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The formula to live forever (179)

June 28, 2023

Originally, I published “The formula to live forever” in Spanish the 10/11/2021 on Facebook. Today, 28/06/2023, I share it again on my website. I did some updates to improve readability, added more pictures, and this English version for reaching a wider audience as my daily post 179. With this text, I celebrated 8 years living in Europe. It is the first chapter that I am transcribing to my website, although I have a series of similar texts from previous anniversaries that I would like to bring here as well. I hope to continue this series in the coming years, and to get them all on the same page. In “The formula to live forever” I speak about some experiences with life and death. I hope you’ll enjoy it reading as much as I enjoyed writing it. Lufo The formula to live forever An Alitalia plane landed in Rome exactly 8 years ago. It had taken off from Ezeiza, Buenos Aires on September 11, 2013. In one of the many seats there was me, with many dreams and little luggage. I had brought my watercolours and my water-brush, gifts from Italian friends, with every intention of using them… and I did it, and I still do. I also went through immigration control at Fiumicino Airport in Rome. Then I bought a coffee and savoured it as if I had never had coffee before in my life. Next, I took a domestic flight to Naples, and at Capodichino Salvatore and Simona were waiting for me. These two lovely souls had taken the time to come and pick me up, even though it was Sunday. Before heading towards Fisciano (where I would stay to study), we made a technical stop at Decathlon. There, I bought the same shoes that Salvatore bought. I did it trusting his judgement, as I have done so many times before and I will undoubtedly continue to do. I paid 7 € for them, and they are probably still the same price today… You might probably still find the same model and colour on the same shelf. That didn’t change, but in my life… What hasn’t changed in my life since then? Getting to know death Each year that passed has been more and more intense. The emotional charge of these years taught me to value every moment of LIFE. Something painful and very intense of these last years was having to sit so often to have coffee with death. I had last greeted Nono Héctor back in 2002. I still remember that his stillness and my mind could not agree: I could see him breathing… but no, he was not breathing. In 2008, a little girl in the family left us when she was just a few months old, leaving us with an immense amount of things to rethink and re-signify. In 2010, it was a little different with my nona Ilda… Perhaps… Maybe because she had spoken to us so much and so calmly about death that I took it more naturally. It wasn’t a wound, it was a kind of previously agreed change of state. In 2012 it was Nancy’s turn, and I still listen to her voice, and see her travelling and having fun. Since then, and despite the fact that la parca siempre viene detrás (the reaper always comes behind), the bony woman has not been near me. However, this lady retaliated with a rather intense series: Vito Cardone In 2019, the reaper came for a person who was key during my first years in Italy: Vito Cardone. She took Vito out with no misgivings, without haste or pause, only after Vito got tired of giving lectures on drawing, politics, literature and many, many other things. Luckily, Vito didn’t live through the pandemic, he didn’t have to learn how to use Zoom or to give lectures with surgical masks. He did not have the pathetic 21st century (in)Shakespearian dilemma of “vax or not vax”. Vito… He gave me the opportunity to tell my stories for the first time at a talk in the university of Salerno in 2012. Moreover, he asked me for two drawings as soon as I arrived in Italy in 2013, one of Villa Rufolo and the other of the Niemeyer auditorium. Then he published both drawings in his book Viaggiatori d’architettura in Italia (Architectural travellers in Italy). With that same Vito I shared books, stories, and lots of amazing moments between Naples, Rome and Salerno. Vito. A very hard blow that I did not speak openly to anyone. Nor did anyone ask me, perhaps because very few had any idea of what Vito represented in my life. The only person who knows it in depth had your own share of pain too. Maybe it was a kind of “mutual understanding”. I didn’t want to see Vito at his funeral. I wanted to keep him in my memory alive. And indeed there he still is, writing e-mails until 9 p.m. at the Fisciano campus… Or eating in some tavern in Naples… He is still there, sharing congresses in Spain and Italy, giving lectures on the life and work of Gaspard Monge and the Grand Tour. There he is, alive. Damaris Balland To inaugurate 2021, the grim reaper showed me his most unpredictable side with the most intense episode I have experienced so far. I hope she’s had enough, but no, she is insatiable… This lady of bones and cloth played a special trick on me. She caught me unawares, with my guard down, or with my attention very much on the other side. Dante explains it perfectly: it is in gardens that we are most vulnerable because we relax more and let our guard down. On 01/01/2021, the reaper had the idea of smoking a cigarette with none other than Damaris. Damaris. That skinny Swiss girl that I loved intensely and who gave me everything and more… That person who learned to free the demons of others like a sorceress,…
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I have got hacked – Update I (178)

