Exclusive: XCOPY Unpacks His “Cope Salada” Collection on Shape

It’s hard to imagine an artist who has had a more lasting impact on crypto art than the enigmatic XCOPY.

Always operating to the beat of his own drum, shrouded in anonymity, and situated at the forefront of artistic expression, XCOPY has come to represent many of the ideals on which crypto and the blockchain were founded. At a time when the NFT market is down, his work continues to stand out, not just in terms of sales but also in terms of cultural commentary and technological innovation

Any XCOPY release is a notable event for the web3 community, and his latest “Cope Salada” series, a collection of 1/1/250 pieces on the brand new Shape L2 chain, proved no exception.

We sat down for a rare interview with the elusive and anonymous artist on cope and the current state of crypto. 

nft now: “Cope Salada” feels like a visceral response to the current state of the digital art world. What emotional or thematic energy were you channeling when creating this collection?

XCOPY: Stripped back, raw, unadulterated, undiluted, and pristinely presented grade-A copium.

How does launching “Cope Salada” on the Shape chain push the boundaries of your creative process and the tech behind it?

I developed my process to use vector forms that are small enough to store and render on-chain. The works scale infinitely and are responsive to the canvas. I’ve been working towards this for quite some time.

Your work often plays with dystopian visuals and dark humor. What role does irony play in “Cope Salada,” and how does it reflect the current sentiment in the NFT community?

The work reflects my experience of reality, not just my timeline. Cope is all around us. We all have individual universes to navigate; I navigate mine by making self-deprecating art. If you get your narrative from X, you might think digital art is on the ropes, but compared to five years ago, it’s thriving. 

Shape is known for its unique blockchain infrastructure—how did its features influence or inspire the design of the pieces in “Cope Salada?“

The low fees on Shape (and other L2s) mean it’s more accessible to use the chain as a medium. All the “Cope Salada” files are stored within the contract and can be called by (anyone’s) future code to assemble new works. Ultimately, it’s a different playground from mainnet. We can build a permissionless library of fully onchain composable art. 

You used DECA in large part to run the presales for “Cope Salada,” is this something you see yourself continuing to do in the future?

The DECA artist leaderboards are an excellent tool, providing more granular detail on collectors. In addition to my leaderboard, we also invited collectors from eight other artist communities. This was a fun way to open the release to new participants. It wasn’t perfect, but we’ll improve the process. 

This isn’t your first piece on a different chain, having also minted on tezos a while back. Do you see yourself continuing to use shape in the future in addition to eth?

Absolutely. I want an EVM sandbox to make and collect dynamic, interactive art. We can wait for others to make that a reality or push things forward ourselves.