NFT Art and the General Art World Just Lost a Great Artist.
Goodbye, Alotta Money.
Alotta Money. Known on Twitter as @money_alotta. The name alone is hilarious. Mysterious, even. And 100% NFT culture. Sadly, Phillipe aka Alotta Money left us for greener pastures in early March, 2022 (3/3/22 some sources say). He was 49, just two days from celebrating half a century of life. But cancer saw to it that the wildly and profitably creative Frenchman never reached his 50th.
A Cryptovoxels citizen, I’ve had the great fortune to visit many of Alotta’s parcels before his untimely departure. I never knew nor spoke to Phillipe personally, so I do not have the luxury of offering any personal insights on the man. But what I can do, and do well, is take you for a partial tour of one of Alotta’s iconic parcels in Cryptovoxels, The Voxel Hotel. I have to say, though, that no read-through can substitute for an in-person visit. So click the links at the end of this article with enthusiasm and experience the wonderful 3D VR buildings of Alotta Money. Now let’s go to The Voxel Hotel.
Curated lodging in the metaverse: The Voxel Hotel
Alotta Money’s Voxel Hotel (Cryptovoxels parcel 2377) is a stunner, both visually and mentally. Suggestion: give yourself three non-hurried visits to this place. I spent a couple of hours here (yes, I’m a true meta-man) and Voxel Hotel seems nearly new to me as I start this tour. Perhaps your ability to mentally take it all in is better than mine. You’ll only know by hitting ‘visit’ or clicking somewhere then hitting ‘spawn here’…! But don’t do that just yet.
Purposed oversaturation is one way I’d describe The Voxel Hotel. So the first thing to do is rotate the whole property with your mouse or finger if on touch screen (works on mobile too). This easy trick is awesome and underrated. You can see the whole building (with mouse-wheel you can zoom in / out) before you dive in. You’re sure to miss things on an Alotta project if you don’t do this. That’s how I caught the cute news anchor in the picture. The yellow arrows show the available rotations. The property spins on one axis by default but with limited view unless you zoom out. Below, I zoomed out using the mouse-wheel:
Here I zoomed in to the Max (below). As in Max Headroom. Ok I thought that was funny. And yes, those are two dancing ‘gram girls - as in hologram - to the right. They and Max are animated (moving), a favorite effect of Alotta. All this just by snooping around outside of The Voxel Hotel. We haven’t even entered yet!
Extreme mouse-wheel zoom-in, continued (below). In this view, rotation brings some crazy results. We get to see between walls (that’s just how the program works), which will help us to navigate this insanely creative place once we finally dive in. The arrow shows wall-separation between two rooms.
Ok, let’s see what suites are available…
The entrance
There are many, many great details and features here. A great thing to do is hover close to them (by flying) and look at the details. To fly in CV use the ‘F’ key. There are voxel sentry, what looks to be a roaming R2D2 - like security bot (wait for it you’ll see it), a door that actually revolves, and a very active security cam (can you spot it?). And of course the ballerina holograms. By the way, there might have been in error in the spelling (Gangnan, under Voxel Hotel) since this section of CV is Gangnam, named after districts in the Korean city of Seoul.
Ok let’s go inside.
Ok let’s take the elevator. Yep, heard right.
Hitting a floor on this meticulously designed panel will *womp you there. But there are elevators in CV that actually move from floor to floor, some automatically; some upon command. *a CV term. I don’t and can’t make these things up.
The second floor
So there are 7 doors on the 2nd floor and I’ll show you what’s behind two of them. And never mind the *spooky twins that flash in the hallway every 20 seconds or so. The nearest door on the left says The Bitcoin Angel - Trevor Jones. And below is the absolutely stunningly beautiful art that lies behind the door. Trevor Jones is an OG crypto artist from Scotland.
I’ll say it’s laziness but it’s really because *The Recurring Twins are rattling my nerves a bit. So I’ll just go to the nearest door on the right titled Miss Al Simpson. Inside is what I’ll call a sexy insane asylum, complete with over-turned tables and chairs and spilt booze. Miss Al Simpson aka Anna Louise Simpson is also an OG crypto artist. She’s also from Scotland (something artistic must be in the water over there. Or the whiskey).
The roof
The roof of The Voxel Hotel must be experienced. I can’t say I’ve been on a more developed roof in CV! Tons going on here - again, a lot of movement / animation. Alotta Money had alotta wit, and could get pretty political, too, as we can see from the picture below (see the two Georges?).
And of course an aerial view will bring unique satisfaction (plus help to make sense of where things are in the building). When in CV one must fly (‘F’ key) in CV! If you are a builder like I am, you’ll probably agree that this aero-bility is much appreciated. And it’s not standard for all ‘verses.
Easy to miss the rooftop pool and its accompanying religious icon unless you’re as curious as me. The thing in the pool is one of Alotta’s small-scale vox creations.