June 27, 2023

Hello dear reader, this is an update about #FreeLufo and how the things are going after I have got hacked yesterday. Today I talked to some members of the Lens Protocol team trying to find out some details about the hack. I got some answers that I share today with you. Getting important answers 27/06/2023, Berlin, Germany 🇩🇪 1st important thing: within Lens Protocol posts associate to handles but collects associate to the wallet that creates the posts. So: Special thanks to Bradley Freeman for the support. Also, thanks to every person who wrote me today to express me their support and availability. And that’s it for now, take care and #TrustNoOne But tell me dear reader… Is there something you might find out from what happened?Did I tell you that yesterday I started a new drawing? Have a good day 🔐👺

I have got hacked and now Lufoart.lens is gone - Graph at Arkham Intelligence

I have got hacked and now Lufoart.lens is gone (177)

June 26, 2023

Yes, my dear reader, my Lens profile NFT lufoart.lens is gone. Please pass the word and pay attention, as they might use my identity to f * * k other people too. How was I hacked? 26/06/2023, Berlin, Germany 🇩🇪 The original Stani Kulechov (one of the creators of Lens and AAVE) collected this post of mine on Lenster. After collecting on Lenster he also commented on my tweet. Although Stani collected my art several times he had never replied a tweet before. Here comes the trick: just below Stani’s original tweet, a fake Stani profile (with the same picture, description, also with blue badge of a “verified profile”, and with – almost – the same handle) posted quoting a whitelist entry for a future AAVE airdrop. I saw “Stanis’ responses” late in the evening, and while it seemed odd I thought “Stani isn’t going to send me shit!”…. I even checked the first profile behind my tweet’s answer, and it was real… but I didn’t check the second tweet! So there you go, the day after I took the bait like a stupid newbie 🤨🫠 From twitter I went to the fake website signup-aave (dot) org and connected my wallet. The site asked me to “verify” in different strings as theoretically the signup list was for “users with 10+ Transactions on the AAVE Mainnet in Q1-Q2”. I don’t know that much about AAVE, so I was very curious to know if I had fulfilled the requirements or not… I signed, confirmed, and switched chains several times, thinking that either the website or Metamask weren’t working properly. What I was actually doing were transfers to the scammer’s account via a void payable function. For those interested in the technical details, these are the contracts: (Special thanks to Dan and Juanu) Voluntarily sending my tokens: lufoart.lens is gone With the first transaction I sent the NFT of my lens profile, bum, there you have lufoart.lens gone. Then, I sent almost all my tokens until I realised I was being tricked. Yes, I am very slow 🐌. Yes, I should have known better, I should have stopped after switching chains, I should have not even believed the tweet… But the only thing I had in my mind was that Stani wasn’t going to send me any fake stuff. So, I trusted, and that trust went beyond anything else. After the hack, I had the incredible help of the Latin American community Criptolandia, some members of the Lens core team, and also Lens users who wrote me privately. Thanks to all of them I managed to understand what I had done and how they had done it. Between programmers and enthusiasts I also learned new tools (like Arkham Intelligence) or more trusted websites to revoke contracts and permissions. I contacted the OpenSea team, who put the NFT profile under review for suspicious activity almost instantly. They also sent me a link to file a report with the FBI’s cybercrime bureau 👀 , and within a couple of hours OpenSea flagged the profile NFT as fraudulent. Buying from thieves Some people recommend me to offer money to buy back the NFT profile, but I will do no such thing. It reminds me of what happens in Argentina when you get robbed and then people pay the thieves to get their stuff back. There is no way I will do such a thing of giving more money to the person who already took my tokens. That is not an option for me. When things have to go out of your life they have to go out of your life. You have to accept that things happen and that everything has a solution except for being born and dying. I have spent two years undefeated of being scammed in the cryptocurrency world. I’m happy this happened now without major consequences than loosing some bucks and a Lens profile NFT. My bigger concern is the content that I have been creating since the 1st of January (176 posts!). However, it seems I might have a chance if to recover them with another handle: my wallet isn’t under external control, I just sent the tokens “voluntarily” as a series of individual transactions. #FreeLufo I’ve learned my lesson and received many great things back, like people saying beautiful things about my work and how much they’re going to miss me. As soon as I shared that my profile was compromised, Juanpi and other members of Criptolandia started #FreeLufo on Twitter for helping me. Also several people wrote many nice things about me after JessyJeane‘s post on Lenster. The same Stani wrote me privately on Twitter and shared some thoughts about this wave of hacks on Lens. You can keep collecting my posts until yesterday (number 176) on Lens and the money will arrive to my wallet and be safe there (well, if I don’t fuck the things up again 😅). Moral of the fable If you really want to help me, please mark every post created from lufoart.lens as fraudulent, in Lens, in OpenSea, everywhere… and of course, don’t trust me if I “write” you something weird. The turnaround of the story my dear reader, is what has been said a thousand times: don’t trust anyone, always check! 🥰 But tell me dear reader… Have you ever been hacked?Would you offer money to re buy your handle? Have a good day 🔐👺

