Concetto Spaziale, by Lucio Fontana

1960 Oil on canvas 80 x 65 cm (32 x 25.75) Abstract painting (a movement that inspired and shocked the world as it was developed by artists globally starting in the early 20th century) marked a departure from representational or figurative art, emphasizing form, color, and gesture (and importantly, ideas) over realistic depiction. Similarly, CryptoPunks break from traditional artistic mediums, using the blockchain and pixels to create unique digital portraits that are unlike any portraiture ever made. Both movements (abstract painting & generative NFT art) reflect on the technological tools that enable them, highlighting a shared narrative of innovation and redefinition in the artistic landscape. We believe that artists like Lucio Fontana made extraordinary leaps into the unknown when he pierced the picture place, literally severing the canvas in his iconic 'Bucchi' paintings (in which took knives to his painted canvases, revealing the void behind the plane, thus shattering any illusion). Digital artists and digital art studios like Larva Labs are making similarly profound gestures, setting the groundwork and paving the way towards the future of art. Here’s a primer on everything you need to know about Lucio Fontana.

Untitled, by Solange Pessoa

Untitled, by Solange Pessoa 2020 Oil on canvas 85 x 94 cm 33 1/2 x 37 1/8 in Fragile Memories #12: Three Seconds Before My First Fight, by Irina Angles and Dr Formalyst 1/1 Created: 2023 The power of memory is a unifying concept between the work of Solange Pessoa and the "Almost Human" series developed by Irina Angles and Dr Formalyst. For Pessoa, memory is expressed through the timelessness of her materials and images: her sculptures are in stone or organic matter and her paintings utilize simple geometries reminiscent of pre-linguistic marks. In fusing human and plant in this Untitled painting, she speaks to a universal understanding of our connection to - and place within - the natural world. While the video art work "Fragile Memories #12" also uses the human body as subject, it speaks to impermanence in its endlessly mutating form. Even though we recognize the limbs and torso that undulate through space, there is no singular body – or bodies – to define. Our memories act in a similar way, constantly evolving and changing with each recollection.

Rio #9, by Rafaël Rozendaal

Rio, generative art series by Rafaël Rozendaal Items: 25 Created: 2024 Untitled, by Marina Perez Simão 2021 Watercolor on paper 41 x 31 cm 16 1/8 x 12 1/4 inches Rafaël Rozendaal is a pioneer in web art, who has been exploring the potential for code as an artistic medium for over twenty years. His NFT series "Rio" combines two gradients - spherical and linear - to produce a representation of the sun and horizon line. The simplicity of the work underscores its effectiveness: the work is both responsive and generative, with the bright colors the only variable. Nevertheless, one is immediately reminded of the tropical light and atmospheric conditions in the eponymous Rio de Janeiro. The Brazilian painter Marina Perez Simão is also inspired by the light in Brazil, which she has described as a "physical experience." Her atmospheric landscapes hover on the edge of abstraction, drawn from memory rather than observation. Similarly to the American modernist Arthur Dove, whose abstracted landscapes of his Long Island home are some of his most powerful works, her strong connection to place is apparent in her evocations of her homeland.

Untitled, by Amadeo Luciano Lorenzato

Undated, mid-20th c. Oil on canvas and wood 34 x 29.5 cm (13 x 11 1/2 in) “Untitled” is a painting by Lorenzato who was a Modernist painter who portrayed landscape, still life and everyday life in tropical Brazil. Anadol's digital art often involves the use of data and algorithms to create immersive, dynamic experiences that challenge traditional notions of visual representation of nature. Lorenzato, while rooted in traditional painting, embraced a contemporary perspective by infusing his works with a sense of spontaneity and expressive freedom, a departure from previous centuries' approach to painting. Read more about Lorenzato’s work here (sothebys.com/en/articles/inside-the-work-of-outsider-artist-amadeo-luciano-lorenzato). Untitled, by Marina Perez Simão 2021 Watercolor on paper 39 x 29.7 cm (15 3/8 x 11 3/4 in) Simão is from a younger generation of contemporary painters, but she is equally fascinated and inspired by the sumptuous and fantastical landscapes, flora and fauna, of Brazil, where she is from. Winds of Yawanawá, by Refik Anadol Items: 1,000 Created: July 2023 Refik Anadol is a Turkish-American new media artist and designer whose projects consist of data-driven machine learning algorithms that create abstract, dream-like environments. This NFT series was made in collaboration with artists from Yawanawá, a tribal village in the Amazon. They have harnessed weather data from the rainforest to feed into an algorithm that creates the resultant artwork. The data includes wind speed, gusts, direction and temperature and merges with the paintings, resulting in a mesmerizing play of traditional shapes and colors. View all works in this series here (opensea.io/collection/winds-of-yawanawa).

Chimera #279, by Mpkoz

Items: 986 Created: December 2021 Dois vasos e toalha quadriculada, by Paulo Nimer Pjota 2023 oil and acrylic on canvas and aluminum plate 60.5 x 68.5 cm (23 7/8 x 27 in) The still-life has existed as a genre of art for centuries: whether as a study in formality or a political critique, artists have continued to find rich potential in simple arrangements of objects. Both Nimer Pjota and Mpkoz affirm that the still life remains a relevant subject today, in their two very different approaches in two very different mediums.

