Spotlight

Clokkworky, the Fantom Galxe Memecoin Mystery Mania Artist

We recently launched our first Galxe campaign called Memecoin Mystery Mania to showcase the memecoins bringing value and building real products on Fantom.

All participants will receive a free NFT and have a chance to win a share of $3500 in prizes. The NFTs were created by the artist Clokkworky, and we decided to ask him to share a bit about himself and his journey.

Please be aware, the following blog by the artist Clokkworky contains references to self-harm and other mature topics.

Hey! I'm Yannick, also known as Clokkworky, and I'm a German artist focused on psychedelic cubism, abstract art, psychedelic art, and pepedelic cryptocubism. Besides my artistic expression, I work as a teacher to educate refugees in the subjects of arts and German to help them integrate into their new country.

I have an academic background in arts/economics and philosophy in teacher education. I’m mainly influenced by artists like Alex Grey, Neo Rauch, Benjamin Burkhardt, Dominik Schmitt, Pablo Picasso, Hundertwasser, and Gerhardt Richter. I love to create characters or fictional sceneries/societies and to paint/draw them into existence. Spirituality, music, and nature are the main sources of my inspiration leading back to my favor for the psychedelic culture and interest in forms and shapes.

The liveliest, earliest memories of my artistic journey are linked to my father. He himself owns a large vinyl collection, and often on weekends, we listened to records together from artists like Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Joe Cocker, Jefferson Airplane, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Janus Joplin, etc. Meanwhile, we would draw/paint or reinterpret the respective album covers. Apart from the visual artists mentioned earlier, these musicians and their attached movements always had a big influence on me and my artistic expression and are still very present today.

During my school years, I was also influenced by peer groups from the punk scene and consistently had brilliant teachers who always supported and encouraged my artistic interests. Around the age of 20, I discovered the psy/techno scene which broadened my horizon and my enthusiasm for the psychedelic culture even more and led to new perceptions and crossovers of my musical and visual art interests.

During my studies, I mainly worked in social services, with a job in a closed psychiatry facility for several years having a significant impact on me, my worldview, and my perceptions of people. Touched, shocked, and fascinated by the experiences, patients, and their conditions in this facility, I began incorporating these aspects more frequently into my visual work and psychedelic portraits/sceneries have since become my main theme.

When it comes to Fantom, I started my NFT art journey back in October 2020 with some first experiments on Ethereum, accompanied by some Fantom community-focused artworks, which has been a network I have been engaging with and interested in since ICO days. As soon as the first NFT marketplace Zoo went live, I started my "real" Fantom mainnet journey and the NFT space slowly started to evolve.

In the beginning, it was all pretty chill and just some inspiring stuff I did besides my masters studies at the university. As soon as the Tombheads Auction House came into play, things started to get real crazy, beautiful, and in the end, very dark. It led to a point, where I needed to take a break for almost one year to digest everything that happened and to fight some demons that took over my body and soul. To understand this, I’ll just make a quote of the statement I made back in August 2023:

"It's been over a year since I was actively involved in the NFT space, and I must admit that on one hand, it has been one of the most beautiful experiences in my life, but on the other hand, simultaneously one of the worst.

In the second half of 2021, my life changed drastically overnight, and my journey as one of the most successful artists on Fantom began. At that time, I was actually occupied with my studies in art, economics, and philosophy. However, achieving success in fine art had always been a lifelong dream I pursued on the side. Suddenly, I was surprised by success that most artists never experience, or that slowly develops over the years. In that moment, it was like a punch in the face and difficult to comprehend.

The following 6 months were marked by complete social isolation, an extreme workload (16 hours a day), and massive substance abuse to somehow keep up with the workload and pressure. Eventually, it became a pure escape to avoid dealing with emerging emotions. At the same time, Covid lockdowns were at their peak, making it easy to forget everything around me (girlfriend, friends, family, sports), and lose myself in the digital NFT and crypto universe.

Overwhelmed by the interest in my art, it was difficult for me to even consider rejecting requests and slowing down. I increasingly buried myself in work, which led to even higher substance consumption, while sleep became an absolute rarity. Long story short: I lost substantial control over my life. I also had to realize that people often exploit one's kindness, which hit me hard and left me disappointed.

In July 2022, I found myself at an absolute precipice, both physically and mentally — depressed, lethargic, burnt out, desperate, disappointed, angry, poisoned, and trapped in a dark hole. As very dark thoughts started creeping in shortly thereafter, I really had only two options. Either I regain control, refocus on my health, friends, and family, and begin to address everything, or I end my physical presence.

Fortunately, I chose the first option. To tackle this, I had to initially make a complete cut from the crypto space and its associated toxicity. It was just too much at that time and had affected my life in a way I could never have imagined — it had become an absolute nightmare. So, if you were affected by it, please don't take it personally, but I had an important healing process to go through, and everything else became secondary from then on. I deeply apologize for any inconvenience caused.

This process definitely wouldn't have been possible without the unconditional support of friends, family, and many community members. So, I want to sincerely thank everyone who was there for me during that time, offering kind words and mental support. Your influence on me, my artistic creation, my personality, and my healing is greater than most will realize — you have a very special place in my heart forever. THANK YOU!

Since making the decision to get back on track, what honestly helped me the most was becoming physically fit again. The more regularly I incorporated workouts into my daily schedule, paid attention to my diet, and avoided toxins, the faster my psyche recovered. This automatically led to a new social life as my anxiety gradually faded away. Now, I'm back in top shape; workouts are part of my daily routine, and I feel good, mentally stable, and greatly enjoy the benefits of being part of a community.

As I said, if I had chosen to bring it to an end, it would have been an absolute catastrophe. Furthermore, I owe it to my talent and especially to all of you who have always supported and inspired me. Even though kindness was often taken advantage of by some bad actors, together we raised an incredible amount of donations for those in need. It's in my DNA to care for people, and I fundamentally see myself in a relational learning relationship with this world.

That's why I'm very proud that we all pulled together as a community, living out this perspective, and focusing on donation campaigns, mutual support, and collaborations. Thank you to those who tirelessly kept going and ultimately motivated me not to give up.“

Well, as you can see, the journey has been very volatile so far, just as the space and market itself — covering the euphoric tops and the depressing bottoms. Although I ended up hitting absolute rock bottom and being faced with problems I never imagined, I couldn’t be happier to have these experiences in a space like this.

It was time to make exactly that experience, to reflect, to take a pause, to confront demons, and to unleash new energies. Although I've been at the point of doubting the network, questioning myself, and cursing everything around me several times, I never forget the profound connection I ultimately have with Fantom and the support I've been given. I am infinitely grateful to be part of this network and will always consider it my home.

I cherish every moment I shared with each of you so far over here — no matter if positive or negative, and I’m incredibly excited to see what the future holds for everyone. Some left, some stayed, some joined again, new frens come across, new networks get explored (which I do, too) — I absolutely respect every decision.

It’s an absolute blessing (and grudge) being surrounded by people and minds of all kinds working together, growing together, failing, helping each other, degening together, and inspiring each other. It creates a super intense and challenging environment that is surely not easy to navigate, but in the end, it tells one big story that is influenced by so many deep connections/emotions and actions by all of us — all manifested on-chain. In my case, it’s art, and I couldn’t be more grateful to be able to tell my story to all of you.