Artist, designer and multimedia pioneer Roger Dean has announced his first NFT drop. The drop will include limited editions of three exclusive digital art pieces, each a component of his new “Allurium'' series, in collaboration with NFT studio THE MTAPHR. “Floating Islands,” originally painted in 1993 and served as the cover of Yes’s offshoot band ABWH Live at the Shoreline album, will be exclusively available on the digital asset marketplace NiftyGateway this coming Tuesday, March 16.

“There has been a growing volume of hearsay and rumor about this technology (NFT’s).  It sounded strange and interesting, so after a number of approaches from friends and colleagues, I decided to try it out. The best way to learn about it seemed to be, to have a go,” says Dean.  “Fortunately, at about this time I was introduced to a brilliant team of people. They all had the same idea of coming together to produce something new and wonderful.  This new and wonderful ‘thing’ would be born from a magic combination of talent, experience and a sense of adventure.  Whilst it may not be fair to say that we intend to go where no man has gone before, that is our direction of travel.”

Roger Dean is internationally renowned for his album cover designs, posters, books, video games, and visual identity systems, including his timeless and iconic album art for multi-platinum selling bands Yes, Asia, and dozens of others. He is also famous for his eco architectural, furniture and stage designs, his legendary designs for the computer games company Psygnosis, as well as his logo work for Virgin Records and Tetris. His recent apparel design collaboration with Valentino for The Men’s Spring/Summer 2020 show, is the latest example of how Dean continuously pushes the envelope with his creative expression.

With more than 100 million copies of Dean’s images having been sold around the world, his work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide, including the Royal Academy of Arts, the Royal College of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the New York Culture Center and the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. In 2002 Dean was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, and in 2009 Arts University Bournemouth made him an Honorary Fellow. He received a Gold Badge of Merit from BASCA (British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors) in 2013.