Crush, by Andreas Gysin

Items: 256 Created: December 2023 "Crush" is an interactive, digital artwork that displays its own source code in real-time on an ASCII grid, by the Swiss-Italian artist Andreas Gysin. Many of Gysin's work have interactive, or "live," components to them. In the artist's own words, "Interactivity [is] the ultimate form of art because it only works when the audience is present and when the audience engages with the piece. If you don't do anything, you don't have access to the true meaning and the true depth of the piece." Similarly, as with Lygia Clark's 'Bichos', the work is only complete when a viewer is interacting with it.

METASOTO, by Casey Reas

Items: 68 Created: Nov 2023 Items: 512 Created: April 2019 Rombo Con Gris, by Jesús Rafael Soto 1971 Paint on metal and wood panel, nylon 132.1 x 132.1 x 34 cm (52 x 52 x 13 3/8 in) It could be argued that all artists pay homage to their precedents and that all artworks are built upon ideas that came before them. This is especially clear in Reas' series, "METASOTO," which pay homage to an icon of 20th-century abstraction, Jesús Rafael Soto. Soto, hailed as the father of Kinetic Art in Latin America, utilized geometric precision and negative space to create sculptures that seemingly vibrate or shift in space. In his semi-sculptural paintings he engaged viewers with dizzying optical experiences, challenging traditional perceptions of art. Reas has used live code to create dynamic compositions of intersecting black and white lines, using technology to similarly engage the viewer.

Archetypes, by Kjetil Golid

Items : 600 Created: Oct 2021 Ombrío 18, by Olga De Amaral 2015 Linen, gesso, acrylic, gold leaf and palladium 180 x 100 cm (70 3/4 x 39 in) Kjetil Golid's NFT series "Archetypes" and Olga de Amaral's historical weavings share a common thread in their exploration of mathematical principles within the realm of art. Gold's generative art pieces utilize algorithms to transform numbers into visually compelling compositions, seeking emergent complexity amidst chaos. Similarly, Amaral, with seven decades of experience, intertwines various materials, including horsehair, wool, and gold leaf, into abstract tapestries and sculptures. Both artists delve into mathematical concepts such as geometric shapes, patterns, symmetries, and combinatorial thoughts. The repetitive patterns in Golid's series resonate with the meticulous weaving techniques employed by Amaral, blurring the lines between art and mathematical precision. While both artists are working with very different materials --one organic and hand-made, one pixelated and digital-- in essence, both artists converge in their ability to infuse artistry with mathematical intricacies, creating visually stunning works that balance structure and chaos.

The Fungible, by Pak

Created: April 2021 Pak is an anonymous creator who has been active in the world of digital art for over two decades. "The Fungible" was an open edition NFT released in 2021 with the collaboration of Sotheby's and Nifty Gateway. It is recognized as one of the most high-grossing NFT releases in this early period of the medium and artistic genre. By leveraging blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens, "The Fungible" not only provides collectors with novel assurances of scarcity and ownership, but exposes them to the unique features with which technology can endow artwork. Pak scrutinizes our collective understanding of value and questions: "What does value mean, and from where does it derive authority?" Read more about the impact of this release in 2021 here (sothebys.com/en/articles/17-million-realized-in-sothebys-first-nft-sale-with-digital-creator-pak?locale=en).

Cuadriláteros & Sin título (Reticulárea), by Gego

Cuadriláteros, 1982 Stainless steel and iron 50 x 40 cm (20 x 16 in) Sin título (Reticulárea), 1969-70 iron, wire, nylon, and weights 237 by 89 by 69 cm (93 x 35 x 27 in.) Both Pak and Gego used basic units of geometry as a starting point for the intricate and ever-evolving creations. The Venezuelan artist Gego (whose real name was Gertrud Goldschmidt) harnessed geometry in her innovative approach to kinetic and constructive art. Utilizing metal wires, she crafted intricate three-dimensional structures that played with transparency, embracing imperfections to defy geometric rigidity. Her compositions, rooted in geometric principles, invited infinite perspectives, allowing viewers to explore dynamic interplays of lines and spatial configurations. In this way, she used geometry not as a constraint but as a tool for boundless artistic expression, opening up a world of possibilities. Read more about Gego’s recent retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in Holland Cotter’s review in the New York Times.

KLEEE02, by Kelian Maissen and Johannes Gees

Items: 360 Created: April 2019 This generative artwork is inspired by Paul Klee’s quip about using the line: «A line is a dot that goes for a walk». Considering Gego’s great achievement of liberating line from paper, this NFT launches the line into digital space. All three, Paul Klee, Kleee (the NFT artist), and Gego, are artists seeking the limitless potential of lines in space, whether real or virtual.

