On July 20, muralist, designer, and illustrator Eric Friedensohn — known by his artist name Efdot — is releasing his latest NFT collection: Elements. Comprised of five editions of works themed around the Classical elements — earth, air, fire, and water, and a unique fifth component — Elements aims to draw viewers’ attention to the underlying and eternal beauty of the natural world, all while telling an important story along the way.

His first collaboration with Web3 platform Transient Labs, Elements is the product of the artist’s time at the Kaaba Luum Artist Residency in Tulum, Mexico. He spent a week there in 2022 crafting large-scale physical paintings on wood panels that were later digitally animated.

Efdot consciously crafted the details of the release alongside Transient Labs to ensure the drop was done right at a time when the NFT market has seen better days. We sat down with the artist ahead of the drop to learn more about the philosophy and mindset behind the collection as well as the creative drop mechanics involved in its release.

The fifth element

Efdot’s abstract and figurative style is unmistakably present in Elements, lending itself to vivid compositions that are deeply rooted in emotion and open to interpretation.

“The abstraction that I put in my work is, on one hand, just lines, symbols, and shapes that can be interpreted in a lot of different ways,” Efdot said of his work while speaking to nft now. “But if you zoom out and look at the whole piece, each Element is supposed to have a feeling of flow or the balance of positive and negative space that creates an energy and its own personality.”

After completing the four pieces and returning home, Efdot crafted a fifth piece, a physical drawing that he later decided would be a good thematic link back to the original pieces in the collection. Called Elemental Glow, the piece is the result of Efdot’s research into a fifth element that was a common part of several ancient cultures’ belief systems. The piece will be a free claim for those who collect each of the four main artworks and comes with a corresponding original drawing on paper that will be raffled amongst holders.

“It’s the mother of all the other elements,” Efdot elaborated. “It’s their version of the Big Bang, basically; how all the other four elements came from this one moment. I got that feeling after I made the piece — sometimes I’m not sure what I’m making until after it’s done, and then it kind of takes on its meaning. It just felt like a great way to tie up the series.”

“Nature has this ever-evolving DNA, like one giant generative artwork, and photographers can capture that instantly and preserve it as it is. But with my abstract work, I’m trying to tap into something that’s not visible and make it visible.”