Even if the dark and intricate style of her works could deceive you, Batt is a really lovable, sweet and sometimes a bit of a goofball, 24 years old 2d artist of our community, born and living in the beautiful and lovable country of New Zealand.

“I've been drawing my whole life, and my art has evolved into what I describe as dark, weird, and intimate. It's almost like therapy for
me, where I have so much bouncing around my head and the only way to
get it out is through my hands.”

She opens up this interview with one of the most common reasons that keep almost every artist stuck to doing art during their life, is our way to put something from inside of us, onto paper.

A little bit of Batt’s story

Sometimes we as artists, don’t immediately realize how much art is important to us, because the way we feel is just better, we just enjoy the newfound peace and this was particularly true for our Batt:

“I'm not sure I ever had a moment of realization, more just an
acceptance that I was that way. I used to doodle in classes at school
because it would help me listen to the teacher. As a teenager and
entering adulthood, I used to smoke because it would help me calm my
thoughts down. Now that I've quit, drawing has the same calming
effect.”

I still can’t bear with how art is capable to help us get through tough times and how can make our life (pun not intended) more bearable.

But back to school (Or maybe not?), we return to talk about Batt’s story

" I actually left high school when I was 17 (conventional school
didn't fit me too well) and being "the artist" among my friends and
family, I felt a lot of pressure to pursue art. So I went to a
very good art school fresh out of high school, where I studied
Animation & Video full time for a year. It involved a lot of 3D
animation and modelling as well as film making."

Whoever has been to art schools (More heavy and prestigious they are more this happens) knows that for an artist can be not so easy

“ It was there that I really struggled, I went from being "the artist"
to just being "an artist", surrounded by other incredible artists. I
often compared myself to them and felt I wasn't good enough to do art
as a career.”

As tough as they are they become even heavier when you realize that maybe the art field you decided to get in, is not actually the one that is best for you

“I also learned there that my brain struggles to put together a 3D
world on a 2D space (a computer screen). I ended up barely finishing
the course and didn't continue. I did learn a lot of valuable skills
there though.”

Although the tough times for Batt, seems so heavy and present, is so nice to see how much art was able to help her, now as well as when the covid situation started

“Well before COVID, I was working in the travel industry doing a job I
really liked. Since I lost my job, it was a real struggle to find a
new job, and the travel industry was out of the question. I ended up
having to go back to factory work. It's been really hard, as I sort of
implied before, I have a very active brain. The factory work I do is
extremely monotonous and doesn't require any thinking. It's actually
been really depressing. So having art when I get home has been even
more of a blessing.”

When talking about her story tho she decided to end up with a positive note about her future in our community:

“As for my future direction, I definitely see NFT's being a huge part
of my future. Before NFT's, I was doing custom portrait commissions
for very cheap. While they weren't the best income, they let me hone
my skills, and practice and grow as an artist. Now I feel like I'm at
a moment where I'm putting forth my best work and I'm getting so much
love and support back from the NFT community. I really hope to grow
in this space.”

Back To The Nfts!

Let’s continue the discovering trip about the deep artistic roots of our Batt discovering more about her inspiration of notion that she spills on the paper every time she makes a new piece through her nft pieces!

Created on Procreate, 297x420mm canvas

https://foundation.app/@Battbatsuto/friends-45657

Her Genesis - "Friends"

“When I start drawing, I don't usually have a topic or theme in mind,
I just draw and see what comes out. For this one, I had no intentions
for it to become what it did. I think when I draw freely like this, I
start to put some subconscious thoughts into the art. At some point in
drawing this, I realized I was channeling some energy from past
friendships. Friendships that I put a lot of my heart into, but in the
end they were toxic and I had to let them go. I really feel like maybe
I had some lingering hurt from betrayals and all of that spilt out
into the art. I often was thinking of the song "Friends" by Flume and
Reo Cragun. I really like the energy in that song, the hurt, and how
negatively we can be affected by toxic friendships. I wanted to direct
that energy into my piece..”

Toxicity, I can’t think of a single thing that art is able to absorb from the mind of an artist, directly on his media from painting to writing, more than it.
Art saves us and takes the bad out of us sometimes creating deep masterpieces, beautiful pieces of art, like this one from Batt, for me the definition of a genesis, being reborn after being released of external toxicity.

A natural curiosity that I had watching her work was about the way she draws eyes and luckily, I got a response from that!