Contractions

by Loie Hollowell Items: 280 Created: Oct 2022 Construcción Sublime Dos (Topología Erótica Series), by Zilia Sanchez 1990 Acrylic on canvas mounted on wood structure 182.88 x 105.41 x 24.13 cm (72 x 41 1/2 x 9 1/2 in) Loie Hollowell and Zilia Sánchez are two artists that hare a common exploration of the human body through abstract and expressive forms. Hollowell's artworks, including the generative NFT art series "Contractions," delve into her personal experiences of sex, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and motherhood. Using radiant color, space, and sculptural elements, she creates compositions that emotionally resonate with the viewer. Similarly, Sánchez, known for her canvas 'skins' overlaid on wooden endoskeletons, paints with geometric color fields in her "Topologías eróticas" series. The precise curves and lines in Sánchez's sculptural works reveal organic and animated peaks, featuring sensual contours reminiscent of the female form. Despite the differing mediums, both artists convey a deep exploration of bodily landscapes, engaging viewers through dynamic and otherworldly abstraction.

LED, by Jeff Davis

Items: 100 Created: May 2023 Couleur Additive 18, by Carlos Cruz-Diez 1971 acrylic paint on chipboard 80 x 80 cm (31 1/2 x 31 1/2 in) The parallels between Jeff Davis' NFT series "LED" and Carlos Cruz-Diez's kinetic paintings are compelling, illustrating Davis's clear influence from the breakthroughs made by Cruz-Diez and the Kinetic Art and Op Art movements of the 1960s. Cruz-Diez, known for his theoretical and experiential approach, challenged viewers to perceive color as a potent force akin to other sensory experiences. His connection to the Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel (GRAV) highlighted a scientific approach to art. Similarly, Davis, immersed in digital art, explores the RGB components of digital color and color-mixing, showcasing a keen interest in the physics of color reminiscent of Cruz-Diez. Both artists, despite working in different eras and mediums, share a profound commitment to the exploration of color as a dynamic and transformative element, bridging historical breakthroughs with contemporary digital expressions in a way that engages viewers on both intellectual and sensory levels.

DSO, by Julio Smitter

1/1 Julio Smitter is a young Venezuelan artist who is also inspired by the groundbreaking innovations that Carlos Cruz-Diez inspired, translating the movement of light and color into digital artworks.

Window, by Jan Robert Leegte

Items: 404 Created: March 2022 Efecto y Consecuencias, by Mercedes Pardo 1976 Acrylic on canvas 120 x 120 cm (47 3/16 x 47 3/16 in) Both of these artists are exploring quadrants, divisions, and scaling within a rectilinear format. In the case of Leegte, he is paying tribute to the computer interfaces of the 1990s. The combination of illusion and tactility found in these interfaces shows our longing to have the computer experience to be part of the material world. As a counterpoint, Pardo’s paintings are some of the most important experiments in geometric abstract painting in the post-War period in South America, developed decades in advance of these NFTs. Ultimately, the organizing principle of the modernist grid underwrites the day-to-day experience of utilizing a computer. To wit, "Windows".

Human Unreadable, by Operator

Items: 400 Created: June 2023 Untitled (from the Path to the Superhuman Tie series), by Wanda Pimentel 1966 Chinese ink and ecocline on paper 35.1 x 24.9 cm (13 7/8 x 9 3/4 in) Both of these artworks --one, an ink on paper painting from 1966, and the other, a generative digital artwork-- are characterized by precise geometric lines and smooth surfaces, blurring the lines between abstraction and figuration. In Pimental's composition, everyday objects take on an animistic quality, with a headless female figure navigating a domestic space. In Operator's work, we see floating human body parts within a high-contrast geometric composition, seamlessly merging choreography, code, and cryptography. Both artworks use the human body as a psychological charge in an open landscape. Read more about "Human Unreadable" on ArtBlocks.

Memories of Qilin, by Emily Xie

Items: 1,024 Created: March 2022 is inspired by traditional East Asian art. It channels the sense of movement and fluidity found in classical Chinese brushwork, while drawing from the colors, patterns, and forms of ukiyo-e woodblock prints. Everywhere, by Clare Rojas 2016 Gouache on paper 30.5 x 22.9 cm (12 x 9 inches) Clare Rojas is a painter, sculptor, installation artist and musician whose studio practice is intricately connected to storytelling. She is known for creating tableaus inspired by folk art, such as in this painting, which evokes a Chimeric character or kaleidoscopic set of characters, women morphing into birds morphing into celestial beings, into abstraction, and back again. Xie’s generative art series, likewise, is inspired by the Chinese mythic figure of the “Qilin,” a fabled chimerical beast that represents prosperity and luck.

ZENTRUM #197, by Herbert W. Franke

Items: 222 Created: Originally created in 1982; minted November 2023 Mirage (Yellow), by Iván Navarro 2023 LED light bulb, cherry wood, mirror, one-way mirror and electric energy 65 x 36 x 6 5/7 in. Edition of 3 ZENTRUM is a dynamic, endlessly running abstract animation made of structural elements and random codes, originally developed in 1982 and brought on-chain at the end of his lifetime. With incredible clarity in the animation and the use of nesting generative patterns (which evoke one-point perspective) closely mirror Navarro’s sculpture, “Mirage”. Navarro uses electric light as his primary medium, often appropriating the austere visual language of Dan Flavin's fluorescent-light sculpture, and imbuing it with illusionism through the use of one-way mirror. When viewing this work in person, the spectator is confronted with an infinite tunnel, creating an alternate escape from reality in a plausible, believable form. Both of these works, by Franke and Navarro, use light to bring the viewer into illusory space.

