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).

With 3622 projects released in December 2021, it's impossible for every good generative art project to fit in the fxGems Best of Lists for abstract and representational art, so the Honorable Mentions was born. And there are many possible reasons a project ended up in the Honorable Mentions instead of on a Best of List. There wasn't enough variety across the minted pieces, or some of the layouts were strong but other mints could have used more self-awareness between their parts. The piece was well executed but lacked originality, or the piece was original but lacked execution. Or there were a limited number of color palettes when the project would have really shone with a few more.

Or perhaps the artist still has room to grow, but we should start rooting for them now. The algorithm needed to be pushed further, techniques stacked together, or the process used made less obvious (I'm looking at you flow fields). Or they're using a library with such a distinctive look, like Hydra, that the project struggles to stand out from the crowd. And then there are the artists who had a stronger piece make the fxGems Best of List this month and we're trying to spread the love around instead of having the same few names appear repeatedly at the top (but don't want you to miss a very fun piece either!).

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.

Mina by DistCollective

Chroma Ciphers by perkwerk

Electric Worms by FahmiMursyid

Fiery Glowing Dragon Scales by johnowhitaker

Noods by uhhlias

Sunspots by nudoru

Mitosis by StrangerintheQ

Brosser by Eric Andwer

Geologic by ALT+ESC

I.B. Strokin' by DevGenArt

Strata by Rich Poole

Corinth by orbitanaut

Psychic Blobs by Naibdian

A Thousand Faces by Daniel Oropeza

Complicare by nicthib

Hatching by Lucas S. Reveil

Labyrinth by Yi-Wen Lin

GuageTiles by smtsjhr

Nowhere Plans by Volatile Moods

Posizioni by whitekross

HairyField by Diego de los Campos

Triangle Subdivisions by Jos Vromans

Machine 7 by Tomluyten

Down The Well by ParseError

Seriscope Painting (1) by Ryan Thompson

De/FragV3 by toxi

Tribal Lines by byt3

Precision: Micro by Loren Bednar

Skyfloors by p4stoboy

Pure Phase by klaus

The Lace of the Universe by Artal0rd

Abstraction 02 by Chris Randall

Multiflow by somaticbits

Pollocian Fibs by Gorik

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 ;)