Hello and welcome to The Culture Project. We are here with Part 2 of a Look Back @ 2023. You can check Part 1 out here if you would like to read it. This year has been a strange one for my family. I had a really bad bacterial infection in my leg that had me out of commission for a week. In November my wife had a major kidney infection and had to have multiple surgeries. I feel extremely lucky with how it all turned out. The financial burden is rough, but we are all healthy and alive. It’s a new year and I’m ready to tackle it with optimism, hard work, and force. With all these set backs I was still able to collect a lot of amazing art this year. This coming year my collecting will be put on the backburner as we get back on our feet. Can’t wait to write and build more in the future.
There are a few artists that I have collected a lot of their work over the years. I want to showcase and talk about them first.
Des Lucrece is one of my favorite artists in this space. He has amazing people around him and he’s created a thriving community. Even in the crazy bear market we had, it was never a dull moment in the discord server. He is constantly building, creating, and thinking of the future. He’s had some amazing releases this year and I was lucky enough to be able to collect some of them. A huge congrats to Des and his success this year, it’s well deserved. If you want to join us in the discord, discord.gg/lucrece.
The Orchid was one of my first pieces from the year. Another amazing monster character in his universe. This is the style that brought me in initially, but I quickly found out his scope of art is much bigger.
Des had an open edition called Proceed with Caution this year that really blew up. Holding a set of them would get you future drops. Including the Defy Mosaic. I slowly collected a set, knowing I would hold for a long time. I want access to what ever he has planned for the future.
There was also a collaboration with oncyber recently. They made a very unique virtual gallery to showcase digital art that honored Des’s style. Every room is painted in one of his different colors he often uses. I’ve always wanted a large virtual gallery to showcase some of my collection. My Oncyber Gallery
Recently he had a burn mechanic to consolidate the PWC collection into an art Pass. Holding it will now have future implications for drops. I was sad to burn my PWC set, but the new pass is really cool as well. Des has been doing burn mechanics for a long time and it’s something that will continue to be a part of his work.
The Monster Soup drop was the last one of his for the year. I was lucky enough to get a set. With all the stuff that was going on in real life during this drop. I’m grateful my wife was okay with my getting these. Monster soup is an ode to Andy Warhol and I’ve heard people compare Des as the Warhol of our space. Monster Soup is another art piece with a burn mechanic. Burn the digital art and you receive a museum quality print. A shout out to Iconic Moments for helping make this happen. A portion of the proceeds were donated to the World Central Kitchen.
Rezva is a Ukrainian artist I met in the Monster discord. She is an amazing artist with a very unique style. I instantly fell in love with her Sova series. It follows a character through a strange and at times dark world. She’s another artist that is constantly creating and exploring. Really glad to have met her and to support her.
She has also created a lot of animated abstract work this year as well. These are just a few of them. I love these pieces of art.
LIPS IN BLACK is one of my largest and longest on going artist collections. In a few months will mark two years of collecting their work. It’s been amazing watching their style develop and grow. The quality and details have gotten to an amazing level. Styles ranging from Anime, Noir, to Dark Fantasy. They also do anime reviews and are working on a manga to release. Check out what they have going on at lipsinblack.com.
Some of their work can be pretty revealing at times. Not always to my liking, but some of their work is a bit more modest. I really don’t know where I draw the line. There is never full out nudity, but it can blur the lines at times.
A few of the dark fantasy style that I really liked this year. I can’t wait to check out the manga when it comes out.
I was introduced the McBess and the Cel-Mates collection in January last year. My friend Ben gifted me one for my birthday. It was a great introduction to a really cool art oriented community. I ended up minting two more and getting a matching couple. McBess is such a talented artist and musician, I quickly started checking out a lot more of his work. He has some fantastic music. I’ve already received a huge print for free as a holder and we’re getting another large free print in a couple months.
Pushing Daisies was a really cool Open Edition he released. Another amazing piece by him.
I’ve been a fan of Harvey Rayner’s different works for a while now. One of the highlights of my year was not only getting to collect two of his projects. I also got to meet him while at the Art Blocks Marfa event this year. It was a really fun experience to talk to him about his art. He was part of the interactive experience in Marfa. You would scan other peoples cards to evolve your art and make it more complex over time. I wrote an article about trip and experience. Art Blocks Marfa 2023
Quasi Dragon Studies was another impressive release from Harvey this year. A co-creation project that I also wrote an article about, check it out here. You purchase tiles of different sizes and some can fit together to create larger more complex pieces. There were rare editions that could only be created with certain tiles. Another really fun experience that I enjoyed being a part of.
I’ve been a part of the Zeneca and the ZenAcademy community since the first tokens were minted to join. They have slowly evolved over time from the Promise to the treasure chest. This last year he finally released the PFP, Denizens of ZenAcademy. It’s been a crazy ride so far and one I plan to stay on for a long time. He’s provided a lot information and guidance to a lot of people. He seems to be one of the genuine people in this space that wants to help.