Fragments of an Infinite Field #881, by Monica Rizzoli

Items: 1,024 Created: October 2021 Salmo, by Gloria Sebastián Fierro 2021 Distemper on jute 120 x 160 x 3 cm (47 1/4 x 63 x 1 1/8 in) Monica Rizzoli is a Brazilian artist working with digital on-chain art, and Gloria Sebastián Fierro is a Colombian artist who makes traditional paintings on canvas; together, they explore natural landscapes as their subject. In "Fragments of an Infinite Field," a generative NFT series, Rizzoli crafts an evolving ecosystem where an idealized plant species flourish in a boundless expanse of atmospheric foliage. Likewise, Fierro's monochromatic landscape transports viewers to the shores of the Caribbean in a mystical journey bridging figuration and abstraction. Both artworks conjure shadowy forms reminiscent of overexposed black-and-white photographs, and both artists offer unique interpretations of nature's allure.

Century, by Casey Reas

Items: 1,000 Created : Oct 2021 Casey Reas is an American digital artist and an educator, and arguably one of the most influential figures of generative NFT art. "CENTURY" is the artist’s homage to paintings and drawings from the twentieth century and the countless hours he has spent looking at them. The references span the origins of concrete and non-objective art to color-field painting and minimalism. Learn more about Casey Reas in his interview with fellow artist Jeff Davis for ArtBlocks.

Rondo, by Carmen Herrera

1958 Acrylic on canvas 100 cm diameter (39 3/8 in. diameter) “Rondo” is an important early painting by pioneering abstract painting Carmen Herrera, and it was featured in the artist’s retrospective at the Whitney Museum of Art. Casey Reas was particularly inspired by 20th Century innovators like Carmen Herrera and Ellsworth Kelly, artists who changed the concept of what painting could be. Herrera (a Cuban-American artist) in particular is known as an artist who innovated upon and changed the shape of the canvas (such as in a tondo shape). She was also at the forefront of color-field painting and geometric abstraction. In essence, Herrera's technological innovation lies in her mastery of artistic techniques, using them to achieve a level of precision and visual impact that, while not digital or electronic, aligns with principles of precision and clarity often associated with technological advancements. Herrera’s career trajectory was unique in that she only started to receive recognition for over seven decades of work when she was in her 90s. She recently died at 106 years old. Read about her extraordinary life here.

Metropolis, by MPKOZ

Items: 899 Created: February 2023 Metropolis is a generative art series minted in different cities by MPKOZ that was originally conceived as a diptych, inspired by the different cities in which it was minted during Bright Moments (New York, Berlin, London, Mexico City, and Los Angeles). The style of Metropolis is heavily influence by cubism and abstract expressionism. Untitled Estructura (Yellow), by Carmen Herrera 1966/2016 Acrylic and aluminium 152.4 x 111.8 x 12.7 cm (60 x 44 x 5 in) It is said that Cospomolitanism and Abstraction go hand-in hand; Herrera, born in Havana, spent time in Paris and New York developing her signature style of minimalistist, geometric abstraction (the type that MPKOZ references and feeds to his algorithm in his generative art). In this sculptural work, she experiments with pure shape and color to perform distortions in perception and perfection of form. This work is an edition 1/1, with the Artist’s Proof belonging to the collection of the National Gallery in Washington DC.

Time after vessels, by Sofia Crespo

Items: 100 Created: May 2023 Untitled, by Jorge Pardo 2019 Aluminum, painted plastic, stainless steel, light fixture, light Dimensions variable Sofia Crespo is an Argentinian artist interested in the intersection of biological processes and machine learning, who is known for her generative AI NFTs. In this series, she has imagined aquatic life -- in this case, jellyfish-- articulated through custom algorithms and self-trained GANs. Jorge Pardo is a Cuban-American artist who is interested in the intersection between contemporary painting, design, sculpture, and architecture, how they are different and how they overlap. These particular lamps are inspired by the colors of the Caribbean and represent the forms of jellyfish.

corpo | real, by Claire Silver

Items: 499 Created: January 2024 Mar Linda, by Leda Catunda 2016 Acrylic on cloth and organza 174 x 174 cm (68 1/2 x 68 1/2 in) Claire Silver is an anonymous artist who describes herself as a millennial who grew up in an analog world that became increasingly digital. Her artistic process mirrors this evolution, as she goes back and forth between “analog” and “digital" and uses AI technologies to develop the works. ‘corpo | real’ is a digital art project that explores the concept of having a form, or a body, in the age of artificial intelligence. Her imaginary subjects are female figures clad in intricate and vibrant dresses, embodying the AI fashion motif. Leda Catunda is one of Brazil's most important contemporary artists who is known her use of "low art" materials (such as glitter or house paint), used fabrics and clothing (rather than canvas or linen), and an unapologetically feminine aesthetic. This painting --which is actually one piece made up of many smaller, fragmented paintings-- also envisions the contemporary female figure, a body that is both fractured and created in the age of the internet.

