Generative Art Collection by @sermad
Here is *some* of my generative art collection. Most of the pieces minted from fx(hash) with a smaller selection from the Art Blocks, C-VERSO, Objkt & highlight platforms. I try to create continuity across the collection to form visual diptychs & triptychs. Some pieces I've collected are not present as they don't fit into the collection (yet). This is a constant W.I.P.
I first knew of p4stoboy through their amazing work on fx(hash) - this was released on the gm studio platform. I love this work. Sadly these were scammed / stolen from me through a blue check phishing scam (the current owners don't even realise) and I keep them in my gallery as a reminder for everyone reading this to get secure on a hardware ledger. If anyone wants to sell me a pair in shoreline then please drop me a line. ✌🏼
I think artist and friend Marius Watz put me onto Mathias as one to watch. These are from objkt. A pre-cursor to the excellent "Factura" drop released on GM.
I remember trying to mint one of these and failing but Krankarta sent me one later and I managed to grab another from secondary. I love how this piece slowly builds to form these molecular mountain forms. Krankarta keeps delivering.
I'm a huge landlines fan. This work pushes into isometric 3D forms which are well used in generative art but with this, the classic landlines palettes meet a really nostalgic almost "stickle brick" deconstructed aesthetic. This one is still cheap on secondary.
More from landlines. A great exploration into geological forms leads into some fantastic coding. You can change these to exhibit in different "modes". One of those "aha" moments into how digital art can change to our taste / preferences.
Karsten (toxi) is a true pioneer of generative art - as an artist and educator. This is his take on the classic Cellular Automata and putting it through this insane blender to create this infinitely scrolling terrain. This piece is a breathtaking example of how code can generative beautiful complex forms. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
The toxi genesis on fx(hash) and the first NFT I ever minted. Ever. This was November '21. Tezos was hard to get in NYC. I had to ask a friend to send me some. This piece is an homage to the "Flood Fill". The way it animates and fills is just fantastic. I hope people will come to appreciate animated works more. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
Two further explorations into fundamental algorithms by toxi - Voronoi & Jump Flooding. V2 with a pixel filling aesthetic and V3 with more painterly approach. V3 being very reasonably priced on secondary. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
The membership token of deca.art. It's free. It looks beautiful. Closest thing I'll ever get to an archetype.
Andreas had created Loom & Concrete which were well received on fx(hash) but this really landed for me. Elevation drawings of Imaginary structures with palettes named after iconic architects? Yes.
Before Atoms' Gaze (see below) there was Noumenon - a thing that sits beyond perception. A perhaps simple piece - a dithered shape but the digital artifacts taking it to another place.
This was the first piece by Philip I really felt connected to. There's a real skill to taking on subdivided grids and making them look so interesting. I'm not even sure what Selvedge means but it's a vibe. Philip went on to create the fantastic Art Blocks - staccato.
This piece absolutely works for me. It definitely reminds me of motherboards and circuitry but it has a feeling of a structural drawing printed with a risograph.
Kim is an absolute pixel magician. Undisputed heavyweight champion. RAB is his genesis on fx(hash). The formal structure of a book put through the ASDF pixel manipulator. It's mesmerizing as the pages distort and dance - deconstructing and rebuilding as the piece runs. These are animated and must be played to be appreciated.
The NAZCA lines are the basis for this simple concept where horizontal or vertical lines move and cross to form startlingly complex animations and forms. It took me a while to appreciate this piece but if you run it for a long time then it reveals in marvelous ways. This is animated and must be played to be appreciated.
I had been a fan of Andreas for a long time as he had released the brilliant Towers (see below) which I had missed. Device 1 is a huge piece for me. There is nobody else pushing ASCII animation in generative art this way. It's just mind blowing. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
I feel like this piece by adam flew a bit under the radar. It's a great take on a space filling algorithm. The chunky pixel mountains just adding to its charm.
