The Artist: Daniel Calderon (DCA)
The beginning of generative art on Art Blocks started on Day Zero. The first day of minting art as crispy ERC-721 tokens on the Art Blocks smart contract. Sure you can point to the first on-chain generative art, Autoglyphs by Larva Labs as preceding Art Blocks by 3+ years. You can also argue that the timestamped provenance of Cryptoarte by Seb Broucher pre-dates Autoglyphs. Going further, you can also argue that generative art existed for decades earlier thanks to digital art pioneers like Vera Molnár. But…Art Blocks was first to provide a platform for all generative artists to share their generative art on-chain.
"Hash strings and algorithms are my bread and butter. I use generative art to explore randomness."
The Collection: Genesis (Art Blocks Curated)
Genesis was one of three Art Blocks collections minted on Day Zero of the Art Blocks generative art revolution, November 28th 2020, alongside Chromie Squiggles and Construction Token. The description of the Genesis art collection is primarily educational because few understood what minting art meant. “Genesis: Generative System. A block hash string is interpreted into a visual composition using a set of algorithmic rules. Compositions may contain grids, gradients, lines, shapes, and colors that harmonize with each other. Each mint is one of a kind and designed to stand-alone. Limited Edition.”
‘Curve’, ‘Dots’ and ‘Special’ provide some of the more interesting rarity traits. ‘White Sprinkles’ (25) and ‘Soft Points’ (22) variants of ‘Dots’ (47) are the salt bae Genesis works of the collection.
‘Glowing Bezier’ (13) variant of ‘Curve’ trait (99) is clearly visually identifiable as through a flair a white signature like expression. The Glowing Bezier (13) is the grail trait variant in the collection, admired and collected by MintFace and 6529Museum.
A Specific Artwork: Genesis #62
Genesis #62 exhibits the ‘Glowing Bezier’ trait prominently. First minted by NateAlex on November 28th 2020; Day Zero for the Art Blocks, on-chain explosion that was to come. Genesis #62 displays one ‘RECT1’ rectangle, and one ‘RECT2’ rectangle along with a barely perceptible ‘Colored Trapezoid’ variant. The ‘Grid’ pattern diagonally covers the art. We are yet to see the more organic, flowing, curvy styles that come to be admired by generative art collectors, yet the ‘Glowing Bezier’ trait variant in Genesis #62 hints at the possibilities of code as art to come.
