Deekay Kwon, born in 1989, is a South Korean animator who lives and works in San Francisco. Before gaining recognition as a leading digital artist, Deekay was a prominent motion designer for some of the world’s leading tech companies including Apple and Google. Deekay discovered NFTs in 2021 and started gaining widespread popularity in the CryptoArt space through strong support from very high-profile collectors such as Cozomo de’ Medici and Mondoir. Deekay is among the most sought after artists in the digital and NFT space. His works achieved records when he sold Life and Death for $1,000,000 in April 2022 to Cozomo de’ Medici.

Deekay's main project is centered around his LetsWalk series. The series will be completed by the present work offered at Sotheby’s. This grand final work is a celebration and mise en abyme of the whole Let’sWalk series and the 100 works that compose it. DeeKay started the LetsWalk project in March 2021, and the goal was to make 100 characters walking. He completed 100 walks in October 2022, which took more than 550 days. And now he has combined all 100 walks into one frame where they all co-exist in his world. A lot of the early Walks are inspired by his fondest childhood memories, and as he continues to create he finds inspiration in his everyday life. In conjunction with the final release of the collection, Sotheby’s will be auctioning off the last moment, a 1 of 1 that celebrates the entirety of the collection and as a grand final of this iconic series.

Deekay has been making digital art for years, but only after finding NFTs he was able to meet his audience and reach critical acclaim. His art is known for telling stories, addressing themes such as nostalgia and joy as well as his social commentary. Deekay is very influenced by the 1990- 2000s gaming aesthetic. In particular, Super Mario where we find direct references to the game through the motion techniques, shapes and texture he uses in his work.

Blinded is a work Deekay created in 2019 in which his very recognizable character is absorbed by his phone leaving his whole surrounded environment gray and absent from his mind. While in the second part you can see this same character being back to life and appreciating its environment. It masterfully showcases how Deekay always uses naive and humoristic style and narrative to address comments on the post digital era and GEN Z.

Deekay was also very influenced by the South Korean illustrator and cartoonist artist, Kim Jung Gi. Besides the artistic style, we also see parallels in their creative process and philosophy towards the arts which involves deep introspection.

Deekay mainly uses different tools through his creation process. He first draws his sketches using Photoshop. Then he completes the designs of different assets using Illustrator. Finally Deekay brings his works to life using AfterEffects. The below GIF showcased the different parameters the artist sets in order to create the level of exaggeration he desires to input in his final work.