The Work of Art as an Algorithmic Aesthetic System, by Carlos Marcial

1-to-1 NFT Created: 2023 Carlos Marcial is a Mexico City-born Puerto Rican digital artist who has been involved in crypto art since 2019. This artwork is a part of the artist's "Infinity Rooms" series, and it is a generative animation that configures infinite combinations of color pairings: View full interactive artwork here. Study for Painting No. 3, by Fanny Sanin 2007 Acrylic on paper 48.9 x 48.3 cm (19 x 19 in.) This is a watercolor study for a larger painting made by the Columbian artist, Fannin Sanin, who has been dedicated to geometric abstraction since the 1960s. Color and form are the artist’s only subject matter. This systemic and non-representational approach to art-making was entirely innovative during the period in which she was developing it, when abstraction was still full of expression and emotion. This ‘universalist’ approach paves the way for artists today to leave the aesthetics of an artwork entirely to code or even to chance.

Epiphanies, by Jimena Buena Vida

Items: 200 Created: July 2023 Jimena Buena Vida is an Colombian digital artist who is known for her generative art series. She merges her engineering and computer science background with her passion for Modernist art, resulting in a blend of colorful simplicity and technological geometric abstraction. Sin Titulo, by Lolo Soldevilla 1955 Black and white wooden elements on wood panel 52 x 60 x 6 cm (20 1/2 x 23 3/4 x 2 1/2 in) Pioneering Cuban artist Dolores "Lolo” Soldevilla (1901-1971) was one of the only women to be prominently associated with the development of geometric abstraction in Cuba and one of the key figures responsible for promoting its development from the 1950s onward. Like the emerging generative artist Jimena Buena Vida, Soldevilla was also a self-taught artist, one who manages to bring expression and musicality to pure geometry. As opposed to Buena Vida’s “Epiphanies” (which can take on many different meanings), this “Untitled” painting is deliberate artistic choice by Soldevilla. The practice of leaving artworks “Untitled” is typical of Modernist artists and it is often associated with a desire to allow viewers a more open and subjective interpretation of the artwork. By omitting titles, artists avoid providing specific contextual or interpretative cues, enabling viewers to engage with the piece based solely on their own perceptions and emotions. Learn more about Solevilla in this ArtNexus review.

parade & phase, by Loren Bednar

Vibrante, by Maria Freire

1981 Oil on canvas 63 x 84 cm (25 x 33 in) Maria Freire was an Uruguayan artist who studied under the influential artist Joaquín Torres-García in the 1930s in Montevideo. Eventually her work developed its own characteristic style, working in series in which she used polygons and bands of color in a reductive palette. Freire tended to work in series, taking colors, rhythms and forms as their own subjects. In the painting series "Vibrante", developed from 1975 to 1985, the emphasis was on light and color. Please note that while the colors and patterning in “Vibrante” appear to mimic digital screens, this is a pre-digital painting: it is very handmade and depicts all of the chaos and colors of the internet before the internet age. Up close, you can see the wavering of her hand as she tried to make straight lines for the grid. It is a very impressive, precious, painting that is at once delicate and understated, yet powerful and highly conceptual. Loren Bednar is a digital artist who makes generative NFTs that are often colorful and animated. His artworks are a visual representation of interference patterns and colorful echoes. Mathematical functions produce constant motion, depicting harmonious expansion and contraction of colorful bars. One could speculate that Maria Freire's compositions were prescient, pre-figuring the aesthetics of the digital age. And whilst it is unknown whether or not Bednar was aware of Freire's paintings, his digital compositions both complement and confirm the grandiose achievements of Freire (while her historical compositions provide important cultural and critical context to his work).

Bosque de Chapultepec, by Daniel Calderon Arenas

Items: 100 Created: November 2022 Numbers and Trees: Palm Canyon (Series 3, Set 4), by Charles Gaines 2021 Watercolor and ink on paper, 4 parts 124.5 x 58.4 cm (49 x 23 in) Charles Gaines' representation of a tree's growth, or perhaps of the inherent instability of our perception of trees and nature in perpetual flow, is actualized with a color-coded grid system. Whilst the grid is associated with rationality and scientific classification of specimens, Gaines deploys it to convey the poetic and symbolic power of the tree metaphor, associated with life itself. Similarly, Daniel Calderon Arenas literally generates a digital equivalent of the mystery encountered in the mythical woods that are in the heart of Mexico City in Chapultepec Park. Both artists hack technologies and modes of classification used to analyze nature to evoke its infinite potential for change. The correlation and continuity of analog and digital here are made evident by the similar intent, and effect. Gaines was featured in the LACMA exhibition "Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age, 1952–1982" in 2023. Watch Gaines talk about his "Generative Systems" here (youtube.com/watch?v=EQxk82T2aA4).

