Front Row 3D: Stereoscopic Concert Photography invites the viewer to explore the development of stereoscopic three-dimensional (3-D) imaging and collage throughout his artistic career. The works will explore Coldie’s use of 3-D imaging across a variety of mediums, including lenticular prints, photographs, moving images, and virtual reality (VR). The displayed collection of images derives from a watershed moment for the artist at being invited to multiple concerts around the country from 2009 to 2018, where he assumed the role of official 3-D concert photographer - a position contemporarily largely unheard of. Since then, Coldie entered the ERC-721 token space, began embracing the digital art and ERC-721 token space, where his lenticular style followed him.
While much of Coldie’s early career involved commission-based graphic design projects, the eventual diversion of his focus was inevitable. Then, “the world wasn’t paying attention” to what he was doing, yet through relentlessly freelancing and experimenting during this time of relative anonymity, Coldie was able to crucially hone an evolving understanding of what “art culture means” to him.
Despite his design work, Coldie is firmly “not an illustrator”. Depth - an integral element to the artist’s collaged work - cannot be achieved through illustration, yet the layers created by 3-D photography facilitate the creation of such. Tracing his fascination with the obscure technology of 3-D photography and stereoscopic imaging, Coldie discusses his exposure to early examples of VR and 3-D film as a child.
“My grandparents had something called a magic eye poster, which is a stereoscopic 'trick of the eye' effect.” Each time I see these images, there was a level of creative shock.” His curiosity was innate and subconscious: “I wanted to pick it up and know how those things were made.”
The photographs of Front Row 3D: Stereoscopic Concert Photography depict an era before Coldie discovered blockchain art, prior to his seminal Decentral Eyes series, which personalised the disruptive force of crypto. It’s clear that Coldie’s glorification of blockchain celebrities began with the amplification of musicians during this period of his life, having photographed the likes of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, the XX and Foals at various performances.
For Coldie, his lived experiences alongside an artistic career littered with experimentation have “culminated to what the work is now.” Grounded in both personal and material history, Front Row 3D: Stereoscopic Concert Photography represents how Coldie consistently looks to the future, ahead of the curve. He explains, “I was always thinking about the day I could look at my photos in full-colour VR. This show is a manifestation of a dream.”