Welcome to our third iteration of the Artist Spotlight series. I’ve decided to change the name from A Who’s Who list to the aforementioned. I think the name for this series fits better for who we are trying to cover. This idea started as a grail list of sorts, that would cover some of the biggest gen art names on the Tezos blockchain. I don’t want to cover just the big names. There are tons of lesser known artists that are very talented that I plan to cover as well.
Today we are covering Robert Hodgin aka @flight404. He has released three projects on fxhash and two on Artblocks.io. All were successful mints that sold out. I was lucky enough to mint all three projects he released on fxhash. One of my biggest regrets as a collector was selling my piece from his first project Growth v01. Something I plan to re-collect in the future.
While researching about him and exploring his works I found that he is a very talented programmer & artist, but also extraordinary outside of the NFT space. He is the Interactive Director at Rare Volume, which is a design and technology studio based in the Chinatown neighborhood of New York City. They have worked with some big name companies and have done some impressive and cool work.
He also has his site, roberthodgin.com, where he shows some of his personal projects he has worked on. One of my favorites being, Meander. “Meander is a procedural system for generating historical maps of rivers that never existed.” Their are physical pieces tied to this project that look amazing. I love the work put into them and each map is unique 1-of-1 that will never be reprinted. I recommend reading this article he wrote on the creation of the project, he goes into great detail on the process from beginning to finish, it’s a very good read. He also released an Artblocks Curated project based on it called, Ancient Courses of Fictional Rivers. A beautiful project that has done very well and one I have recently been able to collect.
Ancient Courses of Fictional Rivers #179
Ancient Courses of Fictional Rivers #262
From my collection Ancient Courses of Fictional Rivers #696
That brings us to his first NFT project Growth v01, that was released on fxhash. It was released nine months ago in December 2021. Simply described as “Growth Patterns”. They come in four shapes; rectangles, squares, triangles, and circles. One of the great things about his art is watching the creation of it. Watching all the lines branch out and slowly change colors as it shifts into it’s final vibrant piece. Even the changing shades of black and white are alluring.
Works like these make me want to buy an interactive screen to display them on. Where you can touch the screen and watch the art be created. I recommend opening these and watching the live view of their creation in real time.
If you’re not sure how to do that. Click the open link on fxhash under the piece displayed.
His next project on fxhash was Subatomic Compositions.
“My love of physics predates my love for generative systems. This piece explores the compositional beauty that can arise from particle collisions in the subatomic space. The aesthetic is based on bubble chamber photography: the paths of particles are traced and photographed as they split and collide.
The primary particle travels at extreme speeds, looping around until it collides with another particle. The resulting explosion is traced out and interesting events are highlighted. Some of the particles shoot off at incredible velocity, and others spiral tighter and tighter until they blink out of existence.
This is a study in composition.”
I love that two of his passions, old and new, came together to create this unique work. Another one that’s cool to watch the creation of in real time. Something I’ll say for all of his projects.
His third release on fxhash, Growth v02, my favorite of all of his work. I love how the color palettes work so well with the patterns.
“Growth v02 is an generative exploration of patterns in the style of William Morris' iconic wallpaper designs from the 1800s. The code for the Growth series was originally designed to create plausible road networks but has been rewritten to create more organic curved forms.”
Here are some examples of William Morris’s work from the 1860’s. Something feels very nostalgic about these. Like they may of been in my grandma’s house that I visited while growing up.
William Morris Trellis wallpaper 1862
William Morris Trellis wallpaper 1865
From my Collection Growth v02 #423
Click the link right above this and go watch the live version in action.
I’ve really enjoyed covering Robert in this article. It’s fun to learn more about the artists that I collect and see what all they’ve worked on and created. There are a lot of talented people in this space. Check out the links below to get to know this artist more.
Robert Hodgin - @flight404
https://roberthodgin.com/ - His personal site and projects.
https://www.fxhash.xyz/u/flight404
Meandering Rivers - Physical Maps
https://foundation.app/@flight404
Ancient Courses of Fictional Rivers - Artblocks
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