Generative Art on the Blockchain: How Ethereum Transformed my Artistic Practice

Transcript

Hello. Hi everybody. Um, my name is Jeff Davis. Uh, I'm an artist, uh, and strategic adviser at ArtBlocks. Um, and the title of my, uh, presentation today is called, uh, generative art on the blockchain. Uh, how Ethereum transformed my artistic practice. Um, so I'm going to start with a little background about my career uh as an artist, but then I'm going to focus in on the last five years uh of my career. Um, and speak about how NFTTS, specifically NFTs on Ethereum, uh, change the way I work uh, as an artist.

Uh, so I've been an artist for 30 years. Um, my background is in traditional media, uh, painting and printmaking, traditional printmaking. Um, I also have a background in mathematics. I studied math as an undergraduate. um which has obviously influenced uh the way my art art looks. um so in my early career I pursued painting and printmaking uh to do pursue geometric abstraction. Um I used architecture uh to explore form uh and color. Um but over time my work became increasingly more digital. Uh I started using Photoshop uh and Illustrator to create digital prints. Um this is a exhibition I had in Phoenix uh where I'm from called Location Series.

Um and then in 2009 uh I had developed sort of this visual framework that I've been working with for about 10 years. Uh and I decided I wanted to introduce uh randomness or chance uh into my work. Uh so I started exploring generative uh techniques. I uh taught myself uh the processing uh coding language which is basically JavaScript for artists is the best way to put it. Um and I started working in larger uh more iterative series. Um so my process was to uh write algorithms that would create works of art uh and then create prints of those works. Um and so this is a project called facades again from a exhibition I had in Phoenix.

Um so I basically thought of myself as a generative print maker uh at this point in my career probably this till about 2019. Um and that's when I first discovered NFTTS and so that leads me to the uh first artistic transformation I'd like to speak about which is digital ownership. Um, so I mentioned I'd been using digital tools uh since the 1990s for my work. Um, but there was always a physical uh manifestation. So in in what you were seeing in the previous slides, prints of my work. Um, but in 2019 uh I discovered uh NFTts through platforms like super rare uh and known origin uh both Ethereum uh NFT platforms. Um, at the time I sort of

knew what Bitcoin was from the news, but I really was unfamiliar with uh blockchain technology in general or I didn't had no idea what Ethereum was. Um, but I was really intrigued uh by this idea of art uh remaining in a purely digital form on these platforms. Uh, and that there was this online marketplace uh surrounding um these digital assets. Uh, so I bought a small amount of ETH. I think I bought like $40 uh worth of ETH uh and I used it to mint my first uh NFTts uh in 2019. Um and so this was kind of an experimental period for me. Uh I was taking algorithms that I had written for past exhibitions um that I was creating prints out of and I

ran extensions of them to create new artworks and then I minted them. Um I had a few initial sales uh mostly to other artists working on the platform at the time. Um and I just reinvested that back uh into creating minting new projects. Um my kind of curiosity uh grew uh about uh this new kind of landscape for my work. Uh and so in 2020, early 2020, uh I created my first fully dedicated uh NFT project, a brand new algorithm specifically for uh an NFT NFT release.

Uh it's called abstract tokens. uh it was a series of 60 artworks uh from a single algorithm. Um and the way the platforms at the time worked uh I minted them essentially one at a time individually. Uh it took me about six weeks uh to release this uh project because uh Superair in particular had sort of limits on how much you could publish uh as an artist. Um so to keep people from spamming it um I became really active on Twitter. I hadn't prim I really wasn't using that as social media at the time. Uh kind of connected with the crypto community there uh and eventually sold out uh this project and so um this initial success really

confirmed like that this was a really interesting sort of frontier and and territory uh that I wanted to explore. So I followed that up uh with another project called jazz tokens uh on super rare. And what I was finding as I was kind of working in this new way is that um NFTTS were reducing a lot of constraints uh around my work. Uh there weren't any physical limitations in terms of material needs um and no space limitations. So generally before I would create as many artworks as I could afford to print and frame and also in terms of uh how many could fit into a gallery space. Um so series were you know 8 to 10 to 12 generally. Um but

working digitally it kind of removed all of those those barriers. So instead of that why not 20 or 40 or 60 artworks? Um I could think bigger um about my projects. Um, plus there was just this really great online community of people that appreciated both the fact that they were um being released as digital assets. Um, but also in terms of the genre and the way that I worked as a code-based artist, as a generative artist and so um that was a reception I didn't actually have in my career uh prior to discovering NFTTS and the crypto community. um people generally didn't understand what I was doing as an artist and could see their faces kind of gloss over when you I talk about writing algorithms and um how I approach my art.

Um but this was um as I mentioned so I was exploring all of this through what are called oneofone platforms. So platforms made for singular works of art but that's not how I work as an artist. I'm a systemsbased artist and I create systems to create uh larger out amounts of outputs. Um and so that leads me to the next uh artistic transformation uh called uh on demand generation. So um my process to this point uh in NFTTS was to write an algorithm, run outputs, select what I thought were the best ones and then mint them individually one at a time on the platform. Um but it seemed to me there would be a better way to handle uh NFTTS for a generative artist.

