Just want to take a moment to thank @opensea for the “Share your favorite artist on Art Blocks” Voyage that is making me and so many @artblocks_io artists feel so damn special and appreciated. Seriously. Means a ton. Lots of new faces too!! Appreciate y’all. 🫂

Never a dull moment with @beeple. Never. This was a ton of fun to record and I can’t wait to see a lot of beautiful faces in Charleston in a few days!

Big announcement from @artblocks_io tomorrow! Join @RogerDickerman and I as we unpack everything on the DAM Show. 🤝

One of the many learning curves for me with LIFT was figuring out how to get some of my early classical guitar compositions into the game. Couldn’t use a recording because storage cost would have been prohibitive. Instead learned to use tracker software (like MIDI but totally different and alien interface to me as a musician) and python scripts to convert note and tempo data into C code that can be interpreted by the Gameboy Advance instead of just played. One of many facets of the project that land squarely in the category of digitally instructed physicals which I have now dedicated the last few years of my life exploring both functionally and artistically. This is the “tinkering” and this is what gets me out of bed in the morning. Friendship Bracelets (in collaboration with @MacTuitui) built step by step instructions on how to twist and fold string to make your 1/1/x friendship bracelet into the algorithm (just click the screen in live view). Heart + Craft (in collaboration with @JordanLyall) built step by step instructions on how to 3d print (including the STL files), mix paint, and assemble blocks to produce your 1/1/x exact output into the algorithm. /// (forward slash) built industrial grade machine embroidery instructions derived from the algorithm to have your 1/1/x /// embroidered professionally onto your clothing (and became the basis for all that @generativegoods has focused on for the last couple of years). And now LIFT which builds a custom 1/1/x physical hardware compatible ROM (game file) directly inside the algorithm with all assets in the game built from scratch, including the music. All 100% on chain. Exploring the relationship between the digital and the physical is consistently driving my work. I believe it is a one way street (digital instructs but does not attempt to verify authenticity of the physical) and I’m excited about the long term implications of this as a medium of expression. While it can be hard to find blueprints for valuable things (like a home) over time, the blueprints for the work that I’ve released will be around as long as the Ethereum blockchain is able to be read. I’m really really proud of that. Really really proud to get to release this into the same protocol (@artblocks_io) that has hosts and preserves the work of hundreds of other artists, building groundwork for preservation simply due to the amount of people that have a vested interest (whether as artists, collectors or institutions) for the data to persist combined with the consistency of the protocol. There’s a reason why I can release a Gameboy Advance title today and not only be able to play it on the original consoles but across a smorgasbord of newly released devices. We nostalgic nerds continue to value the joy that playing on those consoles brings to us. And so we continue to build cultural durability for these experiences. Anyways. This is where I tinker. Tinkering is why Art Blocks exists in the first place. And this is why I think long term there is something fundamentally interesting about what we are doing on chain. LIFT is built on a culturally durable technology, both on and off chain. I hope you enjoy tinkering with it as much as I enjoyed figuring it out.

Generate ANY Squiggle with customizable backgrounds, no background, and in high resolution with our simple tool. Now able to generate outputs in 8K! Give it a try and show us your favorites 😍 👇👇👇

When I first met @IsmaTaziS at a crowded bar during hectic Art Basel 2022, I left the conversation totally floored at the alignment we were able to find during a convo that must have been shorter than 10 minutes. It was immediately apparent that we had both come to the same conclusion about individualized expression in physical form, specifically in the A+D (architecture and design) industry. I spent nearly 20 years dedicated to the design world during which I spent a lot of time thinking about how products, manufacturers, designers and brands all differentiated themselves from each other. And what stands out to me as most impactful (beyond quality, which in the end all major and highly regarded brands are *basically* operating at equal manufacturing standards, especially in the tile industry) was the storytelling around the artistry, craftsmanship, and legacy of the products. I believe the story derived from the artists that create within the generative medium, coupled with the ability to build instructions for production/manufacturing into the code itself tells one of the most compelling stories and presents one of the greatest opportunities for differentiation between brands that I have experienced in my career. From hand made craft goods to streamlined manufactured 1 of 1 of x products I believe @artblocks_io and @trameparis are in a position to truly push the boundaries here and it's an honor to get to explore this alongside Ismael and @jaimederringer. This is an opportunity to establish a sustainable business model decoupled from the cyclical nature of crypto, in an established industry with established products, while staying true to our roots in the generative medium and passion for blockchain technology. And while it is still quite early and likely be a slow grind as we operate in a highly saturated industry, I continue to believe that in a world where it costs the same to make a million things that are unique as it costs to make a million things that are the same, all else held equal, people will choose to express themselves as individuals in the physical world. We've demonstrated the desire for individuality in the digital space with genArt and PFPs, and now with Trame, alongside @generativegoods, we can meaningfully explore vectors in the physical space. Thanks to all that have worked for nearly a year to make this a reality. And cheers to a generative future. 🍻