Automatism, by Yazid

Items: 426 Created: March 2022 Untitled, by Alvaro Barrington 2020 Mixed media on burlap paper in artist frame 6 parts; 76.2 x 101.6 cm (30 x 40 in) overall 'Automatism' by Yazid is a series of generative digital artworks inspired by the spontaneous and freeform practice of artists who have, for millennia, approached a blank surface. While making this work, Yazid explored where a machine's "mind" would wander under similar circumstances. These digital compositions find a surprising resonance with the paintings of emerging artist Alvaro Barrington. Barrington, drawing on formative experiences growing up throughout the Caribbean, creates textured mixed-media paintings on burlap fabric. This six-panel composition, featuring a distinctive palette of bright yellow and cocoa brown, abstractly evokes tropical vegetation. Despite the vast differences in approach and material between Yazid's digital art and Barrington's physical paintings, a harmonious similarity in composition emerges.

Generations, by Anna Lucia & Gee's Bend Quilters

Items: 500 Created: May 2023 "Generations" is a collaboration between generative NFT artist Anna Lucia and the quilters of Gee's Bend. Anna Lucia developed an algorithm to craft a series of digital quilts inspired by the iconic patchworks of the Quilters of Gee's Bend. Learn more about the Gee’s Bend Quilters from this PBS NewsHour segment, and you can read more about how this young digitally-native artist found her way towards collaborating with this legendary group in this Artnet article.

Portal, by Sonia Gomes

2021 Fabrics 202 x 92 x 7 cm (79 1/2 x 36 x 2 1/2 in) For millennia, textiles made throughout the South American continent wove together stories of identity and ancestral beliefs. Predating written languages, textiles served as the predominant medium for conveying images and concepts. Textiles evolved into quilts, each item conveying social status and symbolism through materials, colors and motifs. Furthermore, textiles and textile patterns have been widely described as the first "computers", as they were and are a technology that allows patterns to be woven 'automatically' and repeatedly. Gomes in particular uses found or gifted fabrics from family members, friends, and women in her immediate community, which, according to her, “bring the history of the people that they belonged to....I give a new significance to them”. Her assemblages thus visually represent the DNA, the programmed code, of her community and ancestors. Read more about Sonia Gomes in this recent New York Times profile.

Caminos, by Juan Rodriguez Garcia

Items: 1,000 Created: Nov 2022 Juan Rodríguez García is a Mexican generative NFT artist. His work explores design concepts and programming through technology and code as a tool of creation and expression. The Caminos NFT collection launched in November 2022, and comprises 1,000 unique digital art pieces residing on the Ethereum blockchain. The series represents the artist's interest with colors, patterns, situations, people, and objects, such as markets, streets, and buildings that make up a city. This work is a tribute to urban cities, created through layered elements, resulting in chaos from color, geometries, and changing variables over time. Learn more about this series, which was minted at Bright Moments Mexico, here (rightclicksave.com/article/an-interview-with-juan-rodriguez-garcia). O Marinheiro, by Beatriz Milhazes 1998 Acrylic on canvas 217 x 217 cm (85.5 x 85.5 in) Beatriz Milhazes (a Brazilian artist) likewise draws inspiration from a rich tapestry of colors, patterns, situations, people, and objects that constitute the vibrant energy of a city and a country. This inspiration extends to her exploration of Modernist compositions and geometric elements, where she skillfully blends the rhythmic patterns of Brazilian culture with the structured forms of geometric abstraction. Her art becomes a visual celebration that merges the spontaneity of her surroundings with the ordered elegance of geometric design, creating a harmonious fusion of diverse influences within the vibrant palette of her paintings. Take a virtual studio tour with Milhazes here.

Untitled, by Carmen Herrera

2014 Acrylic and pencil on paper 61 x 91.4 cm 24 x 36 in Tide Predictor #289, by Lovid Non-fungible token Items: 400 Created: November 2022 As early as the 1940s, Cuban artist Carmen Herrera explored the limitless possibilities of minimalism through strict, geometrical compositions. In her quest for simplicity, she often restricted her palette to two or three colors, allowing the contrasting tones to create vibrancy and energy. Herrera was trained as an architect and continued to use drafting techniques in her work up until her death in 2022. Video artist-duo LoVid takes a similarly reductive, lo-fi approach in their first NFT series "Tide Predictor". While the NFT is code-based and generative, as with LoVid's previous video-based work, it is rooted in analog technology. Inspired by early mechanical computers used to predict ocean tides, LoVid recreates the most basic, oscillator-driven video feed on chain, in a chaotic mix of RGB color.

