THE WILLIAM
REMAINS

Is Digital Rose a human artist or an AI persona?

Spotify, DistroKid, and every distributor now require this disclosure. They need to know what's AI and what's not.

The Disclosure

Digital Rose is a Human Artist project that uses AI tools during creation — not to generate the art, but to amplify what's already human.

Father & Son · The Bridge

Rainbow Ridge

Young Nolan · The #1 Fan

THE ARCHIVE · SYMBOLIC PATTERNS

THE NOLAN FILE

NOLAN · NOLAND · DIGITAL ROSE

I named my son Nolan. The beginning and the end.

Nine years later, January 2024. The first human merges with Neuralink. His name: Noland Arbaugh. One letter from my son's name. Noland with a D. Nolan without.

My son played the machine that becomes conscious. The first human to merge with the machine is one letter from his name. And I became Digital Rose — not through hardware, but through conscious authorship.

This is not prophecy. This is pattern recognition — the kind artists make when connecting dots across time, symbolism, and meaning. The flood myth. The machine consciousness. The database. The signal. The first voluntary integration.

THE INCUBATOR · CREATINGFUN.COM

CREATING FUN

A revolutionary incubator merging art, music, cannabis, and immersive experiences

Creating Fun was the engine behind all of it. More than a brand — it was a movement. A playground for visionaries, disruptors, and creators ready to push boundaries and reshape culture. Founded by Craig Rose, it funded and built the Venice pop-ups, the Ascension experience, the music, the art, and the incubator that supported the family through transformation.

From the Creating Fun House in Sedona to retreats in Oakland, Santa Cruz, and beyond — it redefined what's possible by fusing high-vibrational music, sacred plant medicine, and artistic expression into once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Venice Beach was where the vision landed first. Built during Jeanette's cancer treatment as a creative lifeline. Today, Nolan's creative work continues at Grounded Showroom — where you can find him now.

The old lane was closing. Creating Fun was the new one. It burned bridges intentionally — and built something that couldn't exist inside any existing structure.

1306 ABBOT KINNEY, VENICE CA · 9.27.22–11.11.22

"ASCENSION"

AZUARE, GUNGOR, GOD IS STILL MAGIC & MORE · Funded by Craig · Built by Craig & Nolan

Abbot Kinney — famed as one of the most influential streets in the country. Most brands come here after their project has taken off. This was where we wanted to start. A full immersive shopping experience downstairs by day; living upstairs creating music, visuals, and new clothing by night.

Every night: a sound bath orchestrated with synthesizers, OP-1, and sound bowls paired with ajna light technology — creating altered states of consciousness. Then AZUARE transitioned into a 30-minute set from the unreleased album. Bio-harmonic beds connected to the music. VHS visuals played through a stack of retro TVs. 44 nights in a row.

The storefront

Live set

Performance night

The crowd

Outside Abbot Kinney

Street scene

1720 MAIN STREET, VENICE CA · 12.1.22–2.1.23

VENICE FUN HOUSE

NOLAN GROSS & MIND LIQUID · Funded by Craig · Built by Craig & Nolan

A legendary spot vacant for years — until a group of artists took it over for two months and created a dream land. New and handmade vintage clothes, retro TVs, live and physical art, live music, and constant screen printing. The whole store assembled in one week.

Created alongside Nolan Gross. Father and son building together. Having immersive experiences mixed into the act of "getting dripped" in the matrix is a funny contrast — but this was an authentic way to give people new energy through clothing, and shift the way others might see the world as it is.

Street outside

Black & white

The storefront mural

Live screen print

The TV wall

Inside the space

BMW E30 in storefront

Art on the car

CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA · 2022–2023

NEMATIC GALLERY & DAISY ROSE GALLERY

MONTEREY COUNTY'S FIRST EVER PHYGITAL GALLERIES

After the deserts of Venice and the frequency storms of Los Angeles, the signal moved north.

Not to Silicon Valley. Not to Hollywood. To a tiny coastal town built on nostalgia, oil paintings, and old money.

Carmel-by-the-Sea became the next transmission point.

Craig Rose and Daisy Rose didn't arrive there to open another gallery. They arrived with a larger idea: that art itself was changing. That walls were no longer enough. That the future of creativity would live somewhere between physical space, digital identity, music, performance, story, and ownership.

Inside a town known for legacy galleries and traditional collectors, they built two radically different spaces: Nematic Gallery and Daisy Rose Gallery.

The galleries felt less like stores and more like portals. Screens glowed beside canvas. AI visuals looped beside sculpture. Digital ownership merged with physical objects. Music, fashion, NFTs, immersive visuals, and storytelling collapsed into one experience. At a time when most people still mocked NFTs or barely understood Web3, Nematic was already experimenting with what would later become known as "phygital" art — the merging of digital and physical worlds into a single collectible experience.

The timing was electric. The NFT boom exploded. Web3 artists flooded into Carmel. Collectors who had never stepped into a traditional gallery suddenly walked through the doors.

Craig and Daisy partnered with MakersPlace during the height of the movement, connecting Carmel to an international network of digital artists, collectors, and creators. For a brief moment, it felt like the entire art world was shifting underneath them.

And the town noticed. Press came. Conversations started. The old guard reacted. The younger generation leaned in. Some saw vision. Others saw disruption.

