Artist Talk : Ali Sabet
Host: Donglee Han, Sunjae, and recorded by Laylay
May 28, 2021 12:00AM PST
The Beginnings of the Famous NFT Artist, Ali Sabet
Ali Sabet has been working as a designer, painter and illustrator for over 20 years. He graduated from California State University Fullerton in 1999. He drew illustrations, but wasn’t always good at it. He also worked in branding and marketing.
From an early age, he liked Sanrio (home of Hello Kitty) and even saw it as a part of his future career. He first started working in graphic design before he moved onto an advertising company as a full-time employee. His anxiety got worse whilst working at the advertising agency, leading him to resign and focus on branding his own company.
Whilst branding, he mainly focused on designing the image and visual elements for various companies.
Through his work, many small companies were able to find their identity and at that point branding took up most of his career. Although the majority of his work was affiliated with branding, he always wanted to work on character design. He took a shot at character designing and was active on social media, but wasn’t successful in a business aspect. Around 2010, he began to gain recognition as an artist through Instagram — it was then when he started to realize what he really wanted to do.
Transitioning from a Branding Director to a Full Time Artist
As time went on, his character designing skills improved and he understood how to brand and market himself as an artist. Although he was gaining experience, business was still difficult. After staying consistent since 2010, in 2015, he temporarily halted character design and started drawing women. He experimented a lot with markers and pens and started gaining an interest in calligraphy brushes and oriental paintings.
After 2015, Sabet decided to become a full-time painter and he debated a lot on how to paint. He had plenty of experience as a designer, but lacked a lot as a painter. Therefore, he decided to spend 3-6 hours every single day painting. At this point, it’s been 6 years since he decided to be active as a designer and on Instagram.
During this time, his emotionally difficult experiences and anxiety gradually started healing. He began to receive spiritual energy while painting and wanted to express those feelings through his work.
His once dark art started turning brighter. Sales slowly began to take place and he started planning between 2015-2019.
He worked with brands like Montblanc and was even invited by large luxury department stores to sign autographs and sell his work. Through those opportunities, his profits gradually shifted from his art rather than his work as a designer.
Because there were no galleries near his home and had to travel 40 minute up to LA to even see an art scene, he thought about ways to create his own art scene with his personal colors. As he collaborated with companies like Montblanc, he filmed videos of his work which he later used to solidify his own brand, Sabet.
Advantages of the Digital World
Ali also sold a lot online. With the help of his friends, he organized selling like a game that is suddenly released at a cheap price — for example, he would sell a piece from 2016 for $25. He would upload 5 pieces a day for cheap, and after doing so for a month, he was able to sell 170 pieces for about $35,000. But there were also difficulties. That meant that he had to create all 170 pieces, package them, and send it out for delivery.
Painting, preparation, photography, and sales were repeated every day by hand. During special sales, it was difficult to do the process in one day, he started to plan systematically to reduce anxiety. For example, he would use an iPad to easily create art or promote/schedule. He also automated reservations to lessen the stress.
Using these tools and techniques, he was able to speed up his work. It allowed him to work on more than 150-250 pieces a month and easily reach a large number of people with videos and art at a lower cost. People who had never bought art appeared and purchased the product at a low cost. $25, $50, and $100 — it gradually went up, and 20 to 30 people started buying them.
He started to make a wide spectrum of works by investing in expensive works and better prints. Many artists are concerned with pricing, but Ali believed that selling a lot was his priority. As a result of his hard work, in 2019, he quit his job as an art director and was able to fully pursue his career as an artist for the past two years.
Following that, the lightning sales have subsided. As the public became accustomed to shorter content, the level of concentration disappeared and became less effective. As a result, Also hosted daily auctions on Instagram to let users purchase works in a fun way, at a cheaper price.
Changes After Entering the NFT Space
As a whole, everything returns and recycles. Ali had to take care of my family, so he had to get used to it very quickly. He was very familiar with NFTs because it correlated with the things he had been doing thus far. He listed artwork without any printing or actual sending before, so he got started quickly.
As a result, entering the NFT world was a comfortable experience. As he progressed, he thought that could stand out from other people. He did not think in dollars when setting the price and kept it exclusive to Ether. The number of issuances was 0.1 for 10 issues, or 10 for 1 Ether. Through social media marketing, sales started taking off.
The work style that Ali had accumulated over the past 10 years as a designer …. in NFT, his objectives were drawing women and work with scripts oriental texts, and he was able to try and test many things rather than worrying about whether they would be sold or not. Another important thing was community building — he wanted to build a community where he can support other artists as well.