Beyond the Yard, by Alvaro Barrington

2023 yarn on burlap in corrugated steel and reclaimed wood frame, with Optium acrylic 160.5 x 161.5 x 14 cm / 63 1/4 x 63 5/8 x 5 1/2 in This multimedia painting was first exhibited in a 2023 exhibition in London entitled "Grandma's Land," where the artist references his early experience of an itinerant life growing up around the Caribbean, celebrating its diverse culture and landscape. Barrington uses traditional and non-traditional materials, such as timber and burlap, that speak to the ubiquitous materials used for housing structures in the Caribbean region; mirroring his enduring concern for how different medias can function as a visual tool and exist as a richly layered signifier of cultural and political histories. His yarn paintings suggest the experience of looking at farmland from miles above; the patchwork nature of land in the 21st century that makes our geography our culture, and vice-versa. Evoking the Portuguese term "sodade," meaning a longing for an irretrievable home, Barrington remixes materials from his Latin American roots with his current life as a studio artist in London and New York. Salinas Valley, by Grant Yun 1/1 Similarly, digital artist Grant Yun explores the nostalgia and beauty of landscapes in his work "Salinas Valley." Depicting an expansive rural vista devoid of figures, Yun's minimalist style and distant viewpoint evoke a sense of detachment. Through patchwork colors, rolling hills, and scattered elements of civilization, Yun captures the essence of America, highlighting the subjective nature of land identity. Read an interview with Grant Yun here (rightclicksave.com/article/the-interview-grant-yun-digital-art).

Figs. #42, by Sarah Ridgley

Items: 100 Created: 2024 Maria A. Guzmán Capron Tutti Frutti , 2023 Fabric, Thread, Batting, Stuffing, Acrylic Paint, and Spray Paint Both Sarah Ridgley and Maria Guzmán Capron find the potential in collage and the handmade within their work. Despite existing in the digital space, Ridgley's NFT series 'figs' draws aesthetically from her background in letterpress printing. The use of text within her work serves as both a visual element and poetic device, with overlapping characters acting like a kind of brushstroke. Guzmán Capron quilts together her colorful sculptures from found textiles, layering prints and textures before adding painted details. Unlike the fruit in Ridgley's NFT, Guzmán Capron intentionally uses the oversized banana studded with miniature fruit to allude to racial tropes. However, she transforms the figure into a celebration of abundance with her title "Tutti Frutti".

923 EMPTY ROOMS #779, by Casey Reas

Items: 924 Created: Aug 2023 923 Empty Rooms is an artwork about simulation and the history of visual representation and abstraction. Reas was inspired by the radically innovative period of art-making in the 1960s and 1970s in which artists were interested in cybernetics, coding, and automated processing.

Untitled, by Roberto Burle Marx

1980 Manually woven tapestry 200 x 264 cm (79 x 104 in) Roberto Burle Marx was a Brazilian landscape architect (as well as a painter, print maker, ecologist, naturalist, artist and musician) whose designs of parks and gardens made him world-famous. He created only 30 tapestries in his lifetime, exploring the medium of textiles and weaving to further innovate upon his ideas of expressive abstraction. In Reas' NFTs, a layered composition of pixelated lines results in a weave like pattern. As the shapes rotate, distort and cross over from each other, they create new shades and motion, reminiscent of Burle Marx's own lyricism across media. Read more about Burle Marx’s extensive influence here (nytimes.com/2016/05/13/arts/design/review-revisiting-the-constructed-edens-of-roberto-burle-marx.html).

LOSTPOETS, by Pak

Items: 48,400 Created: September 2021 As quatro estações, by OSGEMEOS 2009 Mixed media with sequins on wood doors 216 x 296 x 7 cm (85 x 117 x 3 in) Pak's generative NFT series "Lost Poets," features portraits that celebrate turn-of-the-century steampunk aesthetics with contemporary cyborg fantasies, finding an unexpected resonance with the vibrant and fantastical universe created by the Brazilian artist duo OsGemeos. While Pak delves into the realm of future humanity through digital portraits celebrating cyborg culture, OsGemeos, renowned for their graffiti across Brazil and Latin America, crafts a private universe with yellow long-limbed characters and surrealist cityscapes. Despite the differing mediums, both artists converge in their imaginative exploration of alternative realities and the symbiotic relationship between humanity and technology, past, present and future. In a way, both artists' figurative portraits encapsulate a celebration of contemporary culture, this liminal moment between digital expression and the analog. In essence, these artists share a common ground in crafting speculative-fictitious worlds that blend the boundaries of the real and the imagined.

Happiness is Not a Ploy, by Vini Naso

In this 1/1 digital artwork, Naso celebrates the parallel Carnaval that takes place in the poorer suburbs of Rio de Janeiro each year. Far from the glamorous beaches, the Sambadrome, and the crowd of tourists that descend on the city for the world-famous Carnaval parades, there is an explosive contest between suburban neighborhoods. This old form of carnival features teams of masked clowns that are a surreal mixture of delight and terror. A tradition that has its roots in ancient European carnival traditions and in African rituals, they look like visitors from another world, like the characters from Os Gemeos' surreal narratives.