”I tend to draw multiple eyes in a lot of my drawings just because I
like the way they look, very alien, in this sense I wanted it to look
different from the main eyes, to show it as if the character, through
their experiences, now has a new way of looking at people around her.
The pupil is very small like it's honing in, almost like an invisible
laser beam, to be able to better see who is going to be a positive
force and who will not.”

Moving to her other works

After talking about the genesis, I feel that her Hen pieces needed some space in the interview too!

"Dysmorphia"

Glorified Self Portrait

https://www.hicetnunc.xyz/objkt/72042

"This is actually an older drawing and it's what got me started on
doing portrait commissions. It's really just a drawing of me but I
wanted to make it weird and crazy. I take a lot of inspiration from
Japanese artists, and they often used snakes as symbolism in their
pieces. After this drawing, I realized I loved to draw them and you
will see them appear here and there in my later artwork!”

“Eelhead”

Open up, pretty

https://www.hicetnunc.xyz/objkt/63089

“This one is strange because I've had a lot of people ask me what
this means and I really have no idea. It came from a word prompt
"Fish" and I just got this idea. In a way I'm fascinated by the idea
of having this porcelain-like, innocent face, with something
"disgusting" hidden inside. (Eels are actually super cool, though!)
The spiral position stems from Junji Ito's "Uzumaki", about the
obsession of spirals.”

“Noh”

Part of Shibari Series

https://www.hicetnunc.xyz/objkt/94200

“I've talked about my Shibari girls a little bit before. Once again,
inspired pretty heavily by Japanese art. Shibari is fascinating to me
because it can be about both sex and fetish, as well as control,
vulnerability, intimacy, trust and emotion. I really enjoy the works
of Seiu Ito, a Japanese Shibari artist, however, I think of my Shibari
girls as being more delicate where his work can feel almost
aggressive. “

“I try to capture some of the vulnerability in my other Shibari girls,
with the use of a hollow chest or stomach, or missing pieces of the
body. It's like they're giving themselves to someone else and
releasing control. To me it feels like the ultimate form of trust,
especially knowing that the art of Shibari once originated from tying
up prisoners"

"You're Awake"

Welcome back

https://www.hicetnunc.xyz/objkt/94200

“This was actually just a really fun one to do!! I hope this doesn't
take the magic away but I was actually inspired by a stupid photo I
saw one day where a doctor drew on a second pair of eyes. I thought it
looked so creepy and cool and made me think.. "Imagine waking up to
that!!". Being a big fan of aliens, I really wanted to do a painting
of it. This is one of my first paintings done in this style, I really
enjoy doing them and I think they bring something a bit different to
my other pieces.”

The red thematic string linking her work together is evident, every single of her pieces is made from these finely sketched traits, the level of detail of the traits seems so extremely fine-tuned to give the mood of the drawing even before you realize what has been drawn.

We can see her works, more as a fine expression of what a journey on top of the pencil used to draw would look like, that just something to watch in our short attention spans.
Rarely I found myself returning to a piece to appreciate the perfect weight of the pencil, but you can be sure, that i returned more than one time on her works.

Some ending routine Questions:

You were the same that said: "I don't think I will have to say that much for the interview"

Hahaha!! I actually have never had a chance to talk about my art or
myself as an artist.. when I think about myself I just think "well I
just go home and draw, there's not much more to it" but now you're
making me realize there's A LOT to it and I do have a lot to talk
about!

How the community has impacted you?

Oh man.. such a massive impact. It's hard to put into words.. I've
never felt so much love and support for me and my art. I've made
incredible friends and I've never been so motivated to create. I am
driven to keep improving and putting my best work forward, and
supporting others that want to do the same. Even if NFT's disappeared
tomorrow, I could still say I gained so much just from being here.

What was your impact and how do you feel about the nft community?

I don't know if I've made an impact on the community as a whole but I
do hope I've made an impact on some of the individuals in this space.
I always try to hype up other artists, share their work, buy their
work, and just chat to anyone that wants to talk!

Two colours that you love?

I don't really have favourite colours, it changes a lot! Maybe green
and purple

What particular type of food do you like the most?

I could eat ramen forever!!

And tv show?

Twilight Zone is #1. X-Files a close second!

Now the complex one, most beloved comic series?

This won't surprise anyone but Junji Ito is incredible!! And so so
humble.

I really enjoyed "Uzumaki" and "Shiver"

Batt in Some words.

I don’t know what to say, I love her work, she is such a sweet human being, i can’t do anything but just hope to see her thrive, here or out of the space!