Legacy and Love: Remembering Alotta Money
For artists, collectors, and enthusiasts of the Crypto Art space, the name Alotta Money or Philippe Fatoux means — a lot. To many, the name represents a friend gone too soon, with one such case being that of artist Trevor Jones.
To understand his unique relationship with Alotta, we spoke with Jones, who shared insight into their history, and projects they had worked on, as well as a closer look at the recent Alotta Money Charity Exhibit and Auction held in partnership with MakersPlace during Castle Party 2023.
This is a story of friendship, art, and community.
Alotta Money
As mentioned above, Alotta, the French crypto artist was beloved by many in the Web3 space, for everything from his artwork to his personality — which encompassed humor, cunning, and all-around positivity that he shared with everyone he came in contact with, whether appreciated or not as Jones shared in a recent post on X.
Although the OG crypto artist was focused on refining his own craft, many testify that he always found the time to help others with theirs, a reflection of his character and dedication to the space. The loss of Alotta to cancer in early March of 2022 was felt throughout Web3, as fans, collectors, and fellow artists came forth to show their love and pay their respects, including Jones, XCOPY, Pranksy, and many others.
Having begun his Crypto Art journey in 2018, the self-described “Crypto Artist, Voxels architect, Photoshop Priest, VR&AR Maximalist, NFT Machine & Most Humble Visual Orgasm Provider in the Space,” will be remembered as a true OG, an inspiring artist, and a beloved friend by hundreds if not thousands in the Web3 space.
Art, Friendship, and NFTs
Speaking with Jones about his personal and professional relationship with Alotta, he said “Personally and professionally, you can’t really separate them because he was my friend and we worked together and that’s just how we always were.”
“You know, he was definitely the most fun collaborator who I’ve worked with. Everything was easy. There was no stress. We just had a laugh the whole time,” he explained adding “We had a mutual love and respect for each other. We both had a silly sense of humor. And you know, whenever the shit was hitting the fan in the space, which it so often does, we would just have a laugh, at everything that was going on around us. He always made me feel better and I hope that I did the same for him.”
Jones went on to share that it was tough for him and his wife Violet, to be so far away from Alotta during his last days, when they had known for a few months about how things were going with his health and the fears that he had expressed to them.
“At the same time, he was still constantly joking around, laughing in the face of death. He was he was that kind of guy.” (BQ)
Jones shared that Alotta was everything to him in this space and explained how the two had worked on EthGirl (2019), his Genesis piece was a collaborative effort with Alotta.
“I had been keeping an eye on NFTs for quite a few months in early 2019 but I didn’t really know how my work would fit within that space. I saw myself as a traditional oil painter. That explored various technologies like augmented reality, QR codes, and so forth. But I didn’t really understand a lot of the different levels of how my work could be translated into an NFT.”
He added “There were a lot of different variables involved. I just wasn’t really connecting the dots. At that time part to do with markets and so on. But then when things really started to kind of move along in the space, Alotta was the first person that I thought of that I wanted to work with because I just had a great relationship and I knew that he would be the one to be able to help me through all the questions.”
The collaborative work would go on to sell for 70 ETH at the time of release, which Jones recalled was worth approximately $10,00 USD and represented a record-breaking sale at the time, acting as a beacon to other artists and further validating the space as a whole.
Tribute Exhibition
Speaking on the recent Castle Party event, the significance of its IRL component, and the related Charity Auction held in partnership with MakersPlace, Jones shared “When I first came up with the idea to throw a castle party Philippe was still alive, he had bought a ticket to come to Castle Party 2022 in Scotland and when he passed away in March of 2022 it made me rethink the whole party.”
“It made me think in a different way, especially with regard to being able to meet people in real life — it took a turn from a celebration for my Bitcoin Angel holders to an opportunity to meet up with people who I cared about, artists and collectors who I admire.”
“The way I started to see the space and how everything fit together was about friendship and IRL meetings. This was all kind of inspired by my friendship with Alotta and the fact that he passed away and we never actually managed to meet in real life,” shared Jones.
He further explained that the integration of a physical space, with physical artwork and screens provided another layer to the exhibition, making it more tangible and also providing weight to it that worked nicely with all of the other activities taking place during Castle Party 2023.
“I think really added value to the whole party experience and really gave it something that is important and special,” he said.
Curation and Results
Jones shared with us that the decision to run the Exhibition/Charity event with MakersPlace came about organically, as the two have a long history of working together and a well-maintained relationship. He added “It made sense to work with them. I like what they do and what they stand for.”
As for curation, Jones explained “It started off I think online with me just putting a tweet out that we’re accepting artists’ work, you know, a kind of ‘just kind of drop your work here.'”
He further explained that from the post, all of the works were compiled into a folder, where MakersPlace then curated the selection down to 50 some works from 400. From there, Jones said he selected 12 works that he personally “really wanted to see in the exhibition.”
Speaking to the selection process, he said “The criteria was that it being a tribute exhibition to Alotta Money, that ideally the artists would have had some kind of relationship with Alotta, or that I felt their work would translate in such a way that it would really shine a light on Alotta, on his personality, and his humor.”
Another aspect Jones said was considered, was works that would raise the most amount of money for Maggie’s, the associated charity. This is something he and MakersPlace clearly achieved, as the auction raised over $240,000 USD, $140,000 of which was donated to Maggie’s, resulting in its largest single donation since its establishment 27 years ago.
“Every single artist I think really felt the significance and importance of this exhibition and put so much into their work,” Jones expressed.
Participating artists included Pak, Hackatao, José Delbo, Bryan Brinkman, mbsjq, PRIMAL CYPHER, Glass Crane, David Ariew, NFN Kalyan, Afonso Caravaggio, Kitty Bast, Metageist, Perry Cooper, Skeenee, Daniella Attfield, Pepelangelo, Mr Richi, Marc Simonetti, George Boya, Patric Ortmann, Pascal Boyart, Kristian Levin, Linus Dahlgren, EM!, Violetta Palak Jones, Rukmunal Hakim, Saint MG, Daniel Martin, and NurArt.
The two works netting the highest sales included 404 by Pak and Dollars Alotta Money by Pascal Boyart, closing at $76,014 USD and $65,168 USD respectively.
Community Canvas
While the physical Castle Party 2023 event may have come to an end, the figurative party goes on, with Jones and MakersPlace announcing that the community canvas painted by attendees is set to go up for auction soon.
Additional proceeds raised will also go to benefit Magie’s, to further the charity’s ability to provide support for cancer patients and their families.
The painting, which features brush strokes from a variety of well-known Web3-based artists, collectors, and enthusiasts, further exemplifies the community-building prowess that Alotta embodied, as well as the love and energy he brought to the space.
Despite the massive amount of work and moving parts that went into the auction and physical Castle Party event, Jones expressed that “Everything went beautifully” and that it brought him immense joy “to see everybody there have such an amazing time.”
He added it’s a “lifetime memory — no one will ever forget the time that they spent at Château de Vallery in France and the people that they were hanging out with. The amount of smiles, laughs, and great memories that came about through the party has brought me the most joy.”