Um, it's code- based work. So, it seemed to me that there'd be a way to host your work online and have people come to the algorithm and create their own outputs. Um, and then, uh, Artblocks arrives on the scene. Uh, so in late 2020, September, uh, Eric Calderon, uh, Snowfro, uh, who's the, um, founder of Art Blocks, reached out to me. Um, he had discovered the NFT work I'd been showing previously. uh and realized I was working as a generative artist and kind of explained to me this new platform that he was working on called ArtBlocks. Um and I was really intrigued uh at the time by his description of the platform. It kind

of sounded like u like a vending machine uh for generative art was the best way I could kind of conceptualize it. Um and I was also just kind of in a mode where I was clearly being very exploratory about my art and trying new things. And so I was like, "Yeah, let's let's give this a shot." Um, so I started working on a project, this one, uh, construction token. Um, and then in November of 2020, um, ArtBlocks launched officially, uh, with a project from Eric Chromy Squiggle, a project from his brother Danny called Genesis, and and my project, uh, construction token. Um, and this was a project that produced 500 outputs, so a much larger scale and volume than what I was doing previously.

Um it sold out uh on the first day uh which was really kind of um crazy. Uh we're sort of blown away by the response of it. Um and so pretty quickly after the kind of launch of ArtBlocks I just went to Eric and said you know if you are going to form a company around art blocks I want to help you. I want to be part of it. I want to help you uh grow the platform. So uh I joined ArtBlocks pretty much right after uh we launched the uh launched the platform. Um and I continue to work um on art blocks as an artist kind of simultaneously. Um so this is another project uh from 2021 called color study.

Um and so this idea of uh ondemand generation uh for my artwork started um forcing new ways of thinking for myself uh as an artist. Um so before I mentioned you I would kind of curate the best outputs and then mint those individually. Um here you're putting the entire algorithm. Uh you we're actually writing it to the Ethereum blockchain. Um and so uh this allows for even larger series of work. Uh this project was 2,000 um outputs. And so that's not something I mentioned, you know, kind of lifting the the constraints of physical space and physical materials. Moving from printmaking to NFTTS, moving from

uh one of one NFTts to generatively created NFTs create created an even higher level of scope. Um this is not something I could have done by hand creating 2,000 outputs and putting them uh individually on the blockchain. Um, and at the same time it causes you as a generative artist to be more precise with your algorithm development. Um, up to this point in my career, even when I was working generatively, I would be hand selecting the outputs and so throwing away the bad ones that I didn't think worked. Um, and that was fine.

That was kind of part of the process. But here, uh, everything that comes out counts. Uh, everything gets minted. Um, and so you have to really narrow your algorithm and really focus your algorithm so that everything that comes out is acceptable uh to you as an artist. Uh, and then this is another art blocks project uh from 2021 called Rhythm. Uh, it's 333 outputs. Um, and I just want to touch on one other sort of aspect of on demand generation um that's, you know, kind of came up that was very interesting. Um, and it's it's a concept of shared creation. Um, so, uh, at least the way art blocks works, uh, none of this work exists, uh, until it's

purchased and minted at the time of mint. And so, the outputs themselves are, uh, a surprise to both the artist, uh, and the collector. Um, they're, you don't know what you're going to get until it comes out. Um, and so both the artist and the collector are experiencing the creation of the work uh, at the same time. Um and so I this is uh you know it's kind of a side product or side effect of like working with art blocks but it's a pretty powerful um experience uh that um you know it adds this sense of discovery to a work that you don't have in other contexts. You generally you go and you see the artwork and it's there and here you're sort of generating the work you know on the fly.

Um but this kind of phase uh of my career 2020 late 2020 2021 uh this was all happening during the global pandemic. So all of this is occurring uh online. Uh my art is being issued um essentially put out um via the web and um that sort of thing. So that leads me to the next um artistic transformation I'd like to speak about which is digital exhibition. Um, so I'd been doing my art releases uh online via art blocks and Ethereum blockchain. Uh, my engagement with other artists and collectors was all happening on social media because we're all stuck at home at this time. Um, and along comes uh a new gallery called Bright

Moments. So, uh, in April uh, of 2021, uh, Seth Goldstein, who's the founder of Bright Moments Gallery, uh, DM' me on Twitter where I had become active. Um, and he told me that he was opening a NFT gallery uh in Venice Beach, California uh called Bright Moments. And the timing uh was for me was perfect. So, as I mentioned, this has all been happening sort of online, but I had been craving um sort of that in-person experience that I had been having with my artwork kind of from the earlier slides. Uh you put art on the walls, you have an opening, you interact with people um in, you know, face to face around the art.

