ABOUT FEWOCIOUS BY NFT CRITICS
The 18-year-old crypto art enthusiast FEWOCiOUS today auctioned off his art collection for a sum of $2.1 million at Christie’s.
Here’s the back story
One fine day, the website for Christie’s, the legendary auction house, was buzzing, because a teenager whose interest is creating arts that you cannot touch, hold, or hang, broke the system.
So who’s this boy?
FEWOCiOUS, also called Victor Langlois, is one of the most booming and visible associates of a budding community of queer crypto artists who are discovering success in the modern gold rush that is the NFT market. His life was not as fancy as it might sound to you.
Langlois lived with his grandparents as a teenager in Las Vegas after social service officers released him from his father’s harsh household. “I assumed I would be secure, but they were just as mean,” Langlois says.
They didn’t permit him to leave home for any reason other than to go to school. When he was in his bedroom, he had to keep the door open at all times.
Langlois says that he didn’t have access to the internet. With nothing else to do, he scribbled to pass the time. “I started doing digital because I could conceal it all under my chest,” he recalls. With his catholic grandparents, who were very particular and strict about his gender, he was often clueless and lost and did not know whom to approach. “Witnessing a model like a trans man be tolerated as an idea of being handsome..” recalls a smiley Langlois.
Life changed for Langlois when he was eventually permitted a phone. Then he created a Twitter account and discovered an entire community of digital artists. By imitating what he saw others do on social media and replying to as many artists’ posts as possible, he says, “Eventually, I built my little platform.” Langlois said he kept his head down and focused on drawing to get through the brutal, endless days of high school. “That was my safety blanket.” He started selling a few of his arts, and he planned to make enough money to leave home when he turned 18. Langlois took one of his customer’s advice and listed “I Always Think of You,” a surreal, Picasso-esque painting about a high school crush. It sold for a little over $1,000.
On January 3, 2021–2 days after turning 18 — Langlois officially moved out of his grandparents’ house. As per the rules, his door was wide open. His grandma walked past his room at one point, causing Langlois to panic. “I was like, ‘Was she sleepwalking? Did she see that? I don’t know! At 1 pm the next day, after telling his grandparents he was leaving but contradicting himself by telling them where he was going, he boarded a one-way flight for Seattle.
Nowadays, Langlois lives alone in a house that his friend and fellow crypto artist. He embraces his newfound liberty by doing the simple things once outlawed. He stays up late chatting with other trans crypto artists on Discord at night.
All it takes is 20 seconds of insane courage; he had that courage to fight for himself and for a bright life he had before him. A single step can change your life, couldn’t it?
