LOGIK: Tieshun 'Pacman' Roquerre 'Knows His S--t'

As part of our special NFT series, we asked the artist LOGIK to make an image of Tieshun 'Pacman' Roquerre, founder of Blur and Blast.

Click here to view and bid on the NFT created by Logik. The auction will begin on Monday, 12/4 at 12p.m. ET and ends 24 hours after the first bid is placed. Holders of a Most Influential NFT will receive a Pro Pass ticket to Consensus 2024 in Austin, TX. To learn more about Consensus, click here.

We spoke with LOGIK about his work for the question and answer below.

Tell us about how or why you became an artist. And why did you choose to create NFTs?

As a child, I was exposed to a wide variety of films, thanks to my dad's work in an advertising company and later a movie distribution company. I had access to promotional movie copies (before Blockbuster): classics, anime, French noir, Black films, dramas, horrors, and Disney movies. Growing up in Ferguson, St. Louis, I realized that the opportunities for someone who looks like me were limited, which was the driving force for me to create something of my own. I was already artistic and loved drawing in class. When I visited Disney World and other magical places, I was inspired to create something more vibrant and exciting than my environment. I was ultimately bored with what life had to offer and wanted to create and experience new things.

Talk about your artistic approach to creating an image for this year’s Most Influential.

I'm a gamer, from Atari to LAN parties in the early 2000s. I was addicted to World of Warcrack for a bit and participated in Gamebattles (IFYKYK). Like gaming, the crypto market has winners and losers; the newbies usually get owned (pwned).My NFT isn't an image; it comprises two animations! “Pwning N00BS” is inspired by Pacman and his gamelike NFT trading platform Blur.io because its appearance changes based on Ether's current 24-hour price difference. Thus, depending on whether the price of Ether is up or down, you will see a different version of the NFT.

When ETH is up, Pacman runs while chomping on endless ETH. When ETH is down, Pacman falls through a blissful bed of clouds.Pacman (Tieshun Roquerre) disrupted the NFT exchange industry, becoming both a hero and villain in the NFT world, which I illustrated with the halo and horns. Pacman designed Blur.io specifically for "pro-NFT traders" to offer speed and market transparency, leading Blur.io to become the number one NFT exchange by volume in 2022. However, some argue that Blur.io has taken attention and liquidity from the art and builder market, making the space solely about money

Who do you think are the most influential NFT artists a day?

Terrell Jones, Latasha, TK the Legend, Efdot, Coldie, XCopy, Beeple, Patrick Amadon, Nyla Hayes, Corey Van Lew, Goldie, Waheed Zai aka All Smilesss, IMCMPLX, 3Blau, Clon, Seneca, Emonee LaRussa, Bryan Brinkman, Tony Babel, SnowFro, Shavonne Wong.