Does Generative Art Matter?
written by jiwa
Generative art, or art created with computer code, started like most new art movements start: by being bashed that it wasn’t art.
Since the 60’s, programmer artists began using code to make art during a time people greatly feared computers. The art form progressed slowly over the years, with a few notable artists only now getting recognition, like Vera Molnar and Herbert W. Franke.
The Modern Era
Fast forward to this century and even as recent as 2016 you couldn’t really own digital art. Anyone could just download and copy files easily with no way to know the origin or the true owner of any work.
Starting in 2017, with the help of the blockchain you can now prove digital ownership. Within the art space, collectors can now truly own digital content which has led to digital and generative art seeing explosive sales over the last few years (references below) and, some could say, maturing as an art medium.
Beyond art, with our lives already being highly digital and increasingly so, true digital ownership can change a lot. Some say the Internet could be seen as only a precursor to this more influential event, but thats a convo for another day.
Notice so far I haven’t said NFT once. The NFT is just a credible record that provably shows digital ownership and provenance, and it cannot be faked.
Many low-quality and/or downright scammy NFT projects came in to capitalize on the new “craze/trend” as happens with everything, but there are a lot of big credible players making moves and staking territory right now.
Soon no one will say NFT anymore. They will say “record of digital ownership” or “blockchain verified” or whatever, but it will be the same technology. It will get a rebrand just like “crypto” got a rebrand to “web3”, but “web3” or web3.0 is a more accurate title too.
Web3?
Web1 was 90’s / early 2000’s, and gave us one-way “read” capabilities. Techies/companies made websites and users could read the information. We could interact with some businesses, but that was it.
In Web2 we graduated to “read/write”, and users could now easily upload writing and videos and interact with others, etc, but we still don’t really own any of the content. Major companies use us as the product and own all of our work.
Web3 provides “own” capabilities. Now we can read, write, and own digital content, which empowers people over the existing tech elite.
Web3 is how it sounds. It's just the next iteration. It is inevitable.
Overall, non-forgeable provable ownership is going to become increasingly interesting to the art world as we all have seen the documentaries about multi-millions spent on forgeries over the last decade, but there are many other benefits too. Digital art may finally be able to flourish.
Current generations already present themselves and their identities online, Gen Z most of all. Will they buy art for their walls, which relatively few people will see, or will they buy art for their digital collection that can be shared/showcased digitally for the whole world to see? Likely both, but you may see more of the collector’s art fund going digital. You can always order high-quality fine art prints of your digital works, and many do.
Our world is now dripping in code and technology. It makes sense that our next great art movement is native to the world in which we are now living and moving toward with greater speed. The older generations are still scared of computers, but I am one of roughly a million people globally that believe generative art specifically is our next major art movement that will be taught about in art history alongside Abstract Expressionism, Impressionism, etc.
Young kids are coding in Roblox and Minecraft now. What type of art will they create?
Notable Names in Generative Art
Most would agree Art Blocks is the premiere generative “art house”. Their drops are curated by a reputable curation board.
They are actively making efforts to grow globally.
I think they are showing just a little traction/validation :
Makes one think the contemporary art world won’t be able to stay on the sidelines too long without wanting to make some of this-- oh wait.
MOMA in New York announced in September they are selling $70 million in traditional art to buy digital art & NFTs and Pace Gallery also partnered with Art Blocks.
If Art Blocks is Netflix, fx(hash) is Youtube.
While Art Blocks curates their drops, fx(hash) is open to everyone. Since its inception in November 2021, it has seen over a million tokens minted and generated over $16 million in primary sales, with even more in secondary sales.
fx(hash) has also released fx(text), where content creators can mint (publish) written articles as NFTs and collectors can collect them. This sets them apart from other generative art houses, as they are creating tools for creators of all kinds to publish their work in a decentralized manner.
fx(hash) also recently enabled credit card purchases on primary and secondary sales. The team is pushing big features quickly, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they do next.
You can even collect this article on fx(text) :)
Closing Thoughts
While it is still early days, I think we’ve seen enough to say that digital and generative art has seen a least a little validation. I’m placing my bets that it’s here to stay.
jiwa
artist and founder of ntent
Twitter : @dotjiwa
ntent.art