ArtblocksCuratedGrails

Alan Ki Aankhen by Fahad Karim

Picking my favourite NFT from each of the Artblocks Curated collections, one at a time

Alan Ki Aankhen is an exploration of other-worldly cityscapes in the visual aesthetic of Fahad’s distinct style with pen and paper. The title, translated as Alan’s Eyes, alludes to Alan Turing’s machine intelligence test - a thought experiment foreshadowing a moment in which we can no longer differentiate between the real and the artificial. Though first proposed in 1950, the topic feels especially relevant today, as even our creative practices are being carried by shifting technological tides.

The algorithms and decision-making encoded into this generative art project intentionally imitate Fahad’s approach on traditional mediums - composition rules, textures, and overall themes. The visual elements are inspired by Fahad’s memories from his nomadic life. You’ll find intricate windows from Rajasthan, massive Egyptian pyramids rising from the horizon, a density of civilization only seen in New York, and the moon - a comforting and shared sight no matter where you stand.

Running Moon by Licia He

Running Moon depicts the nuanced interaction between clouds and moonlight. It is a search for boundaries between structure and fluidity, precision and errors. It is a quest for harmony. The rendering of Running Moon is inspired by stained glass and watercolor. It captures the sharpness of the glass and the softness of light using abstract forms. As organic shapes gradually expand to fill the space, brush-pen-like stripes solder these pieces together to form intricate compositions.

Sudfah (Arabic for "happy accident") is a generative collection celebrating the beauty that can emerge from chaos, mistakes, and accidents.A single calligraphic line intends to tell one story (sometimes wandering and confused in its own right, but always meandering from one side to the other).Digital liquid is spilled upon it and takes the ink in directions that are unexpected, uncontrolled, and tell a much more interesting story than the one the line intended.... and often more beautiful.

Sudfah by Melissa Wiederrecht

montreal friend scale by amon tobin

white noise contains all possible harmonics/notes/chords. by filtering out narrow frequency bands from the noise, pure sine wave “notes” become audible. we’ve limited these bands to only ever reveal specific notes from a particular musical scale. each piece then, is a unique iteration of this scale with different notes from it gaining prominence. sometimes they will be chordal and sometimes dissonant but always beautiful because the scale is beautiful.visually, the white noise is represented by particles which congeal into dense lines. each line that appears is a specific note you can hear and it's amplitude is defined by the corresponding particle density. chords are represented by the lines crossing over each other.so in summary, it's a quite literal visual representation of sound moving from an arbitrary form to musical form. natural order from chaos with infinitely variable patterns depending on which notes are audible. *note we’ve implemented the following variables for more radical variation in particle behavior in addition to the random generation of notes and their corresponding patterns.particles will either form straight line shapes or curved shapesparticles with vary in size from one iteration to anotherparticles will either favor white or black as their prominent b&w bias creating stark contrast between iterations as well as variables in between the two extremessome iterations will reveal faster and some slower

Colorspace by Tabor Robak

Colorspace is a tribute to creating on the computer. An animated painting with programed brushes, erasers, and accents. Based on the gestures of classic screensavers and operating system UI elements.

I was inspired by the file size limits of storing on Ethereum. Cutting edge technology meets a floppy disc. It reminded me of my original software tools: MacPaint, Kid Pix, HyperCard, on a black and white Mac Classic II. Colliding with a decked out gaming computer, running an arsenal of software, in millions of colors.

I hope Colorspace evokes the fun of learning new software, the trance like state of a late night coding session, and the anxiety of a HDD failure at a critical deadline.

Anticyclone by William Mapan

Anticyclones are a weather phenomena. They pierce through darkness to instill peace and calm. Their planetary scale reminds us of how little we are and how powerful they can be.High pressure, rotation, air flow… The "Anticyclone" series is an artistic exploration and interpretation of those concepts.The rendering borrows its aesthetics from traditional and organic media like paper and crayons, to lend an analog/archival look."Can a computer draw like a human?" The question is asked and challenged once more through "Anticyclone".