THRASH BANNERZ FOR THRASH THRASHERZ

Thrash, in this context, is defined as a high frequency energetic force that comes from GOD, and makes it's way into Art, Music, and other procreations that come into existence. In 2010, I released an album called "FRESH MEAT" on a netlabel called "BetaMod Records". The Genre I inserted into the mp3 metadata was "CHIPTHRASH" because I needed a term to define my music. All of my peers on 8bc.org confidently touted the term "Chiptune", but I had nearly zero interest in identifying with Videogame culture. I did not enjoy videogames most of my life; I have very few experiences in young childhood relating to videogames, and the few were quite negative. When I enjoyed myself, I was listening to whatever band or musician my Father, John Larrazabal, was enjoying. I always looked up to my Father as a source of good taste or creative enlightenment. At a very young age, I wanted to find my own visual/audio vocabulary, and in 2006 I naturally gravitated toward the term "Thrash". I had no particular knowledge or interest in "Thrash Metal", but I DID love reading "Thrasher Magazine", and felt very at home in that frequency. Nihilism was never appealing and I never associated with that spectrum, but Skateboarding, Punk Rock, Hip Hop, Jungle, IDM, Breakcore, Harsh Noise, Off-The-Wall art, Glitch Art, Open-Source Code; are all under the umbrella term that I personally define as "Thrash".

This webpage gives context to a new NFT collection of 1555x555px digital art pieces that are intended to be used as digital headers for social media pages and other forms of online visual enjoyment.

Although I recognize the popularity of certain NFT collections on Scatter.art, I do not consider this to be a "Derivative Collection", especially because I have my own format, set of references, and aesthetic.

BUT I SEE SO MANY BANNERS ON SCATTER!

Yeah, I do too. They all look like shitty derivatives of eachother. The "Banenrs 2" collection I helped make a video for, is at least funny and set up very differently than the other ridiculous collections with sayings over random backgrounds.

BANNERZ BY KOOL SKULL are generated from more than 15 years of history as a consistently active, PROGENERATIVE artist. I have curated some of the most relevant references to me, my family, my friends, and those around me whom I love.

Back in the day, every website needed a banner of some sort in order to tell the visitors what the page was supposed to be about, and to set the tone of their experience. Learning web development and coding HTML from FTP's and TextEdit at a young age, I found myself making COUNTLESS banners. Banners for people's Myspace accounts, banners for my own web comics, animated banners for businesses, etc.

I made "banners" before Bitcoin existed, and I am sure many of you have as well, but I am amazed at the remarkable market there happens to be for these. It's almost as if once NFT's came out, everybody watched the same youtube tutorials on how to make assets for corporate social media platforms. Maybe they undertook a new form of Mind Kontrol and ran with it? Who knows?!

My intention for these pieces is to display my old work that existed before this NFT stuff, and whereever possible, include references to OG's who came before me, pay homage to creative geniuses whom I worked with, or just current artists I greatly admire. I have a few friends who made extensive efforts to include their artwork or favorite references into these pieces; creating a mind-blowing amount of variety among thousands of banners.

The majority of this project is derived uniquely from original art I made myself, or photographs I captured. External references are included in order to add context, but most images are digitally manipulated in order to give a holographic look. By brightening the darkest points of the image with neon colors, I was able to transmute high frequency lightcodes out of the digital darkness: symbolically, literally, and intentionally.

I started using computers, Open-source Software, Linux, Gimp, Reaper, Blender, etc. when I was 12. My introduction began when my Father's friend whom had just quit his job at NASA went on to build his own company with a 100% Linux based workflow. I remember enjoying hearing this man speak dismissively about NASA's redundant bureaucracy and I began to be completely obsessed with the concept of open-source software and digital freedom. Since then I have been occupied with capturing artifacts and glitches found in digital media, and bringing them to the forefront of the screen; drawing attention to things that are not meant to be seen, or otherwise overlooked.