Underscore, also known as _xo, is a digital artist whose work follows a mythological character he created, the Prince of the Abyss, the Bearer of Light.,He renders the character's story through digital illustration, using artificial intelligence for about a fifth of his process as a bridge between a feeling and a tangible image rather than as a shortcut. He has worked full time on the platform objkt since 2022.
Underscore has said the character grew out of the hardest period of his life, when he began drawing an emotionless being living in an abyss full of darkness and pain. Making the work let him process those emotions, and he has described creation as a process of self-understanding and self-growth.In the mythology, the character's origins are unknown: a lone nomad for many lifetimes until the ground opened beneath him and he came to reside below, ruling over the abyss and its people, the dwellers.,
In 2023 he released Dwellers, a sold-out edition of 6,666 pieces on Ethereum describing the dwellers of the abyss as the lost, the suffering, and the forgotten who have finally found a home. A second edition of 3,333 pieces under the same title began release in 2024.He also released The Abyss in 2024, a generative collection capped at 333 works on Ethereum about his return home to rule over the abyss.
Since 2023 he has produced a collaborative series called XO on objkt, working with artists including Rust and Uczine.In 2025 he released Beneath the Bright Morning Star, a seven-part story told through art and poetry on objkt,about a man's evolution from fearing the light ahead of him to being willing and able to hold it.His artistic references include Botticelli and Doré.