Very fitting to leave the roof with a voxel pigeon picture. I grew up and live in NYC, so this creature deeply resonates with me. It would be fair to say Alotta crafted this miniature with loving care that day.
For time’s sake I’ll keep the verbiage down and show part of the outside of The Voxel Hotel. This is another must-see, and available only by hovering in fly-mode (F key). First, notice the ‘windows’ or portals…are they simply art or entrances to elsewhere?
These can be found along the Hotel’s mid-section, outside, only viewable by flying / hovering. For time’s sake, many more have not been shown…
Easter eggs
Alotta placed ‘easter eggs’ in many of his artworks, and on his properties! An easter egg is a Hollywood movie term for hidden references in a film. Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, and Quentin Tarantino were all famous for repeatedly placing ‘easter eggs’ in their films. But an easter egg will enhance a movie only if you are keen enough to see and understand it. Do YOU see any ‘easter eggs’ in any of the windows shown above? There’s an obvious one in the picture directly above this paragraph.
Alotta didn’t ignore the outside ground level of The Voxel Hotel, and you shouldn’t either. Again, just some of the intriguing designs Phillipe put on the street…
Speaking of seeing things, If YOU CAN NAME the other Alotta property where this robot also chills (a hint is on this page), I’ll send you a Voxeliving beverage. Just tweet the name @voxeliving.
AND THAT concludes my tour of The Voxel Hotel by Alotta Money. It’s a place that has to be visited, especially since most of the features AND artwork are animated. Alotta Motion could be my post-life nickname for this great creative soul. I don’t think he’d be offended. I’m surprised at how much movement Alotta preferred at The Voxel Hotel! Phillipe’s art shows me how low my own appetite is for ‘scripting’ (the tech term for coded asset movement), and visits such as the one I’ve just shared here, with you, will hopefully change that. In other words, going to The Voxel Hotel makes me want to get animated!
How has the art of Alotta Money changed your sensibilities, sense of humor, or understanding of the world?
Alotta Money’s Cryptovoxels constructions.
Alotta’s virtual experiences in the metaverse. VR glasses ok but not needed!
Source: https://alottamoney.com/cryptovoxels/
Use the above link to visit each of Phillipe’s Cryptovoxels parcels (digital land used mainly by Alotta as art galleries) OR the edited list below. The title link (left) is the parcel link, showing the whole property (remember the mouse-wheel trick mentioned earlier). From there you visit. The DIWL (right) puts you in the Cryptovoxels world at the property location, but you won’t see the entire property unless you go to the parcel page or do the mouse-wheel thing, or fly up and away a bit (don’t get lost).
The Voxel Hotel Direct in-world link
The Rose Nexus DIWL
Rendar Gallery (Railroad Apt.) DIWL
Maker’s Place Gallery DIWL
Alotta Money’s Secret Lair DIWL
The Belvedere (no, you’re seeing the building correctly) DIWL
— The following parcels are not on Alotta’s site:
Alotta Voxels (showcases his famous vox-vehicles) DIWL
MoMA (Museum of Money Alotta) DIWL
Scarlet Factory (DIWL) triple-building creation by Voxel Architects feat. art by Alotta
I’ll close out with two Alotta pieces. First is what I’ll call ‘Header 32’. No direct link, but all o’ Alotta’s OG Twitter ‘header’ (banner") commissions are here on his site. Phillipe says his crypto journey started after doing custom Twitter banners between 2018-19.
My second and final showpiece from Alotta is a (partial) selfie! Here, Alotta is clearly the second of two characters in this heavily animated artwork.
Alotta Money website
[UPDATE March 15th] Today I’m reposting this article with clearer pictures and additional links. I also am updating this with some personal thoughts on what Alotta’s Money’s art and music mean to me, since I’ve had some time to reflect since first posting the article nearly a week ago. Alotta is a great source as an NFT artist because he is a 3-in-1 creator. It would’ve been great if he’d just done art, but he went all out and was not only secondly a master voxelist (voxel artist), but thirdly a master virtual architect. And was exceptional at all of the above, with an iconic, unforgettable style of his own. After doing the research for this article and looking at much of Phillipe’s work, I was not the same after. A wall from my latest building endeavor reflects this (below). It’s the most creative wall I’ve done, and I realize now it’s my tribute to Phillipe. Thus was born the Alotta Tribute Wall in (Crypto)Voxels virtual world. You can enjoy it in person here, no headset needed.
RIP, Phillipe, and may art - in all its forms - somehow bring comfort to those suffering in and because of war-torn Ukraine.
[UPDATE November 19th] Many months haved passed since Alotta’s departure. Since then a multiple-artist NFT drop on Nifty Gateway has happened, resulting in the Alotta Swing tribute picture which opens this article. The collection is available on Nifty Gateway.
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