A remake? A demake of C-SCAPE? A cellular automata made from Unicode characters? A worthy addition to the toxi canon. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
Kim ASDF is back for a colour edition of the cult-like monogrid release. The original monogrid was hard to get so I was incredibly happy to see a new colour release. I think I minted maybe 3 or 4 to try and get a blue one. The RNG gods blessed with me one on my final roll. Absolutely amazing. This is a crown jewel in my collection. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
MountVitruvius had released Mind the Gap and this is their fx(hash) genesis. "Shapes on a plane" is hugely literal - taking an isometric grid and adding 3D shapes to build some really beautiful forms. Some look like fractal landscapes while others look like deconstructed toys. I think this piece is a bit of a gem.
I think this was the first piece I collected on ETH and it took Kim releasing sabotage. It was released as a series of 256 editions. You had to choose the one you liked and swapped that. I was late to this series so it was amazing going through all the sold editions to find the few left. Lucky I found one I really vibed with. Another classic piece. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
Subdivided cubes and circles on an isometric view. There's just something really strong about this one. I think it's a bit of an underrated gem. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
Dr. Bill is an absolute OG generative artist, creating code by art since the 1970's. Here he is paying homage to computer arts pioneer Ken Knowlton.
Anna had released the great "Art For Walls In Public Spaces" & "Perpetual Oscillations" but this was released on the C-VERSO platform. What's interesting about this platform is that the mints can be previewed before actually minting. You then get a chance to switch palette or to a new token. This is a really fun and interesting mechanic - gives you chance to bring my taste into the minting process...However, the site kept on crashing so it was incredibly frustrating. The art is beautiful so...worth it.
____ - Iteration 1 / 2 / 3 by Extracurricular Activities
Sarah had released Himinn on Art Blocks and launched on fx(hash) with Eyeshadow Roses (below). GRAPHEME was part of the tribute to Herbert W. Franke (a pioneer of computer art who passed in 2022). I had never seen the idea of aesthetics of letterpress printing brought into generative art. Especially as the "hash" of the transaction is present in the artwork. I'm very glad this piece has had considerable success on fx(hash).
Sarahs genesis on fx(hash) was part of Art Basel Hong-Kong 2022. I'm not much of a representational art collector but I was struck by these quite lovely roses. I really started to discover the pieces where Sarah is bringing in her print aesthetic as some are over misprinted / have over printed traits.
This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
If you want to talk in the greats of "net art" then Rafaël must be up there. He's been selling "websites as art" since the early 2000s and I've been a long time fan. Intersections was released on Art Blocks. It's mesmerizing as it is "simple". Shrinking or growing shapes overlap to infinity. I can't wait to play this on a large digital display. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
Leander has been making web based works since the late 2000s. I remember Marius Watz telling me they were one to watch. Imi was inspired by the works of Imi Knoebel and it reveals itself to be an infinitely generating piece. These are though provoking pieces that push the limits of what we think art can and should be. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
The genesis of Leander on fx(hash). A piece that generates a new version on every click. Putting into question of what is the artwork we are purchasing. This is an interactive piece and must be played to be appreciated.
Do you ever wonder what sound a dump of data creates? You can wonder no more. VLA is exactly this. Do I like this? I'm not sure. It is good to be challenged and not all art you get first time. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
From what I understand of this piece, Richard used A.I systems to generate images and Leander created code based pixel manipulation techniques. It's a brilliant and effective blend. Some fall like rain, some melt upwards. One of those pieces you can't wait for it to run on a giant display. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
I missed getting on the Lars Wander train and it took me some time to get an unfolded. I especially love the more fractured iterations and this pink / green one really resonated. Am I allowed to be critical? Their work outside of fx(hash) is in my opinion stronger but that might be because these are earlier in their artistic journey. Their work released on verse and Plottables are brilliant. I do hope they come back to fx(hash) and release more. I think they are immensely talented.
I had seen artplusbrad release on fx(hash) and Art Blocks so I was really excited when I saw this drop. "Over the air" just serves me all of these 80's nostalgia driven feels. Static and distortion mixing with almost luminous simple shapes. I think this is an underrated release.
Eddie just seems to do these stealth drops and I always look forward to them. A take on box packing but done with a real touch for the palette.
LESSLIE has had quite a few fx(hash) releases but I think inCognita is their standout.
