We are finally back after a small hiatus, life’s been crazy as of late. It’s good to be doing these articles for The Culture Project again. I’ll start out by stating the obvious, the markets have been crazy and it’s definitely Degen season. Free mints as far as the eye can see. No utility, no promises, and weird half ass art. There are some hidden gems amongst the filth, but it’s a weird time for NFTs.
There is a resurgence going on in the generative art scene or maybe it never went away. Art Blocks curated projects are still popping off while the secondary market is doing very well. If you look at FXhash and how it has blown up over the last three to four months, you’ll see that there is a demand for it there as well.
I want to showcase some of the art from some of the big names and some of my favorites generative artists on FXhash. I’m going to do a few artists at a time and see how these go. These posts will be long, due to show casing art from different projects. I thought it would be good to start out with a legend that spawned a sub genre.
Zancan - https://twitter.com/zancan https://linktr.ee/zancan
“Former oil painter, longtime programmer, bewitched by lush plants and trees.” He has a breath taking style that has spawned a sub genre with generative plants and trees. Getting a 1/1 by him is should be at the top of anyone’s grail list. You can find his works on most of the major Tezos platforms like FXhash, Versum, Teia, and more. His three drops on FXhash have all been widely successful. Garden, Monoliths was the first, then it was a collab with Yazid to make (kinder)Garden, Monuments, and the last recent drop was A Bugged Forest. All covering the same genre, but all in unique ways. The works have such a great range to them. Each piece can be very unique, but you know when looking at them, Zancan made this.
Garden, Monoliths #41 Garden, Monoliths #179
This series Really set the tone for his style. Trying to collect something from this original project is around $40,000 in tez at floor cost. Pieces with rarer traits can go much much higher. It really is a breath taking series.
This collab with Yazid is so well done. The combination of their styles worked beautifully together. I would check this one out on FXhash to see more of the scope of the project. You could really say that for most of these that I’m covering.
A Bugged forest #11 A Bugged forest #42
I love the chaos of this project. It’s so random and messy at times, then you have such clean distinct pieces.
This is such a wonderful description of the project from Zancan. I find it to be some cool insight into who he is as an artist and a person.
“This project is the long-form version of an algorithm that contains a bug. The Bugged Tree’s code was salvaged and stored and served as the core motivation and engine for an entire forest. Its concept is about releasing the control. I am a byproduct of evolution, an iteration of that specie who wanted utter control, and which at some point, lost control over its own creation. As a generative artist, I chose to welcome the event of chance into my creative process. The symbolism in chance made me feel humble and free. Unwilling to make any change to a story that the Tree needed to tell me, as a listener, rather than a writer of my own idealized fantasies.”
I really love how you can find this kind of introspection in art as a creator and spectator.
iRyanBell - https://twitter.com/iRyanBell
iRyanBell is another extremely talented and successful generative artist. He has released 8 projects on FXhash and all off them are quite different from each other. He definitely does not have a specific style, he seems to explore genres with each release.
His first collection Organized Chaos described as “Generative refrigerator-art for the blockchain.”
I really like series like these when done right. Simplistic in nature, but at times can look quite beautiful and complex.
His next project Decision Trees is another example of something that seems simplistic, but is just plain fucking awesome. This is one of my favorite projects of his.
Drip Cube is a really cool interactive project. There is no point posting a bunch of pictures of this project. Go to the site and look at them, I love the aesthetic of these.
Sprocket Factory and Fragments of a Wave are both interesting and unique projects. Just more great examples of how a project can have a great range in difference from piece to piece, but still some how all feel like they are from the same one.
Out of all his projects, I’m not really sure where I stand on this one. It has a lot of pieces that are amazing, but it also has some in the group that look so bazar and odd. Over all I’m a fan, it’s just my least favorite of the stuff he has done..
This ran long, but not as long as it could have been. I may approach each Who’s Who List a little differently depending on how much I cover. I hope to get back 2 a bi-monthly release, but I can’t promise anything yet.
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