𝑰𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒖𝒎 𝑷𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅: 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝑮𝒂𝒚
Back in the day I collected heavily on http://exchange.art. Raw curiosity pulling me in, a desire to get my hands dirty, and a love for a scene that felt more accessible than the EFAN (Ethereum Fine Art Network). I’ve long admired artists like @notjohnlestudio and @solanapoet, who gave Solana’s early art culture its pulse.
But recently I tumble into something stranger... less polished, harder to name. The door was a @verse_works interview with @CreamyDreamy, where Parker Ito spoke about what some now call Avant Gay NFTs. That conversation cracked something open. Consider me iridium pilled 🙌🏾
𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑴𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒔
The genealogy begins, in part, with Milady. For many, Milady was the first shock to Ethereum’s system. Lo-fi, ironic, drenched in chan culture, hostile to legibility... To some, liberating. To others, alienating.
This energy didn’t stay contained. It forked, mutated, and spawned adjacent cultures. Lasogette carried the DNA but re-skinned and birthing Bitcoin Puppets. And then projects like @ArtDeCC0s jumped tracks entirely... less a fork, more an adjacent experiment in maximalist collage and chaotic play, closer to @CreamyDreamy’s trait maxxed aesthetics than Milady’s emo faces.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝑮𝒂𝒚 𝑴𝒐𝒅𝒆
@CreamyDreamy describes this scene not as a demographic claim but as a posture: camp, chaotic, excessive, queer in spirit whether or not in sexuality. It rejects polish, embraces overload, and refuses to be comfortably slotted into “fine art NFTs” or speculative meme culture.
Where EFAN often sought recognition by echoing the contemporary art world, the Avant Gay wing says: let’s build worlds that don’t make sense to them at all. It’s subcultural, unserious on the surface, but deadly serious in its refusal to conform.
https://x.com/Sonoflasg/status/1961546836088688841…
𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝑺𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒂?
This energy has migrated to Solana, and yes, the lower cost and speed play a role. But it’s also about resistance. Pushing back against the speculation-driven cycles and the non-conformist conformism of the EFAN. On Solana, artists like @CreamyDreamy have released chaotic projects such as Drilady and Horses?2. Works that feel allergic to polish and allergic to easy categorisation.
At the same time, Solana has been reshaped by its own power dynamics: the takeover of http://exchange.art by @JTLissPhotoArt, backed by @bonk_inu... the emergence of @vvvdotso and the infusion of energy that followed, has created a new gravitational centre. Around it, a scene of artists and collectors has coalesced. Not chasing institutional legitimacy, but cultivating an ecosystem where misfits, builders, and degens share the same ground. That’s part of what makes this moment feel coherent: less about any single collection, more about a culture emerging where weird tools, irreverent aesthetics and subcultural energy collide.
𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝑮𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈
This isn’t yet a “movement” with boundaries. It’s still nascent, raw, alive. But the outlines are there:
A fork away from Milady’s closed circle toward something messier, queerer, less predictable.
A willingness to appropriate tools meant for clean outputs (like HashLips) and break them into chaos.
A refusal of polish in favour of excess, collage, and irony.
𝑪𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈
Whether this stays a subcultural cul-de-sac or becomes a broader avant-garde, it’s already shifted my frame of reference. For now, I’m just here exploring, listening, collecting in small ways. Iridium-pilled and curious where this fork leads.