I'm just going to say it. This is pure genius. Mints of cubes are generated but they are "split" into two halves. Because they are random there might be some that share the same background color or cube. It's up to the RNG gods to make a set of "lost twins" and then for a collector to put them together. Like I said. G-E-N-I-U-S
Erik released the classic Farbteiler in Dec 2021. A piece I missed. He also seems to have some of architectural background and that is most apparent in "Mur". It's a bunch of falling bricks. If a bunch of bricks are good enough for Carl Andre & the Tate Modern, then this is good enough for me. This is an interactive piece and must be played to be appreciated.
Kwame Bruce Busia really came a long way with the absolutely beautiful Tesseract series. Hyper-graphic isometric water flows over stacked cubes that seem to all be held up together. A visual and spatial illusion. It's just so crisp.
I don't know anything about riis. They have a great eye and a terrible website. They are going to be huge.
A Yazid tribute to Herbert W. Franke (a pioneer of computer art who passed in 2022). A really colourful and pop take on the work of Herbert & the golden ratio.
Landlines dropping a really interesting experiment on their alt account. You had to own 3 Iterations to be able to mint #4. I actually prefer these 1/2/3 Iterations as they come in this fab pink palette.
Michael is a big favourite of mine. He had released Divisions on Art Blocks and Repeater on fx(hash). District was released on C-Verso again allowing the minter to preview their mint. This minted quite slowly so it was great to have the time to explore shapes and patterns in Michaels trademark brutalist style. I love my little running man mint.
Alex is an architect & Assistant Professor at Institute of Architecture and Media. This is incredibly apparent in their work. If you enjoy plan forms, blocks and isometrics then you will really enjoy their pieces. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
Divisio(X) by Eltono
A recollection, especially of a supposed previous existence. A really nice piece.
The only release by siggi on fx(hash). I feel like this is a bit of a gem.
Eltono is more well known for their large mural work where they employ random choices principles to create their works. Their digital generative work is also just so clean. So crisp.
The fx(hash) genesis from Eltono. Again super clean work. Love.
The genesis from Michael on fx(hash). I'm a huuuuuuuuge Repeater fan. Especially when the piece is so glitched. I missed the mint on this and really focused on the "Bug" palette. Just something about this that really works for me.
You might have figured out by now I'm not much of a landscape person. Jeres dropped a real gem here. They've gone on to improve their style and release consistently great works - see coronado below.
A classic Cellular Automaton created by the creator of fx(hash) - ciphrd. This is a hugely important piece for the platform. I missed the mint (was a few weeks late). Then I didn't quite get into even other the following year. Took me months of waiting on secondary for a nice blue one.
I've been friends with Marius for many years, initially through work and then hanging out in New York. I'd always been a huuuuuuuuge fan of their art and when Hic et Nunc came around, Marius started releasing there. I loved the work but didn't collect due Covid and an overall apathy to crypto. But I came around. This is just an iconic piece for me. A 1/1 that I'll never let go.
Love it when Marius manipulates 3d geometry with his palettes. This piece is very reasonably priced and worthy of collecting.
Mountain Tour 2.0 by Kim Asendorf
Mountain Tour was originally created in 2010. One of (if not) the first example of "pixel sorting". This is the 2022 edition. Absolutely iconic and I can't quite believe I have a full set.
horizon(te)s by Iskra Velitchkova & zach lieberman
Kazumasa "qubibi" Teshigawara does things with pixels that defy logic. These are "leftover" pieces - the digital scraps as they fettle their more finished pieces. I'm grateful. Their storeroom pieces command a large amount of tez but these leftover pieces are accessible and affordable.
TidallyDisruptedStar is a really talented artist with "Cables and Clouds" being their most successful and well known work. This is a lesser known piece but I think it's really strong.
These are really accomplished. Really great and an artist to watch.
I don't know anything about patakk. They are getting more accomplished with every release. One to watch.
Another great little Dr. Bill release.
Released as part of the 1 year anniversary of Achromat and #fxhashturnsone. This was 8000 editions or so. Shows how versatile the work is. A great cheap one.