The last community on my list is Degen Civilization. A PFP with an awesome and fun take on the pepe meme. Another art focused community where holding tokens earns you points for raffles. I’ve been incredible fortunate in these raffles. I’ve won five out of six of them, which is pretty crazy to think about. Each piece has twenty five or less in each series. I knew I wanted to join the group because of the leaders behind it, Mondoggg & DaBirds23. They created AlphaDoggg a while back and have released some amazing art through it.
Robert Hodgin is an artist I talk about from time to time. I’ve been a collector of his for a long time now. Ancient Courses of Fictional Rivers is one of my favorite Art Blocks projects. I picked up my second one of these this year.
Ancient Courses of Fictional Rivers #487 by Robert Hodgin
Punkwelt & Farbteiler by Erik Swahn have been on my grail list for a while. Some of the things I went for this year were my fx(hash) grails. Felt lucky to pick up these two beauties.
Erik had this amazing release on Verse this year called Funktor. I ended up writing an article about all three of these projects because of that release. Check out the article Funktor! Generative Architecture.
Cemhah & Brandon James Scott’s are both incredibly talented artists. When I saw this collab happening I knew I wanted it. Such a an amazing mash of styles.
Bonding by Cemhah & Brandon James Scott
I look at art with my daughter all the time and she has a nice small collection. We saw this piece by Erica and we both loved it. Our first fractionalized owned piece. A 1/1 called Baphomet Sympathy Dark Spell.
Baphomet Sympathy Dark Spell by Erica
Grant Riven Yun has become a huge name in this space and for good reason. His art style and depictions of every day life are incredible. I had the pleasure of meeting him in Marfa this year, seeing his solo gallery at glitchMarfa. Grabbed this work when I got home from the trip a few days later.
The Road Ahead by Grant Riven Yun
CHOQOPi is another artist with a fantastic style. Most of them are short looping gifs, but a few of them have sound.
This is the one that got me hooked on their art. It’s a bit of a sad story with some beautiful music to go along with it.
let me fall by Eric Andwer is one of my favorite drops from this year. Something about it really speaks to me. The colors, textures, and shapes just complement each other so well.
When I saw Constraint coming out on Verse. It felt like an extension of let me fall with some of the similarities, but it’s so much more than that. These two project releases were highlights for me this year.
Constraint #188 by Eric Andwer
There were a few great generative landscape releases this year. Mut released Transmontana and I was blown away by it. Some really amazing landscapes in the series.
The other generative landscape I loved came out recently. It was the drop Edge by Kitel & wren. A beautiful blend of styles. A mix of generative, image composition, and AI.
Edge #174 by
qubibi is another power house name. I’ve collected a few pieces from the leftover series in the past. I was lucky to be able to mint these two this year. Some of his leftover pieces are just so damn good.
I’ve been a fan of Ty Vek’s art for a while. Artifice is one of those collections that has been on my grail list. When he announced holding an Artifice would get you in on their new drop, I finally picked one up. It was the motivation I needed and very happy I did.
The releases were called the Self trilogy. A very interesting project on self reflection and more. The article about it is worth reading. I ended up minting a really cool Winking Face for my Self, Superego.
This brings me to my three biggest fx(hash) grail pickups this year. These were the cream of the crop for me.
RGB Elementary Cellular Automaton by ciphrd is one of the first projects ever released on fx(hash). One of the biggest holders of this project has been selling off a lot of his collection. A lot of nice deals going on for these at the moment.
RGB Elementary Cellular Automaton #372 by ciphrd
I wrote a Artist Spotlight article about Kim Asendorf, one of my highlight articles from this year. I was aiming for a monogrid 1.1, but wasn’t able to pull it off. I went with my second choice and his first release on fx(hash), Reading a Book. His work really took off this year and I got in at a great time. The majority of his stuff is animated, so click the link below the art to check it out fully.
Reading a book #826 by Kim Asendorf
That brings me to my favorite artist on fx(hash), Jacek Markusiewicz. He’s an architect and it really shines through in his coding. He really puts a lot of thought into his projects. Just read the synopsis for 7.356 degrees, it’s such an interesting concept. The imperfections that create beauty.
7.356 degrees #174 by Jacek Markusiewicz
That brings me to my grail of grails, minus some flying birds. Hollow is my favorite generative art project on fx(hash) by far. It’s breathtaking and another architecture based project. There are rare versions that have animated birds flying around. Hoping to acquire one of those some day. I can’t wait to get a print of this sometime this year.
hollow #56 by Jacek Markusiewicz
I was pretty lucky to collect so much great art this year. While the crypto market was bleeding, I was taking that opportunity to collect things for incredibly cheap prices. I accumulated and waited for the right times to try and pick things up. I had some great timing for a lot of things and a few that I didn’t time so well. But that’s just how it goes. Here’s to the future. I hope everyone has a great 2024. See you in the next article.
Thanks for reading! Please like and share the article if you enjoyed it. We are starting to cover more of the art world. Though the The Culture Project’s roots are in the Generative Art scene. Our community is open to anyone that wants to learn about or share generative art. The communities Twitter & Discord. My twitter is @joshripple. If you like the content please give us a follow.