Um, and so they were basically pitching that concept but for NFTTS. Um, so I was excited. So, uh, vaccinations were starting to make this possible again. And so I helped them launch the gallery with a project called Portal. Um, and I we didn't know it at the time, but it was the beginning of a real special relationship that I had with the Bright Moments Gallery. Um, it kicked off uh, Bright Moments uh, exhibitions in eight other international cities. Um, as an artist, I had the privilege to participate in all eight um, of their cities that they went to. Um, so this is a project called Reflection. Um, from their second uh, city they moved from Venice Beach, California to New York

City. Um, and then they followed that up uh, in with a exhibition in Berlin. Uh, this is my project from there called Inflection. Uh and then they went on to London, Mexico City, Tokyo, Buenoseris, Paris, and Venice, Italy concluded last year. Um it was a three-year journey uh of digital exhibitions around the world. And really their special sauce was combining this concept of on demand generation that I was speaking about kind of in the last segment um but combining it with live events. Um so they were using art blocks technology sort of under the hood for for minting these projects. um but doing it uh in real life uh kind of in real time with

people. And so this uh concept of shared creation that was happening online was now happening in a inerson setting. And so you were literally artist and collector standing side by side watching one of these artworks come to life uh at the same time and seeing it together for the first time. Um and so yeah, that's also pretty powerful um stuff as well. Uh and so also as an artist it made me forced me to sort of consider uh the live experience about uh minting these uh and also the as as I mentioned it was over multiple cities and different uh countries and so how do I connect my artwork to these different venues and these different locations.

Um and so because of the digital uh exhibition aspect of my work uh my practice changed again. Um, I started pursuing animated and timebased work. Um, and so everything prior to this point had been static, and you can't tell from these photos because they're not uh videos, but um, these works are animated. So these colors change uh over time. Um, they uh kind of evolve on the on the color wheel. Um, this is from a project called Culmination and this was from their Paris um exhibition.

Um, and so what you're seeing in this context is um, essentially live code uh, running in a browser uh, all packaged uh, in an NFT. Um, and so it's really for a code-based artist like myself, it's a really native way to kind of package your artwork together uh, into a single in a single unit. Um and over this time uh obviously I've been traveling a lot across all these cities um making new relationships with other artists and and uh other people in the space. Um and that leads me to the last transformation I'd like to speak about which is collaboration.

And so this isn't um a direct result of NFT technology or Ethereum. It's just part of uh uh my NFT journey. Basically NFTs unlocked a lot of things for me. And so, um, this is sort of an extension of of sort of a lot of the things that NFTs unlocked for me. Um, I was just presented with a lot of new opportunities for collaboration. Uh, so, uh, late 2023, uh, I worked on two different collaborations as an artist. The first was with, uh, a Dutch art studio, uh, called Drift. Um, they're known for their large, uh, scale connect sculptures and drone performances. Um, and so we did a project called Schema, uh, which is based on one of their

projects called Meadow, which is a bunch of large upside down mechanical flowers that open and closed. Um, and so we developed a generative project to create generative um, schematics or blueprints um, of what those installations could be. Um, and it was a fun way to work. We basically took the code base for our project and passed it back and forth between our studios. And I worked on the color and composition, some of the things that I'm more interested in as an artist, and they worked more on the the animation and movement and some of the flower geometry and those sorts of things.

Uh shortly after that, uh I did another collaboration uh with TM Paris. Um, TM is uh a new studio uh based in Paris uh that uh what they do is they combine uh generative art with traditional craftsmanship. Um so uh is Ismael Tom uh Tazi who's the founder uh it's a good friend now uh we spent a lot of time together thinking about like you know what should I work on you know in terms of a medium uh for a project with them and we settled in on stained glass uh because of my interest in light and color in my work um and so we partnered uh with uh Attelier Lawir uh stained glass uh studio based in Chart France um

they're actually pretty well known uh for their renovations of historic cathedrals. They did the cathedral in charts and I think they worked on the one uh I think they actually did some work on Notradam as well. Um so I visited their studio to learn more about the process. Um and it really informed uh like how I approached the algorithm development in terms of how how to keep the glass structural and not break and not have the panels be wobbly. Uh and so the end result was optimism. uh it's a combination of algorithmic art, NFTTS and stained glass. And in in this setting, the NFTs served as uh essentially digital uh specifications for the fabrication of these panels.

And then this is a collaboration in process. I'm working with a friend and uh fellow generative artist Martin Grasser. Uh it's called in conversation. Uh and it's a generative uh book. Uh so what we're doing is we're each writing algorithms that explore different uh principles of design and principles of color uh and then putting those images next to each other on the page so that they sort of talk to each other visually. And so the idea here is to uh sort of unpack uh the basics of design and color in a what feels like a textbook but in a generative uh fashion.

So that brings me to the end of my talk. Thank you all uh for coming out. Uh I hope that uh something here uh resonated with you about my practice. And really what I'm trying to show is that um Ethereum uh has become this sort of new way of for me working creatively. And so hopefully there's some inspiration there about uh how it how it might be able to unlock creative practices for you as well. Um QR code that goes to my website if you're interested in connecting or learning more. Uh on the about page, you'll find all my socials and how to how to connect with me. Um and I'll just say because it's the homepage right now, um I just finished last month uh uh a 30-year retrospective of my work in

Paris. Uh it just closed. Um but we produced a catalog for it. And so that's that's what you'll see when you when you hit the homepage. And so those are available too if that's of interest. So that's it. Thank you very much.