"Reflective polygons threaded between waves of canvas." A simple concept with some really stunning outputs. I didn't mint this at the time and it took me some time to appreciate what makes a great frag. I think I found a good one.
I'm a sucker for grids and gradients. Great little release.
Dr. Bill releasing the first in series of works where he paid homage to Ken Knowlton.
Ah the mysterious anonymous Tv Vek. This is their third release after Commune and Verdant Brut. I think this is their strongest work so far. Glad you can turn the grain off these.
You can certainly draw a line from Farbteiler to Punktwelt. I just love these. It's a future classic.
This was a huuuuuge release in 2022. Iskra and Zach making an amazing collaboration. What I particularly love about this release was that each artist tried their take on the horizon concept but also with a mimicry of each other. It was a super fresh take on a collaboration. It's like 6(?) collections in one. I keep coming back to appreciate it more.
The only release by compute on fx(hash). Really pleasing abstract forms. A pseudonym for andyduboc.
This was part of #fxhashturnsone, originally a free release for Repeater holders but the AL wasn't correct. So it snuck out and was minted out in minutes. I managed to grab a luminous yellow one and worked a trade for another. Really happy with this set.
Simple vibes. This is all you need sometimes.
Absolutely brilliant animated pieces here. The motion is just so incredibly smooth it's really staggering this is code.
It's just so amazing to see an artist grow and progress through their releases. Coronado is a classic example. Sometimes you don't need art to be explained - just vibe. This has it.
Just fantastic. It's like a 2022 version of zork.
I love this release. It took me ages to get one as most were quite expensive and the square isometric ones hard to find. But I got there in the end with a great one.
It's Dr. Bill. Again releasing fantastic pieces. I just have to collect.
Jonas is an established artist so it's fantastic to see someone of their talent releasing on fx(hash). CHIP - looks like the inside of a computer chip to me. It's a simple concept, well executed. Great.
Such a beautiful piece. I feel like this is hugely undervalued.
I was a big fan of Collapsed Sequence on Art Blocks so I was really happy to see toiminto come back to fx(hash) after a long hiatus. I love pieces where pixels just go through an absolute shredder. This is just so very cool.
Thomas has been releasing great work across fx(hash). This was released as part of #fxhashturnsone. A great piece.
I don't know anything about this artist. Definitely one to watch.
Marius back on his exquisite bullshit.
I love these wibbly forms but this was quite a polarizing piece by Amber and Melissa. I really hope Amber keeps releasing on fx(hash). Melissa is a huge talent and has a great body of work.
I had lusted after a maps for months and months. Very few were coming up for sale but after waiting I finally snagged one I really liked. Feel like this is a bit of a cult favourite.
(dis)Mantle by xiiixiii
When Michael released Mantle (see below) there was a mistake on the Allow List so he released (dis)Mantle as to make things up. I mean what a mint. Repeater + Mantle put through the xiiixiii pixel blender.
These pieces are animated and *HAVE* to be played to be understood. You are rewarded with waves of typography animating in repeating patterns. One day displays will catch up with us so we can truly appreciate these. Mark also released hypertype. One day I hope to have one.
I completely missed "Alp when it came out. So it was a joy to see Leander tweet about it and I went back (artists please talk about your old work). "Alp" looks like an old Amiga game "Midwinter". These low-poly generative 3D landscapes hitting nostalgia and a remembrance of somewhere I've never been.
Ah come on this a SO COOL. Cloudnoise has a lane and they absolutely rock it. These are animated pieces and must be played to be appreciated.
A release on the C-VERSO where you get a chance to preview your art before minting. An exploration into forces and tension.
Distrukt by Landlines Art
This is released on objkt as a ticket you "burn". Once burned, you receive a new token which is rendered image through Blender. I had never seen anyone use a burn mechanic as a way to create new tokens through a rendering process. We need more experimentation in this area.
I don't know much about "Ricky" except they make beautiful art.
I missed the mint for this amazing piece by andreas gysin and it took me over a year to get this one. Iconic. Brilliant. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
The followup to Gerhard. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
Loren is very funny.
