E54 - Assisted Living
01. News
- fxhash on Art Blocks
Generative art is a cross-chain medium, and this week saw another beloved fxhash artist, iRyanBell, release a new project on Art Blocks. Hyper Drive: A-Side minted out at 1.5 eth and will be followed by a B-Side on fxhash (coming soon).
We have also be tracking the WIPs put out by perkwerk for an interminable number of months, and it too is going to Art Blocks as a 'curated' release. The Harvest releases on Jan 18 and will have a starting price of 10 eth.
- Cure3
This week was a big one for charity as five fxhash projects were dropped to raise money for Cure3, an exhibition to raise funds for Parkinsons research. The NFT collection was released in conjunction with trad art auctions, and it was a beautiful thing to see the generative art side-by-side with it.
The fxhash projects to support Cure3 are as follows -
- Action; System
Anna Lucia brought her signature colors to bear in this project that seeks to reduce the artist's influence through the use of organic lines. She recommends viewers tap 'R' to view additional randomized outputs and explore the piece even further.
Pieces referenced -
- Element
Element seeks to blend the rigidity of grid structures with the organic nature of hand drawn lines and simulated paint and sketches.
Pieces referenced -
- Eucalyptus and Sagebrush
Nat Sarkissian's contribution to the auction was immediately embraced by the community, including self-proclaimed lumberjack WillPoP. Building upon the themes of his prior work, Eucalyptus & Sagebrush bring an impressionist interpretation to the shadows and light found within the California hills.
Projects and pieces referenced -
- all that remains
Don't forget to read the artist's statement for all that remains, which speaks to Marcelo's experience with those with Parkinson's disease. This deeply interactive project leans into the noise and distortion that he has been exploring in his recent work.
Project and piece referenced -
- Step by Step
Yazid plays with concepts from Matisse's work but through a colorful, generative lens. The variety within this project entices both of us, and we will be keeping a close eye on it in the weeks to come.
Pieces referenced -
- WTBS market index
New year new things to track! We have identified 30 projects that we will be using to track market performance each week to identify the overall health of the ecosystem and where there may be undervalued deals to be found. We will provide updates each Friday while we record!
02. Favorites + pickups
- Will got a(nother) contra
Shiny!
- proto alphabet
We both minted multiples of Will's favorite project of the week, which depicts an ancient impossible language seemingly printed onto the canvas. Proto alphabet is so far (to us) an underrated gem that deserves many more looks.
Piece referenced -
- Trinity's secondary pickups
When we see three-tier gradient skulls with a black background floored, we buy.
03. Projects of the week
- Chrysalis
The long-awaited collaboration between Monotau and arsiliath has finally been released and it is a real head-turner. This monolithic structure can be explored via the controls and we think that it is singular on the platform.
Will likens Chrysalis to Negative Megalith #5, a sculpture by Michael Heizer he saw at Dia Beacon.
Pieces and projects referenced -
- Kyma
What an amazing project by Collapsar Beauty! While we didn't enjoy the mint / market dynamics around this project, we love the incredibly diverse set of outputs across the set (oh why oh why couldn't it have been double or triple the edition size). Saving this to our 'watched' list to track over the coming weeks.
Pieces referenced -
- Trust
Chris McCully dove headfirst into shaders and has produced one of his best projects yet with Trust. While we don't love some of the etching effects, the construction and melding of forms and color is both ambitious and impressive.
Piece referenced -
- Digital Expression
Playman's latest project minted out in a ridiculously fast single block! Although there is a bit of replication in outputs, the application of texture light across the collection is excellent.
Project and pieces referenced -
- thébaïde
Antonio Werli's genesis project also minted out in just two blocks and quickly blew up on the secondary market. Although simple, the stark compositions and use of paper-like textures evokes some of the solitude that is felt through projects like Southern Gothic.
Project and piece referenced -
04. An aside on assisted minting
"Assisted minting" (as the kids like to say) was a huge market trend this week, with several of the most popular drops being gobbled up and immediately flipped by just a tiny portion of the market (see: a collector who was able to mint 15 Chrysalis).
Our dialogue on this is woven throughout the entire episode (please take a listen), but the following conversation started by Tender sums up much of the rhetoric of the week. Click through to read all of the points, counterpoints, and counter-counterpoints.
That's it for this week. Thanks for listening, and let us know what you think. If you like what we're doing here, collecting this article is one of the best ways you can support the show.
xoxo,
Trinity + Will