Life Paths, by eko33

1/1 NFT Untitled, by Abraham Palatnik 1991 acrylic paint on canvas 100 x 100 x 3.5 cm (39 3/8 x 39 3/8 x 1 3/8 in) Eko33, a generative artist from Switzerland, and Abraham Palatnik, an iconic figure in the optical and kinetic art movements of Brazil, share a common thread in their exploration of dynamic visual experiences, despite the difference in their chosen mediums. Eko33's digital artwork, generated based on crypto hash seeds, presents a vibrant and animated abstract composition reminiscent of fluidly moving ribbons in shades of orange, turquoise, magenta, and yellow. On the other hand, Palatnik manually crafts physical pieces using materials like wood, duplex cardboard, and acrylic in his progressive reliefs. These reliefs, characterized by rhythmic undulation, showcase Palatnik's meticulous craftsmanship. While Palatnik was trained in mechanics and engineering, ultimately he was drawn towards art as his calling. In today's generative art movement, artists like eko33 have found a way to combine both. Chromie Squiggle, by Snowfro

Gumbo, by Mathias Isaksen

Items: 400 Created: July 2023 Mathias Isaksen is a generative artist and creative coder based in Oslo, Norway, who driven by a do-it-yourself ethos and a disregard for established practices. At its core, the “Gumbo” generative art series explores the diversity of form that can be achieved by combining simple shapes, such as spheres, donuts, boxes, and cylinders. Despite the basic components, the final arrangements are strangely familiar, some reminiscent of space stations, others of internal organs. Read more about Isaksen and this series in the ArtBlocks interview. **Sin Titulo (series Minimáquinas), by Feliza Bursztyn ** 1970 Scrap metal 38 x 15 x 13 cm (15 x 6 x 5 in) Like Bursztyn, Isaken is inspired by the formal aspects of tools and machines, and is also interested in removing the object from its function, focusing instead on its aesthetic qualities. Bursztyn began producing her “Minimáquinas” scupltures in the late 1960s, and exhibited them for the first time in the fall of 1969. They introduce into Bursztyn’s visual language a sense of viewer engagement and play and they appear as strangely animated creatures. Indeed, this “Minimáquina” of 1970 exhibits an anthropomorphic quality with a round piece of machinery standing in as the possible head of now-reanimated machine, the bits of thread projecting at all angles appearing like frazzled hair standing on end. [Learn more about Bursztyn in Gagosian Quarterly.](Like Bursztyn, Isaken is inspired by the formal aspects of tools and machines, and is also interested in removing the object from its function, focusing instead on its aesthetic qualities. Bursztyn began producing her “Minimáquinas” scupltures in the late 1960s, and exhibited them for the first time in the fall of 1969. They introduce into Bursztyn’s visual language a sense of viewer engagement and play and they appear as strangely animated creatures. Indeed, this “Minimáquina” of 1970 exhibits an anthropomorphic quality with a round piece of…

Flare from the ocean, by Olafur Eliasson

2020 Laminated colour glass mirrors (grey, petrol), silvered coloured glass (shades of blue, purple, pink, copper, yellow, green, turquoise), mirror, aluminium 176 x 255 x 3.5 cm (69 1/4 x 100 3/8 x 1 in) Olafur Eliasson, renowned for his large-scale installation art, explores the ephemeral natural phenomena with works like "Flare from the Ocean," inspired by lens flares. In this piece, Eliasson captures the fleeting optical marvel and continues his fascination with the sun. On the other hand, Hideki Tsukamoto, a digital artist and programmer, delves into procedural generation and generative design with his NFT series "Singularity," portraying giant black holes with varying turbulence, symmetry, and chaos. Both artists, despite working in different mediums, share a common exploration of celestial bodies, depicting light, symmetry, chaos, and the captivating beauty of atmospheric and cosmological forces.

Terraforms, by Mathcastles

Items: 9,910 Created: December 2021 Bedroom Blonde, Black and Green Pillows, by Tom Wesselmann 1986 Enamel on cut-out aluminum 135.9 x 186.7 cm (53 1/2 x 73 1/2 in) While Mathcastles utilizes cutting-edge technology to reimagine the iconic figure of Marilyn Monroe within a dynamic digital landscape, Wesselmann employs traditional materials and techniques to depict the timeless allure of the female form. Despite their differences in medium and execution, both artworks provoke contemplation on the cultural significance of feminine icons and their enduring impact on societal perceptions of beauty, sexuality, and identity. Wesselman’s work is part of an iconic series in which he was experimenting with new techniques (such as laser-cut steel drawings) and compositions (such as unconventional close-ups of the body) to discover new ways of tantalizing viewers; Mathcastles’ series, using the backdrop of javascript and the interest, is equally dynamic and groundbreaking.

Bird Woman, by Karl Appel

1947 Bronze 166 x 30 x 29 cm (65 3/8 x 11 3/4 x 11 3/8 in) Edition of 3 Hadassah, by Sam Spratt Items: 1 Created 2023 Karel Appel's 1947 bronze sculpture 'Bird Woman' showcases his fascination with the surreal. By blending basic shapes, Appel creates a figure that is part bird and part woman, a theme he explored often in his work. This idea of synthesis between man and animal would become a common theme in the Appel's work (as well as CoBrA, a group he founded that drew inspiration from children's drawings.) Similarly, Sam Spratt's 'Hadassah’ portrays an ape-like human figure, one that is feminized with long flowing hair. Her character is inspired by the biblical Queen Esther, who was celebrated for her righteousness and bravery. Hadassah, which elegantly means Myrtle tree in Hebrew, is part of Spratt's larger work, 'Monument Game.' This character study highlights her as a mix of sacrifice and sabotage, representing the complexity of female identity through a surreal, hybrid animal-woman figure.