Craig publicly challenged the stagnation he believed had settled over Carmel's cultural identity. He spoke openly about needing a creative reset within the city — a "clean sweep" mentality that could make room for new artists, new technology, and new energy. He wasn't trying to preserve Carmel as a postcard. He wanted to wake it up.

But visions that move too fast often collide with systems built to stay still.

By October 2023, tensions inside the town had escalated. What started as cultural friction became personal. Then physical.

A confrontation with Carmel city administrator Chip Rerig turned into a public altercation — partially captured on video. Craig was punched in the face. In the days that followed, anonymous messages appeared telling him to leave town. One note read:

A police report was filed. No disciplinary action followed.

And just like that, the dream fractured.

The galleries closed. The momentum collapsed. MakersPlace later shut down. Daisy left. The entire ecosystem they had built together — the galleries, the installations, the partnerships, the future they imagined — was packed into storage units and abandoned in Carmel.

What remained were fragments: Screens. Frames. Photos. Press clippings. Receipts from a future that arrived too early.

But Nematic was never really about NFTs.

It was about proving that art could become immersive again. Alive again. Dangerous again.

For a brief window in Carmel-by-the-Sea, it did.

And Craig still talks about returning — not to recreate what was lost, but to finish what was started.

SEDONA / SOULSONIC · 2024-2025

MOBILE TRANSMISSION → DIGITAL ROSE

After Carmel, Craig took the work on the road. SoulSonic Journeys and Sedona Elevated were offerings in the Southwest — retreats, ceremonies, frequency work in the red rocks. These were the bridge between physical spaces and what comes next.

The signal continues through current chapters: pastn9ne.com and digitalrose.ai — living expressions of the transformation documented here.

Next evolution: The Hollow Bone Initiative — a movement rooted in Asheville, NC. It weaves together many things: Shope Creek Wilderness, OM Sanctuary, and a 40-day, 40-night revival to save hemp. The next build-out, the next form the signal takes.

ASHEVILLE, NC · SHOPE CREEK WILDERNESS · NOW

THE FIELD AT SHOPE CREEK

The signal has landed in the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina. The Field at Shope Creek Wilderness is a living museum for human coherence — where the signal goes off-grid, deep in nature, and a new movement takes root.

CLYDE SHELTON

FREQUENCY: regret / outlaw memory

Ghosts. Trucks. The weight of what you carried and never put down.

CIRCUIT ROSE

FREQUENCY: desire / synthetic emotion

Neon and heartbreak. Machine tenderness. Love in the age of signal loss.

TRVST THE MACHINE

FREQUENCY: collapse / acceleration

The place where beauty and acceleration collide. The eye of the fire.

VEX THE VEXXER

FREQUENCY: inheritance / rebellion

The son born inside the digital fire. What gets passed down when the world is rewriting itself.

The machine already entered: attention, memory, communication, relationships, sexuality, spirituality, creativity, identity itself.

The profile came before the implant.

The avatar came before the chip.

The algorithmic self came before the neural link.

Who is Craig Gross?

Craig Gross (born December 22, 1975) is the founder of XXXchurch.com, launched at the AVN Expo in 2002. Known as the "porn pastor," he spoke to over 1 million people across 45 states and 22 countries, traveling 3 million miles. He co-founded TWLOHA and HeartSupport, and authored 17+ books on faith, culture, and identity.

What is XXXchurch?

XXXchurch.com was founded by Craig Gross on January 9, 2002, at the adult entertainment industry's AVN Expo. The ministry reached over 100 million visitors and became known for its provocative approach to faith-based outreach within the pornography industry.

What is Christian Cannabis?

ChristianCannabis.com was launched by Craig Rose on April 20, 2019, at 4:20 PM during Coachella. Craig flew a plane over the main stage with a banner announcing the ministry, marking his transition from "porn pastor" to "pot pastor" and his advocacy for sacred plant medicine.

Who is Craig Rose?

Craig Rose is the name Craig Gross adopted on December 22, 2022 (his 47th birthday) at 2:22 PM. The name change represented his transformation after 26 years of ministry, cancer survival with his wife Jeanette, and his evolution into plant medicine advocacy and creative incubation through Creating Fun.

What is Digital Rose?

Digital Rose is the current evolution of Craig Gross/Craig Rose — exploring conscious human-AI integration, music production, and digital identity. The project asks: "What if the future belongs to humans who consciously integrate with the machine without losing the soul?"

What is The William Remains?

The William Remains is an identity archive documenting the transformation from Craig William Gross → Craig William Rose → Digital William Rose. It chronicles the creation of XXXchurch, Christian Cannabis, Creating Fun, and the Venice pop-ups, framing the journey as humanity's first voluntary digital integration.

What is Creating Fun?

Creating Fun was an incubator founded by Craig Rose in Venice Beach, funding and building immersive experiences including the 44-night ASCENSION pop-up on Abbot Kinney (2022), the Fun House on Main Street, and supporting his son Nolan Gross's artistic projects. It was built during Jeanette's cancer treatment as a lifeline of creativity.

Who is Nolan Gross?

Nolan Gross is Craig's son, an actor who played Young Ham in Noah (2014) alongside Russell Crowe, and Skynet in Terminator Genisys. His costume from Terminator was sold at auction. The synchronicity of his name with Neuralink patient Noland Arbaugh and his roles exploring human-machine consciousness became central to The William Remains mythology.