fxGems is curated by Haiver. Follow on Twitter and Mastodon for recommendations, and sign up for email notifications on Substack for when a new issue drops. To support the work, collect a copy of this issue or past issues, or consider minting one of my generative pieces here on fx(hash).

Minimal or maximalist, gestural or clinical, conceptual or emotionally ekphrastic — abstract art is a large umbrella to describe a wide variety of work. It can give voice to the maelstrom or bring order to chaos, leave you cold or get under your skin.

This four part series of issues exploring abstract work from December 2021 is my favorite list yet, full of instant classics destined for museum walls. From William Mapan’s Dragons to makio135’s Shattered Moons and Lisa Orth’s Angular Variations (Holding Space), these are projects that will resound far beyond their digital renown.

It was a joy to find ways to put these pieces side by side in the same issue and watch a new resonance materialize from thin air. There’s a latent power in juxtaposition; a magic not yet manifest until you place the works on a wall together — it’s why I love curating so much.

I hope you find some work you love too!

It's important to note that fxGems is not a ranked list. One part of good curation is putting pieces in conversation with one another, so each numbered mint featured here has been carefully selected, then ordered into groups of twos and threes to create a dialogue between the different projects. There are juxtapositions and echoes, recurring themes and visual motifs. A thread has been woven throughout. How it draws you from one project to the next is up to you to find.

If you're looking for more recommendations, check out the representational Best of Lists, the four part abstract Best of List, and the multiple issues gathering all of the many Honorable Mentions, covering December 2021.

Wondering by Yi-Wen Lin

Spiroculae by Hyenta

Protein Pelt by Chris McCully

Comstractions by Volatile Moods

Flowers by 0xm4_0

Pulsar by George Savva

Illuyanka by DistCollective

Hesitance by Krankarta

Curl Culture by Aranya

Waterfall Poems by Daniel Oropeza

De/FragV2 by toxi

The Persistence of Order by Camille Roux

Dancing Dots by Estienne

[ranges] by Itayniv

Meander River Plot v2 by nudoru

Intersection 2 by Chris Randall

Direzioni by whitekross

Smoke Trails by rje99

The Grid by cbrpnk

Perpetual Motion Squared by Juhani Halkomäki

Dalmatian Factory by mandybrigwell

b.1 by Pablo Alpe

Candy Eights 2D by Numerus_Artifex

Around by Johan Holwerda

Slide by punevyr

Polyvalence by Alex Grasser

Making Mole Hills by adamferriss

Mosaic by Sam Tsao

beat_voxels.v001g ft. Kuámasi by gianko

fxGems is not affiliated with fx(hash) or fx(text) (hence the lack of parentheses), and none of the recommendations herein should be construed as financial advice. We’re here to celebrate the art!

Each month I go one by one through all of the projects that dropped on fx(hash) to find the strongest, most compelling work — generative art that has a unique voice, a wide variety across its many mints, and an intriguing approach to algorithms and technique.

So don't forget to subscribe, follow, and collect ;)