At the time, everyone was new to the NFT space and the rules were still being constructed. Because it had to do with big money, Ali felt pressured to follow those rules (current NFT state). He came to not care about those pressures and now views it as the process of finding what he needs to do. In the meantime, He’s been paying attention to what he’s already accomplished doesn’t prioritize other things. He believes that everything will work out and is pouring his energy out in creating.
Questions From Korean Artists
Sunjae's Question: When you started working with NFTs, were there any areas that you were dissatisfied with or found difficult?
“Because my original paintings (outlines) were done digitally, there wasn’t a huge difference when creating. People buy NFTs because they want the original copy. While selling, I noticed that Sabet's customer base appreciated that we were able to add more detail than the original copy and customize the colors. Sales increased by 20-30%.
For some, the easy parts are easy and for others they are difficult. Those who are not familiar with the iPad should take better pictures of the original with the camera.
If I had to reveal the biggest secret, whether it's in the world, in real life, online, or in a community, exchange or energy, I think things like emotional waves play an crucial role. Sabet's work has a lot to do with healing, and I found that the energy and waves I felt and radiated began to affect the people around me. When those emotional energies are released, people around me tremble and begin to experience it as well. There are number of other great effects of the wavelengths. When energy and soul were contained in certain artwork, people who have seen it say that they received emotional healing.”
Sunjae’s Question: Sabet was at the center of the NFT world and there are so many things to learn from it. One of my friends bought a piece from Sabet but they criticized the artist for making too many without rarity. What do you think about that?
“From a collector's point of view, you might think ‘why do you make so many? Wouldn’t that lower the value?’ I have been making art for 6 years. Not once in my career has anyone told me to stop creating. The work that your friend bought is called ‘Quarantine Magic’. Three of these were sold for 10 ether, and I made 25 similar images with a poster-like feel which I sold for much cheaper at 0.25 eth. Those people wanted to return it, but the ones who bought it at a high price have never even had the concept of a return. I just informed them that it is not a problem that can be helped. This was edited in a slightly bad way caused bad rumors to roam around Twitter. ‘Quarantine Magic’ was targeted.
At this time, I learned two lessons. First, I realized that although there are people that I’ve built close friendships with from the start, some people can still manipulate my words. I made friendships and exchanges, but I learned that it was personally too difficult to maintain.
The second is that some of the 25 are not on the blockchain and I want to buy them right away before buying them with Ether, but I traded them because I thought I could not get the transfer right away, and that was a target. I thought that everything could be done on the blockchain because it was transparent.
When this happened, I also had a family to take care of so I organized it well, got out of it, and quickly moved on to the next work: I made ‘Gasoline’, 1 edition, and made 100 ether. I put video clips that showed me working on the project in 25 pieces and sold them for cheap. I made this right after the incident because I wanted people to be able to decide for themselves if they want to buy from me or not. ‘Gasoline’ was created and minted in one day.
Recently two of Sabet’s pieces have been put up in a large auction that is 10 times as large as the Christie auction in China.
Finally, I want to say that art is not something you can just decide and do. Don’t feel like you need to succeed secondary market. Instead of trying to create for collectors, it’s important to focus on doing your work for yourself.
Currently, there are about 88 whale collectors in the NFT world. After talking with them, I decided to mint one NFT, and I made it a healing frequency with 1of1. There is an original, and a process of making it, and that is what is sent to the auction. It's called the “number one auction” in Sabet language. I’m not sure how much it sells for, but it's set at 25 ether — I don’t know why this situation isn’t a problem. (?) The important point is that it’s an auction, and I think it would be good to see the making film.”
Grida’s Question: For the first question, Sabet talked a lot about energy, but there are cases where the artist is already working and receiving treatment. Do you receive healing from that work as well?
“To give one example, while working in a very busy cafe, I once felt a space open up on top of my head and I felt energized. When I experience something like that while working, the viewer also feels great that energy and appreciates that piece. Even if a work seems like nothing special, whether it be drawings of flowers or butterflies, I believe that the energy is fully contained. You’re pouring out not just yourself, but also your energy into the work and it changes throughout.
Sabet’s works have feminine and organic elements, so they have a positive energy which I try to incorporate into my pieces. “
Chinese elements like Poetry (Sijo), calligraphy, and painting are found in Sabet’s works. He saw that the oriental elements of Iranian culture come out naturally with Iranian language. He started simply drawing works of women containing message of love, and later saw that the lines and strokes of each layer contain energy which is the highlight of the piece. The small elements of each layer are what makes the work come to life.