I've had an Arcs print for years and I totally missed Marius dropping these on objkt. So I went back and made some decent offers and got a pair. They match beautifully. Very happy.
Anna Lucia working with the quilters of Gee's Bend to turn their designs into a wonderful generative art piece. I just absolutely love everything about this project.
More in the CSRSNT series. This is an interactive piece and must be played to be appreciated.
Landlines are back on their alt account. You might not think much to this piece but it's very very cool as it was the first ever fully on-chain piece minted through fx(hash) using a custom smart contract which I don't understand at all. Right.
I'm always down for another take on Stephen Wolfram's cellular automata. Nice pleasing palette and forms on these. Carlo continues to improve.
Galo puts out consistently great pieces. Printers is a really pleasing looping dithered "ASCII" piece. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
p1xelfool I really know nothing about (I must fix that and do more research). This piece is totally mesmerising. Pixel rain never looked so good. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
A generative PFP in my gallery - of all the things. Mark created this follow up to the very cult original SMOL SKULL. I prefer the ASCII SMOLSKULL version and this fella just winks at you. I fell in love. I call him Gerald.
A beautiful Mishmash. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
This is so utterly smooth. Andreas back again for a really nice piece. Took me ages to find a coloured one and this pink/green combo just leapt at me. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
I don't know anything about Julian (must do my research here). This is their genesis on fx(hash). A really soothing piece. Took me a while of looking through secondary to find one with colour and animation that I vibed with. I think this is a banger. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated. Really the animation style is fantastic.
Alex is back with another piece imagining digital architectures. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
The to follow up Cosmic Type. Another great release.
A true hidden gem. Fully on-chain. You can see how this morphed into orbit of influence. Released on the kohi platform.
Lee Mullican was a pretty well established artist and teacher from the 1960's onwards. Somewhere in the 1980's he started experimenting with painting with computers. His works are glitch art before glitch. The same energy and tension now brought to the screen. Mesmerising would be one word. I had seen some works sold as NFTs before but I was priced out. So I was thrilled to this reissue of this piece from the Expanded Art team sold as an open edition. I think I read Lee made 300 digital pieces so I hope one day they open up to collectors.
The genesis by Joshua Davis on fx(hash). Josh is a true pioneer in gen art. Coming through in the flash days. We met I think in 2000 or 2001 at Ars Electronica. 👴🏼 I really love this release. I can't quite believe I managed to complete a set for a really reasonable price.
Mario AKA quasimondo released this really cool mint for free at an event in New York. He graciously minted this and gifted it to me. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
Great. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
Another super solid release from Eltono. Took me ages to get a super green boy off secondary.
Agglo has been released by Leander in a few various iterations. These were released on 8bidou platform which limited the designs to 8x8 or 24x24 pixel images as they are on-chain. I managed to get a complete set.
A pseudonym of Casey Reas. I totally missed all of these when they were released and never twigged it was the work of Casey. I think these are going to age well.
More in the CSRSNT series.
TBD
Fred AKA wblut is a total master at isometric forms. I was very happy to collect his first long-form release.
A Monte Carlo path tracer made with 5954 characters of code. I don't have any idea how Piter pulled this off with such little code. A technically great release but also the cute and playful forms really work together to form coherent renders. Love this.
A further exploration of Agglo by Leander. These were released on the verse platform and are animated pieces. The animations of the pieces are synchronised together.
Created by Geoff Davis in 1984 and now released for the first time.
I've been a fan of Pauls work since the 2010's when I saw it via Flickr. His first long-form release.
A really interesting project. "Web" are tokens that are individual web pages. Each page is unique and has been created through some sort of A.I. process. Very very cool. We need more of this. Read more about web.
This was a fun little release. You entered a text prompt and from this, you generated ASCII art through a transformer model. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
Released as part of the AGH show with Andreas and Leander. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
If towers and Device 1 had an exquisite baby. This is an animated piece and must be played to be appreciated.
A homage to Herbert Franke's MONDRIAN software developed for the Texas Instruments TI 99/4 home computer in 1979.
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
over-time by John Provencher
TBD