Stefano Fraone, better known as DotPigeon, is an Italian digital artist. ^[1][3]

Biography

DotPigeon was born in Milan, Italy, in the year 1987. He had most of his formative years in Italy, and he is majorly a speaker of Milanese.

He began to explore the artistic world as he was driven by the passion and the desire to tell through images a vision of the era Humans live in. Starting from the famous social platform, which actually represents what the subway walls represented in the 80s for Keith Haring and other artists who are now part of the great collections of museums and private individuals, DotPigeon gives life to works capable of catalyzing the attention of the public but also of the most innovative companies in seeking dialogue with millennials - including Swatch who has chosen his art to describe one of the latest collections.

Education

Leaving no clue about his educational background, DotPigeon has yet demonstrated a great fluency in his use of his mother Italian language and English language, suggesting that he is a learned fellow.

Although his discipline is not yet concretely available.

DotPigeon-The Masking & Naming

DotPigeon has been 'the man' lately with Digital arts and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT). He is mostly seen by all as the masked-Italian artist, whose interest in anonymity remains uncertain.

In an interview with one Micol about DotPigeon's artwork tagged "Dark and Twisted Fantasy", DotPigeon unravels the mystery behind the masked guy and his role in there.

In response to the interviewer's question as to who is the masked guy, he said

" It is definitely me, but, it's not just me...It's Us!

DotPigeon felt, the portrayed image of the masked man is a representation of him, but more than that, it is also a universal image of everybody. He further explains that houses in his artworks represent what humans intend to share with the world, such as the beautiful smiling faces expressed to others, and our externalities. ^[2]

DotPigeon further explains that:

In this (i.e by doing these) our true nature is hidden, but it's not dead.

"The Balaklava Guy represents absolutely our true nature,He represents our frustrations our instinct to scream our will to destroy everything set everything on fire."

"So even when everything apparently is looking awesome. Something is glitching and this is what the balaclava is, so, it's me. I think many people can relate to this concept."- DotPigeon

Relaying that the pigeon in English is an urban animal capable of adapting to any conditions, thus representing his reckless spirit.

DotPigeon's mask is best summed up in what he called the Dark Twist, explaining that as what is shown in dissonance with what is felt inside of Humans.

Multi-Faced

With designs including beautiful houses, homes for the rich, (in which a character with his face covered by a balaclava sneaks, which is obscuring his previous generalities) as embedded in his artwork, everyone wonders who then is DotPigeon.

A thief? A Provocateur? A Sadist? A maniac? For DotPigeon, these multi-faced appearance is simply, the most hidden part of himself, the one that reacts with anger to the obligation to appear respectable and without emotions, in line with a facade that once would have been called “bourgeois”, and which today responds to the need to show oneself “politically correct”, always and in any case.

Career

DotPigeon launched into his career on a full-time job as an art director supervisor in an advertising agency. He has described himself as not an artist daytime, hence this artwork of his was previously seen by him as a side job.

DotPigeon, the Italian Nifty Gateway artist began his advertising career in 2010 and has won national and international awards such as Cannes Lions, Eurobest, and Italian Art Directors Club.

In 2017 he created DotPigeon, as an art project that utilizes Instagram as a platform. DotPigeon gets his inspiration from pop culture, politics, icons, and trends of the moment; as all these form the ideas behind his artworks making them appear similar in unveiling simple and understandable messages executed in a clean and visually satisfying way. ^[5]

Rise To Fame

DotPigeon's rise to fame was not a sudden overnight dream come true. But at the beginning, he reportedly dedicated himself to glitch art (the art of error) but it was a road that did not "pierce". So he looked for and found a simple form of expression that was immediate, direct, and popular on an aesthetic level. Upon following this path, with bacon lightning, for example, the creations went viral within a few hours and landed on pop blogs and newspapers.

In just over a year, DotPigeon's Instagram account aggravates a total than 40 thousand people and his works are published by several newspapers such as (Forbes, Fubiz, Designyoutrust, Designtaxi, CNN, Darlin Magazine, Collateral, Il Messaggero, Freeda, Trendland, Picame Mag, Etc.).^[5]

NFT & The Balaclava Guy

I started selling my digital works with NFTs, and I changed my life- DotPigeon ^[6]

Beginning with DeviantART, 16-year-old DotPigeon had practically delved into an intro of digital art, way back in 2003. Although he said in his words

I wouldn't call what I was doing at the time "art," though.

