Why generative art is the next biggest trend in NFTs
So you’ve heard of Chromie Squiggles and Bored Apes, and of their crazy performance growth over the past few months. But what is generative art and why are they trending as NFTs?
This is our first article in a series about Generative Art NFTs. Follow us on Twitter and Medium to be updated.
There has been a growing trend of generative art in the NFT world. From Sophia, the AI robot selling their NFT for $700,000 a few weeks ago to Artblocks breaking records with multiple million dollar generative art NFT sales.
What is Generative Art?
Generative Art is a term that’s been around since the 1960’s. It refers to the creation of art through the use of an autonomous system, usually computer code.
The first generative art (also known as algorithmic art) was displayed in 1965 by George Nees. He was a mathematician and professor of computer science, that designed an algorithm to control a flatbed plotter to print out physical images of the code.
Frieder Nake and A. Michael Noll are also two pioneers of the generative art movement displaying their work around the same year as Nees.
How generative art has gained traction recently
While generative art has been around since the 1960’s, we’ve started to see it become a force of its own in the blockchain space over the past few months.
A quick Google Trend search shows ‘Generative Art’ growing in interest over the last few months:
We also took a look at ‘Artblocks’ and noticed a similar trend, picking up interest during NFT summer (July — September), and continuing to grow.
A search on Opensea for ‘generative art’ shows almost 5 million results, showing that offer is as abundant as demand and confirming the popularity of this type of NFTs among artists.
The biggest generative art platforms
Artblocks is one of the main platforms for programmable generative art on the blockchain. They act as a platform for artists to mint on Ethereum and feature curated drops every few weeks. Their very first drop, Construction Token by Jeff Davis, happened in Nov 2020 and went for 0.1ETH (then $51 USD). Recently sales of a Construction Token have gone up to 11 ETH (Now worth around $51,000 USD).
On the same day, Chromie Squiggle was also minted. Created by Snowfro, the founder of Artblocks, the squiggle has become an iconic symbol of Artblocks and generative NFT art.
Initially minted for 0.035ETH, Squiggles now go for around 5 ETH, with a rare ‘perfect’ squiggle selling for 922.5 ETH in September! (That’s almost $2.6 million USD adjusted to historical prices, not bad for a 0.035 ETH investment).
Generative art can be found on all NFT marketplaces today
Popular artists like Zach Lieberman can be found on Foundation and the Tezos-based marketplace, Hicetnunc.
Fxhash is a new platform that recently launched on Tezos, helping users create and collect generative art.
Frakt art is a generative art platform built on Solana.
ADA:AI is a machine-learning generated artwork featuring eyes on the Cardano blockchain.
Why Generative Art as NFTs makes sense
Blockchain is known as a space that constantly pushes the boundaries on what can be technically done, so it makes sense that the space finds value in artwork that does the same.
Generative Art is created at the moment, allowing buyers to interact with their pieces through purchasing. With the blockchain cementing all transactions, another layer of immutability is added to the artwork.
With the growing number of artworks, artists, and even generative art NFT marketplaces, it’s definitely a space to keep an eye out for.
Don’t miss our next piece on Generative Art NFTs next week! Follow us on Twitter and Medium for more research and insights on this topic.