D I S C O V E R Y series : Costin Benescu a.k.a. Alien Ape Star

Who are you?

I am an Alien Ape that thinks he is a Star! ☺ No just kidding, I am a human passionate about “The Planet of the Apes” book and movies! We could say I am an Artist, Designer and Creative Tech enthusiast that loves to forge “primal alien experiments” merging art, design and technology into exciting concepts that can change the world! I love experimenting with Virtual Reality Sculpting and Animation, Blockchain Art and NFT platforms research, bringing to life traditional Art with Augmented Reality apps and techniques!

What makes you want to make stuff?

Just the potential positive impact in peoples lives and their reaction to it. I just love to see people excited when they discover new art!

What are you working on right now?

Currently sculpting in VR and soon animating a new Atomic NFT collection for koi.rocks! It’s called “KoiiGang” and will feature a biker gang in a cyberpunk koi universe! More teasers soon!

What bothers you about the NFT space?

I am bothered by the fact that all NFT platforms are seen as a get rich quick pyramid scheme that is taxing the environment. If most people stop at mainstream media article titles and don’t do their own research it is easy to see why they think all NFT platforms are the same. I wish they knew that the Koii network is sustainable, available to all through the Finnie wallet, super cheap to get started, basically free to start, merges the smart contract and the artwork in a single blockchain entry safely and permanently stored on Arweave. And the best part, you can get crypto tokens even without selling your Atomic NFTs by monetizing attention!

What is your hope or vision for Koii?

I hope that Koii becomes the standard in quality for the NFT artists, the environment and web permanence! If the new gateway system pulls through and minting is quicker and all the integrations with other NFT platforms are implemented I think Koii will become soon the platform of choice for artists aiming to future-proof their financial strategies and art exposure.

Quick! Name three other artists you like and why.

For this one I am going to have a more unorthodox approach! So not necessarily a plug for young artists but more like a few artists that shaped me into the Artist/Designer I am today.

Constantin Brâncuși: One of the best sculptors of all time, basically the father of modern sculpture! His minimal volumes have a toyetic quality that always fascinated me. I learned about him in Art School, but not nearly enough about his impact on modern art.

Constantin Brâncuși - Wikipedia

Livia Rusz: Super talented Illustrator that I had the honour of meeting in person a while back. She illustrated the first children book I read, the Romanian version of Peter Pan and Wendy. My start into being super interested in storytelling and illustration in the late 80’s! One of the very few female comics artist in Socialist Romania.

Lívia Rusz - Wikipedia

H.R. Giger: For his unique designs of the Xenomorf in Alien, one of the best Sci-Fi Thrillers of all time that also redefined the Horror movie genre. He got me interested in creatures and aliens early on towards the end of 90’s!

H. R. Giger - Wikipedia

Where can we find you?

You can find me on

My personal website: costin.benescu.com
My company website: alienapestar.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alienapestar/
Foundation: https://foundation.app/@Alien_Ape_Star And of course on Koii!

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