For a number of years, he remained stationed as regards his artworks and would resume in a more structured way in 2017, when he opened the Instagram profile. Somewhere around September 2020, he first heard Nifty Gateway mentioned, and that has been his breaking forth into the NFT-Verse for him.

After writing Nifty Gateway's page, he made his first drop, which was kind of bizarre and he described this first NFT drop thus:

The collection was outside my style, and I didn't even promote it — in the sense that I still didn't realize how huge the potential of the community was.

After releasing his second drop and identifying his uniqueness, DotPigeon said

I absolutely had to be myself and stick to my style as much as possible.

In no time, he had gained an impressive stance as a Digital art, Crypto Artist, and NFT trader, having made NFTs trade worth over $100 million USD.^[3]  [6]

Art

Arts & Meaning

In his works houses represent the shell, the exterior part. The humans better face, the well-ironed dress, the one he believes everyone intends to show others. These houses are well-finished, perfect, and visually fulfilling- Their gardens, always green, their floors always polished, and their surfaces flawless, and that never does it rain out there- practically painting what he believes has the human's true nature (hidden and repressed) living.

Evidently, its look is in conflict with those houses. A description he explains that " a continuous glitch in the human system is underway". He went on to say:

While we’re mowing the lawn, cleaning the floor and we’re worried about making these houses so perfect, our real soul looses control, takes control, it destroys, it ravages, it sets everything on fire. Sometimes, however, it indifferently looks at what is going on, other times it just does nothing. It’s our interior conflict. We all have a rioter inside those walls. ^[7]

Art Display

Some displays of his artworks with sampled tags:

In His words, whilst tagging this artwork, he said:

The Virtual Thug
Notable Artwork

You know that sense of completeness? During this very very very long quarantine I had the chance to experiment and experiment harder. Actually it’s almost two years I abandoned the visual style that made me “famous”, that became my trademark. I’ve lost a huge amount of followers and my artworks did not perform like before. But this didn’t stop me to continue research, experiment, sketch and express myself. After all this I finally found my own way and this feeling is totally amazing. I woke up every morning wanting to do a new artwork, it’s beautiful. That sense of completeness.

This for him is a symbolical description of a cop, beating, and the inherent beauty of digital paint. ^[9]

Art Sales

DotPigeon has made When he was asked 'Do you know any of the people who bought your NFTs? his response was:

Personally, I know a couple, no more. A very low percentage, if you count that 1,300 pieces were sold. This on a physical level, let's say. Virtually I know many more, also because my buyers tend to be more foreigners than Italians. ^[3]

His works, proposed in numbered editions and in digital file format, authenticated by blockchain technology, have all been sold. Average price: 1,500 Euros.

Other Tags

Here is a list of some of DotPigeon's Art tags:

• Sorry David
• I've just stabbed my imaginary friend
• Connect the dots and set them on fire
• Fragile
• You're annoying me and I only want to eat pizza
• Hold my Moët while I pee in your pool
• I'm joking, I haven't read all these books ^[10]

Social Media

DotPigeon is active on social platforms, having accounts on several social media platforms including Instagram ( with over forty thousand followers), Facebook, and Twitter.^[8]

Partners & Supported Brands

DotPigeon has entered into strategic partnerships with and is supported by brands such as Netflix, Lavazza, Moleskine, Lamborghini, La Rinascente, and Kit Kat.

Personal Life

DotPigeon currently resides in Milan, Italy. He hasn't expressly spoken on his relationship, neither has he disclosed it publicly. ^[3]

Conclusion

The DotPigeon (or Stefano Fraone) story serves to understand how a market hitherto dominated by galleries, auctions, and fairs are changing. The physical market, in short, which is now joined by the digital one. Instead of having a picture to hang on the wall, you are awarded the file of a crypto author. Something very different from a nerd capable of using Adobe Photoshop or 3D programs.

“There are those who comment that it makes sense to spend X euros for a jpg, stuff that is saved on a computer,”

says DotPigeon.