"A video game is a fidget spinner with a story". -- @mitchellfchan via @matto__matto I started tinkering with making a Gameboy game with my kiddo and in the process started to wonder if something like this could be put fully on chain. Gameboy games are compiled C code and you can't compile C in a browser environment (without some trickery) which is a deal breaker for putting something like a generative ROM based game fully on chain in a way that's compatible with @artblocks_io. But then I started digging deeper into how this all works, had to teach myself a ton of things (did you know Gameboys don't have an operating system and games are essentially "bare metal" programs that write directly to memory registers? I didn't lol) and figured out a workaround that I started experimenting with more meaningfully and it turns out it works! Learning curve was insanely steep and this is hands down the most ambitious project I've ever worked on, but I set out to build a fully on chain generative (every copy is unique) Gameboy Advance game (with downloadable ROM playable on an emulator or loaded on a cartridge on a physical Gameboy Advance (or Gameboy Advance SP)) using the "Pixel Man" self portrait as a protagonist, commenting on the journey I and many of us have been on over the years. Shared the concept in an Uber early this year with Mitch as he was wrapping up Zantar and as he told me more about his ambition with his trilogy I became increasingly inspired to bring my little experiment to reality. Then a combo of @derekedws offering me the @glitchmarfa residency and @redbeardnft always pushing me to be my best self got me across the line and here we are today. Seriously hardest thing I've ever done, but it's been a wonderful experience working with Derek and @magey_mage and also the @generativegoods team. Side note: Mitch's three part project Zantar (part story part video game) debuted via @nguyenwahed is one of the greatest and most ambitious projects ever and I strongly encourage you to check it out. The first act, an interactive story called Overture, is a sensory experience leveraging the absolute best of the digital medium. Check it out here: I'm eternally inspired by Mitch and his work and think y'all will enjoy the project if you take a moment and dive into it. 🍻

A simple, often colorful pixelated stick figure with an afro that represents who I am simmered down to the simplest possible form. The “Pixel Man”, also referred to as the “Little Man”, is a character that’s been a part of my life for a long time. Well before the Squiggle, this was my marque, my “easily identifiable” character, and the way I put myself out there. The little guy started as a simple arrangement of 3d printed blocks in 2014, but from there took many forms. From ceramic tiles to 3d projection mapped installations running live code to watercolor postcards and vinyl cut stickers (and most recently some @veecon tickets) I vibed hard enough with this simple character that I found myself looking for different ways to express myself with it. I never had thought of it so much as a formal self portrait though until after launching @artblocks_io and thinking more deeply about what it means to be an artist and learning about self portraiture over the course of history at which point I realized I had been making a “self portrait” all along. I think many of us have gone through a similar journey of introspection and discovery over the last few years. That’s part of what brings us together, whether as artists, collectors or simply as humans. We’ve gone through some stuff. And a lot of that stuff has taught us a lot about ourselves and each other. The handful of pixels that make up this character will be the protagonist in my upcoming project with @glitchmarfa. But while I’m really excited to get to formally put this out there as a “self” portrait, I truly hope it is a simple enough canvas that you can find yourself in it as well.

In the coming months, you’ll see meaningful changes at Art Blocks: some that honor our past, others that look towards the future. Today we introduce Collector Profiles: aggregate wallets, log in via email, track sets & achievements. Create yours:

Some days are better than others. Some years are better than others. But we get out of bed every morning, year after year, because we believe in why we are here and what we are building towards. We are all on this journey together. Every artist, collector, builder, even the sweeping generalizooors of an entire artistic medium’s longevity. We all play a critical role in how this all plays out. Some have moved on. Others come and go. And then there’s the folks that keep on keeping on. It would be so easy to just put the rock down. But we don’t.