Primo classificato - Receiving the certificate

Primo classificato (176)

June 25, 2023

29/05/2016, Avellino, Italy 🇮🇹 I guess this is the closing post related to the urban sketchers contest organised by the FAI (Fondo per l’Ambiente Italiano) in Avellino. Here are all the previous entries: In today’s pictures you can see how the prints were set up inside the auditorium used as a showroom. I didn’t really do much: all the prints were A3 modules so I stuck one under the other with tape, and then hung each column made by 5 drawings each with two clips from above. However, the result was quite nice: an organic and at the same structured composition, with a lot of colours and contrasts. Among all those drawings I can see many stories related to the time and place where each of them was made. The last picture shows the moment when I received the certificate for winning the 1st place in the competition. I also remember the heat of blushing because I had to give a little speech to the public 😅 But tell me dear reader… Should I rebuild that drawing wall digitally?Do you like to give speeches in front of an audience? Good night 🎤🎙️ NFT You can collect this post as NFT using Lens, check it out 👉🏻 here 👈🏻

19.35 m2 of dreams (175)

June 24, 2023

02/06/2016, Salerno, Italy 🇮🇹 In yesterday’s story I talked about the exhibition in Avellino. Today I show you what the prints looked like when they were all together: a 19,35 m2 (13,02 x 1,485 m) collection of drawings made in Italy in the period 2011-2016. Among those drawings I can clearly see my evolution: the first shy doodles when I took off from Cordoba airport on 14 July 2011, crying like a baby for having achieved what I considered a miracle ([Story 41 , Story 42]). The drawings of 2012 show another Lucas, more confident and thirsty for knowledge, with gestures capturing more and more details of reality. In 2013 and 2014 I was already making very wide and pronounced perspectives (which ended up leading me to spherical perspectives), with strong contrasts and a more established technique. 2015 and 2016 were years with explorations that began to combine physical reality and my surreal dreams. This language led me to new mixed compositions that come out of reality and connect with a more dreamlike, whimsical world… But tell me dear reader… Would you have space to hang these drawings at home?What has been the miracle you have achieved in your life? Good evening 🪽✈️ NFT You can collect this post as NFT using Lens, check it out 👉🏻here 👈🏻

Originals and copies (174)

June 23, 2023

04/06/2016, Salerno, Italy 🇮🇹 2016 was the year I started doing public exhibitions with my drawings. One of these presentations was in Avellino, after the competition for urban sketchers that I have mentioned before here and here. The theme of the exhibition was the celebration of the 5 years since my first trip to Italy, and the trips I made within Italy once I moved in 2013. So, I proposed an exhibition with (almost) all my drawings from Italy between 2011 and 2016. However, I did not have all my sketchbooks from 2011 and 2012 because some of them were stolen during my stay in Paraguay. For that reason – and also to unify the sizes of all drawings – I made prints with which I covered the two main walls of the exhibition hall. But a problem arose when I saw the prints and compared them with the originals: the colours were totally different! This happened due to two things (mainly) 1 – the printer converted the colour palette, killing the original settings; and 2 – the scans follow the drawings as they were originally, but the watercolours lose saturation with time… However… after looking at the result a couple of more times… I think they weren’t that bad after all…. But tell me dear reader… Do you prefer the original or the copy?Should I scan my drawings, matching the original colours, or do I have to tune it as I like? Good evening 📠💬 NFT You can collect this post as NFT using Lens, check it out 👉🏻here 👈🏻

Mitte III . Last session (173)

