Existential - My Creative Journey

Existential

Who Am I?

7th in the Story Series is called Existential and is about remaining unattached to hard perceived “truths”, freeing the mind to absorb new information and redefine accordingly.

This piece tells the story about adaptive creativity for those who want to Do All The Things!!

Check out the piece on Rarible:
https://app.rarible.com/token/0xd07dc4262bcdbf85190c01c996b4c06a461d2430:148812:0xb1dc6e4641d4ad094553907af39a97c95d7eb0a3

This blog breaks down the piece and is a timeline of my past creative works.

My interpretation of this piece:

I do not have many strong opinions. This doesn't seem to be a winning strategy in a cut throat, winner-takes-all world, however remaining unattached to hard perceived “truths,” frees my mind to absorb new information and define myself accordingly.

My natural willingness to adapt new ideas and identities resulted in feelings of self doubt, confusion of who I was and why I didn’t feel the need to pursue a defined path. Creating this story series & pulling together all the pieces, makes me see that all these identities are part of my defined path.

My creativity mirrors my adaptive nature and life learning. My performance art started at a time when my life centered around the gypsy festival lifestyle. My work with metal and vinyl developed as a skill I acquired from a romantic partnership. My body-canvas paintings came about as I ventured into the social media art promotion world. The erotic work was a natural expression of my sexual awakening.

All my artistic expressions stem from what I’m experiencing at that point in my life. Now that my art is selling at a more scalable rate, I’m learning that earning a living with art creation is 20% creation and 80% non-creative stuff. No wonder I’m drawn to the decentralized web to streamline the value exchange of my creations.

My new definition as a crypto artist is a fitting combination of my artistic expressions and my learning of new value systems.

So, Who Am I? Vinyl artist? Painter? Performance artist? Crypto NFT artist? Currency designer? The answer is YES. I can be any and all these things. Read on for the breakdown of the piece and then some back story...my creative timeline... how I have been all the things.

Pieces included in Existential:

Summer Painting - an ongoing painting. I’ve had 3 sessions with it, reinventing it each time. Started it on June 20, 2019. This day marks the birth of PolyAnnie! I started the painting live on Chaturbate right before I shaved my head… it’s a special piece. 4’x4’ acrylic on canvas.

The progression of the piece. I used only my body, no brushes to create this piece.

Photos:
Uruz (performance painting) The story behind that:
@polyannie/uruz-the-story-behind-the-art

Guitalele with Lush2
Summer 2019 I was super into exploring the impact of sexual stimulation on musical performance and creativity. This vibrator reacts to the sounds in the room, so I was trying to make myself orgasm with the music I was playing. It was hard and I never succeeded but it was super fun! Read more about it here:
https://link.medium.com/MKUXKUeX3db

Highlighting my past creative work:

Music:
I began my musical journey when I got a guitar for my 18th birthday. I learned the basics and then moved on to the Mandolin which I focused on for over a decade. I spent a lot of time in the bluegrass scene and played in a band called the Sunrise Project. We produced enough original music to release an album but it never came to pass. Though it may still one day in the future.

Around 2009 I picked up the Cello, which is my most favorite, though I’m not very fluent on it still. In 2019 a friend gifted me a Guitalele, which is like a Ukulele but with an additional 2 strings. That has been my go to since.

I have also spent some time learning tap dancing & drumming (both hand drums & kit). Making music is a hobby for me at this time, but I hope to do more with it at another time in my life. When my kids are grown I hope to join a touring band. I love music!

Cello/ Guitalele/ Guitar/ Mandolin

Performance Art:
In 2008 I picked up hula hooping. That opened up the world of prop manipulation and flow arts to me and I have consistently practiced for 13 years! In that time I led a fire dancing and flow arts performance group that performed and led workshops all over the United States at events such as Sturgis, DelFest, Electric Forest and a ton of regional and community events.

I worked with the schools and with local parks and recreation organizations teaching hula hooping to people of all ages, including training an entire state physical education department to teach their students hooping. I left this world to pursue erotic arts knowing I’d likely not be able to work with children again, but I put a decade into that and was ready for a change.

I will continue to incorporate performance art into my creations. Prop manipulation is part of my daily routine. I’m fluent with hooping, staff, poi and fans. I’d like more opportunities to perform live and create performance pieces or to collaborate in this way. Here’s some photos of my past solo performances:

Spiritual Arts:
Throughout the years I’ve spent a considerable amount of time exploring spirituality and philosophy. My whole life I’ve pondered and sought explanation on the great mystery of life. It’s search has led me down some interesting paths both learning and teaching. I’ve studied and developed classes around the topics of Sacred Geometry, Color Energy & Chakras and Personal Development through Self Exploration.

The roots of spirituality come from my mom who is a professional psychic medium. I’ve received a life long training in developing intuition from her. Like her, I also have mediumship abilities but choose to keep them dormant. I admire the work she does, it’s not for the faint of heart.

