your take on Warpcast. For those who haven’t heard it, can you summarize your views?

MEK.txt: Basically, it's social media but with the catch that the early adopters are nerds, and their virtues combine with the best of X, Reddit, and Discord. The early adoption is massive for coders and artists, whether Web2 or Web3-adjacent. I really like how they put “channels” at the forefront of the interface, which makes the timeline highly customizable. If X is an immutable and noisy town hall, Warpcast is a congregation of parks with nested communities.

“The Last Post” (image credit: MEK.txt)

1/1: For someone just getting into NFTs, what advice would you offer?

MEK.txt: I won’t tell anyone what to do. Do what fits your motivation and drive. But for me, I’m enjoying the Web3 journey as a refreshing break from my real life. I’m not treating it as a career or main source of income (even though it has already eclipsed my regular income without me even pushing so hard yet—that’s how bad the situation is here in Indonesia). Despite the material side being lucrative, if it gets to a point where I’m not enjoying it, that’s how I would know, perhaps, to consider a pause. Don't get me wrong, I need money. I have two sons. Money would tremendously help. But I despise boredom more than I love money.

1/1: Do you have a view on the creator royalties debate?

MEK.txt: It depends whether we are talking about royalties in speculative commodities versus the more fine art leaning part of Web3.

When it comes to speculative commodities—the stuff people often refer to as generative profile pic projects (genPFP), I suppose I don’t know enough to have a coherent opinion. I don’t dwell in that part of Web3; frankly, I’ve never been interested. So for that stuff, I don’t care—do what you want.

But in the fine art part of Web3, I think royalties are very nice. They’re an instrument for artists to pass on a monetary legacy to their children—a natural instrument that could motivate the offspring to better steward the artwork. IP royalties enforced by blockchain: I like them. I don’t want them deleted.

“7 Years of Abundance” (image credit: MEK.txt)

1/1: How do you approach the balance between accessibility and exclusivity in selling your work? (in terms of open editions versus 1/1s, etc.)

MEK.txt: I really appreciate editions—not because of the philosophical implications of Web3's scarcity and accessibility but from learning about the Japanese old masters, who lived in a revolutionary period when artwork could finally be enjoyed by the masses. This change coincided with the surge in Kabuki theater posters, made possible by the opening of Japan's free market, which elevated the middle class and allowed more people to spend on entertainment historically reserved for the very rich and royal families. I like that. Of course, I also create 1/1s, but compared to my edition works, they are relatively rare.

“Heliogabalus' Light” (image credit: MEK.txt, CRIS WAR)

1/1: Who are some of your favorite artists in the NFT space?

MEK.txt: My Pixel Opposite — Eduardo Marola

My Pixel Goddess — Gio Mariani
The Spearhead of Pixel Fine Art — Element Lee

…and many, many others.

1/1: What are you working on next?

MEK.txt: I'm currently developing three, actually four, new typefaces. All of them will be released under the CC0 license, free to use across both Web2 and Web3. It's my way of giving back to a community that has been incredibly supportive.

1/1: Could you show us some of your favorite work you’ve done and tell us what it means to you?

MEK.txt: Definitely. One of my favorites is “Nothing Gold Can Stay, Typed.” It features my all-time favorite poem, which is by Robert Frost, and represents my dual passions for pixel art and typography. This piece encapsulates my Being—yes, with a capital B. More than any other work, I consider it my finest attempt to translate the essence of Michael Alexander’s Self.

“Nothing Gold Can Stay, Typed” (image credit: MEK.txt)