June 22, 2023

22/06/2023, Berlin, Germany 🇩🇪 Today I finished Mitte, another work of the Escher-like collection I’m doing, the 1st one using two vanishing points, and the 1st one dedicated to a Berlin neighbourhood. Here are the previous sessions: I confess that I am very satisfied with the result. As you can see, the work has changed radically with respect to the first colouring session. Now, instead of having a carnival of colours in the background, it has become more uniform and with fewer tones. I mean, the drawing is still very colourful but with many unified spots, which gives a clearer vision of the geometry. Today’s creative meeting was at the lovely Coffee Pony in Schöneberg. N., M. and I enjoyed a lovely afternoon, and got a wonderful table near the window (thanks guys!). Tomorrow I’ll try to scan the drawing although I probably won’t get to print it before the markets BECAUSE… … because there is a wonderful surprise for you all 👀…. What would it be, what would it be Lufo, tell us about it! Well, I can only say…. But tell me dear reader… What do you think of the new Mitte artwork?What do you think my surprise might be about? Good evening ☕️🥮 NFT You can collect this post as NFT using Lens, check it out 👉🏻 here 👈🏻

Drying watercolour stains (172)

June 21, 2023

20/06/2023, Berlin, Germany 🇩🇪 Yesterday after editing the video of Mitte I went to a bar for a bite to eat.. While I was waiting for the food to arrive I started to observe the people around me. This is something I like to do also in the underground, just watching people looking at their phones, totally lost and abstracted from this world. Sometimes I even play in my head what they would be doing: whether they would be talking to someone (in that case I also include some imaginary dialogues), watching some video, or just feeling their dopamine levels rising by scrolling up and down an endless “wall”. Sometimes I’m a bit terrified of becoming an automaton, an empty human, so I try to connect with physical reality and let digital habits not take up all my time. So yesterday I tried this game: I made some random stains with watercolours and watched them drip away and dry. You might think: that’s boring as hell. Well, I’m not going to say it’s like an action movie. However, as I was focusing on the spots I entered a meditative state and started to perceive things happening around me without looking at them: conversations, movements, people stopping and looking at my painting too… But tell me dear reader… Would you be able to see watercolour stains drying instead of Netflix?Have you seen the beautiful shades of colours blending and drying? Good evening 👀🎨 NFT You can collect this post as NFT using Lens, check it out 👉🏻 here 👈🏻

Mitte session II . Video (171)

June 20, 2023

20/06/2023, Berlin, Germany 🇩🇪 Yesterday I promised to upload the time lapse video of the 2nd session of #Mitte. So here I am, keeping my word. Today was a very calm but productive day. It started with a beautiful rain, the kind that rains like vertical waterfalls with big drops almost noiselessly. The morning had been very humid, so the rain plus a little wind helped a lot to make the atmosphere fresher. I took advantage of that atmosphere to write a few paragraphs for an article I am preparing, while sipping my morning coffee and watching the green of the park in front of me. When I left the house it stopped raining, and when I came out of the subway, half an hour later, the humidity had risen again to 50000% 🫠. I spent the afternoon at a place I’ll call G. for now (you may hear more often about this place soon 👀). Initially, I had hoped to finish Mitte today, but when I arrived at this place the table I planned to use was occupied. So I gave up on my initial plan, kept writing some more paragraphs and then edited the video… But tell me dear reader… Do you like the picture in this video better, with the drawing more stable?Or do you prefer the drawing to rotate more often, to make the video more dynamic? Good night 🐿️💧 NFT You can collect this post as NFT using Lens, check it out 👉🏻 here 👈🏻

Mitte session II (170)

June 19, 2023

19/06/2023, Berlin, Germany 🇩🇪 After doing the structure of Mitte a couple of days ago, today I did the first watercolour session. You will say: wait a minute, where is the time lapse video? Well, I have the recordings but I’m too tired to edit it today. You may wonder why I feel this way… I can tell you that my morning started late (very late!) and then I had a totally unexpected meeting that could give a new future to Lufo Art. So, I could start painting just after that meeting, more exactly at 14:30. I spent lovely 5 hours in Weinerei Forum, near Rosenthaler Platz, a place I got to know thanks to T. a couple of months ago. During the whole session, I had the wonderful company of N.: we ate, drank coffee and talked about life. On my way home something super nice happened: I was in the U-bahn and I took my drawing out of the folder to look at the results again. Then, a random person spoke to me to say nice things about my art…. You can’t imagine how good does that feel! Tomorrow I will edit the video and I will share it with you all… But tell me dear reader… What do you think about the result?How was your Monday? Good evening 🚈🛸 NFT You can collect this post as NFT using Lens, check it out 👉🏻 here 👈🏻