Vinyl Art:
I started creating vinyl art in 2013. At the time I was living with a sign maker and had the opportunity to learn a creative approach to this medium. I had just picked up graphic design so I could market my hooping business. (I taught myself because I didn’t have money to pay anyone to do it and was tired of asking for favors.) This was my first real introduction to the digital world. In 2019 I purchased a vinyl plotter and created over 50 vinyl on metal pieces in my first year. My first year of PolyAnnie I created a line of erotic vinyl pieces. That’s what my brand was initially centered around. In 2020 I created 3 large scale pieces to use as backdrops. I’ve taken a break from creating vinyl art until I can upgrade my tech- I need a computer that can support the software.
This medium is incredible though! The pieces are weather resistant and the process is similar to that of putting a puzzle together.

Painting Experiences:
I really only like to paint if I’m making a mess or covered in paint myself. In 2013, 2014 and 2015 I participated in Body Painting events in collaboration with Living Art America as a model and dancer. My experience during those events made me love the feeling of paint on my skin and using my body as a brush and canvas is a style I really delved into starting in 2018 when I was commissioned to do a painting with full creative control... so I made an experience out of it. I used parts of my body to paint with and offered the video along with the painting. I’ve since created several pieces in this way.

During my sexual awakening I noticed that creating art in this way aroused me, so naturally I added masturbating as part of the creative experience.

I recently sold an nft backed by one of my paintings for 1 ETH. My largest art sale to date! All my paintings have been created live and I make the content available for sale as well as the art itself!

Erotic Art:
Breaking free from the constraints of monogamous relationships triggered a sexual awakening in me. Feeling empowered to explore myself and my relationships in different ways led me to the erotic arts.

I began creating erotic vinyl pieces in 2019 and birthed the PolyAnnie brand. I use platforms like Chaturbate and OnlyFans to present my work. I never intended to be an online “sex worker”- I’m naturally shy and timid… I’m not great at seducing people to give me money, so my hustle has been unique- transparent, intimate and authentic. I learned a lot about sexuality by exploring this area in my own way.

Sexuality is as unique as each individual, it’s not always the way it’s portrayed in media; sex and sexuality aren’t heriently “bad.” Connecting with my sexuality helps me know myself better and that has helped me build confidence. I hope to inspire others to explore this part of themselves. Remember exploration can happen alone as well with others.

Reflecting on this piece and the many facets of my abilities, I see now that creating erotic art came natural because I was going through a sexual awakening. My art always reflects what I'm experiencing at that point in my life. Being an erotic content creator is a great fit for me and I find great enjoyment in my work. My OnlyFans has all the content from the very beginning of this erotic journey. I also sell my content in bundles and as nfts.

Exxxotica NJ 2019

In October of 2019, I had the amazing opportunity to perform a fire dance at the EXXXOTICA Expo in NJ. It was a breakout moment for me as an artist. I also presented one of my live painting shows on Exxxotica TV during the first lockdown in Spring 2020.
Watch it here

I began nude modeling in 2011 for hobby, doing at least one photo shoot a year and the occasional figure drawing session. This is what ultimately set me up for the erotic art era. I learned how to see myself naked and be ok about it. I've been working with the same photographer for 10 years! We plan on continuing until one of us passes on. One day we will publish a book with all the photos through the years.

The early PolyAnnie content was up beat & colorful. I was focusing on self improvement and sexual exploration.

Yoga is another constant in my life. I practice my yoga a few times a week, but in early 2020 I was disciplined enough to lifestream 130 days of yoga sessions. It was all documented on Periscope and I built a 20k following during that time but my account was disabled with no warning and no explanation. This is what led me to find solutions to censorship- I found Holochain, which led me to currency design and then to blockchain and cryptoart.

Holo/ Holochain vinyl piece I made and traded for a holoport! The holoport will allow me to host my own apps.

Crypto Art:
Now my creative journey has led me to Crypto Art! My heart jumps a little just thinking about this it’s so exciting!!

My interest in this medium of art took off after taking two currency design courses. I learned about this new realm of value flows and game theory. Upon finishing the courses of instruction I started attending meetings and participating in small currency experiments.

I started with a small game of incentives for household chores. I authored currency processes in a workflow management tool called CoMakery. I then moved on to turn my art into NFTs on Rarible and the NFT Showroom.

I have created nfts that:

are digital collectibles like this piece
unlock content
represent physical pieces
represent my monthly bills

I see nfts as a way to create a crypto marketplace for myself, my content, art & services. Opening up streams for myself in new economies. I am also up to the creative challenge of adapting my work to translate into this space.

About the Series:

The Story Series is an NFT art collection that represents my artistic expression for the past two years. They are collage style pieces repurposing my physical art and modeling photos. Reinventing my past work is an evolution for me as an artist and it allows me the chance to tell the story, highlighting how all the pieces weave together.

Everything I create is done spontaneously & intuitively. This allows me to reflect on the work afterwards and dig in to find what my and the collective unconscious is communicating.

Everything I’m presenting was made by me almost entirely from my mobile device. Being able to work and create from mobile opens more possibilities and I hope inspires others with limited resources to do the same.