Kiwi designer Daniel McKay’s artwork has been projected on iconic landmarks such as Paris’ Eiffel Tower and in New York’s Times Square.
McKay’s work, which was showcased as a looping art, was picked up by a team of digital art curators of the world’s most well-known NFT artists at Artcrush Gallery and accompanies their worldwide exhibit.
Known by the pseudonym ‘mobotato’, McKay has been creating digital art for 20 years but as of recently he has developed “character-driven robotic loops”.
Alongside landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and Times Square, his work will be displayed across 100,000 digital billboards in over 10 major cities across the world.
“I’m inspired by retro design, which I think comes from being a child of the 80s. I like to weave in pop culture references that I grew up with — these little personal touches that may or may not be recognised by the viewer,” says McKay.
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“I’ve always been fascinated by mechanics and robotics, and an (albeit strange) interest in pipes, cables and alleyways. I had this idea of little robots living in a fictitious little world that have an almost vinyl toy-like feel and that tell quick little stories in the space of 6-10 seconds. They allowed me to combine all my favourite things, as well as using my 3D and 2D motion graphics skillset.’’
As of recent, McKay auctioned off a piece of his digital art at Sotheby’s Paris, one of the most well-known auctioneering houses.
Based in Auckland, McKay works as a Production Designer at Toybox, an animation and post studio where he has worked on projects such as YouTube Originals animated series Sherwood and Lead Designer for Tāmaki Herenga Waka Stories of Auckland projection installation at Auckland War Memorial Museum.
He has also worked as lead artist on a number of local and international commercials.
McKay, or mobotato’s next work will be showcased in Milan, London and Tokyo.
