With the start of the new year, the team at Async decided to adjust our auction format to accommodate more time zones and allow for flexibility on the artists’ side.
All auction pieces will end with no time extensions on Sat Jan 23rd. It will be up to the artist to declare the exact end times on their piece, but the intent is that a collector can start bidding on Tuesday and finish making their bids well before the last day.
As much fun as a last minute bidding war is, we feel that having automated tools would make for a much more fair and streamlined process. As we work to create such tools on our platform we would like to introduce another form in which our community can gather for a brief and compacted space of time to converse and ask questions: in the virtual metaverse!
Everyone’s invited to join us on Wednesday, Jan 20th 9am PST on Twitch as we give an exclusive tour of our Cryptovoxels HQ, redecorated featuring our January auction pieces:
Sun Kachina Hours
Lawrence Lee is a cryptoart OG who has been creating cryptoart before most of us figured out what a cryptowallet is. Through personal happenstance, he was invited to a rare Native American Hopi ceremony called Niman Kachina Festival - in which tribesmen help send off the ancestral spirits who came in the spring that helped bring good crops for the year.
The Kachinas are the ancestral spirits of the Hopi Indians. For six months of the year, they leave their home in the mountains and visit the tribe, bringing health to the people and rain to their crops. Their arrival in January or February is celebrated as the Powamu Festival, and their departure in July is observed as the Niman Kachina Festival
Here is a short account of Lee’s experience, in his own words:
“I recall that the male Kachina dancers wore tortoise shell rattles on their calves that created a mystical sound as they moved rhythmically in the cold, still air. The Hopi children at the ceremony seemed more interested in pulling my long, white hair to see if it was real than in watching the dance.
Ten years or so later on I was fortunate to make a deal with a talented Hopi artist to trade a painting for a Clown Kachina doll, and I continue to be fascinated by the tradition and its rich visual lexicon.”
A Kachina doll is regarded more as a ceremonial object than a toy. The fact Lawerence Lee was able to acquire one through his friendship and as a fellow craftsman is no small feat. His latest Async Art is a re-imagined depiction of the Sun Kachina changing autonomously every hour of the day, very similar to how the Hopi tribe dances in regular intervals throughout the festival.
Garden of Chaos is an experiment in generative artwork constructed purely and completely from logic and mathematics by aspiring artist ChaosConstruct. The artist loves playing with generative art in minimal and thoughtful ways, check out his previous debut Async Art which each Layer is a different tribe.
In this latest autonomous work, the artist planted seeds for the Garden using his human logic, but the shapes and the “bloom” that grows is born out of the natural randomness generated by code. During daytime, Garden of Chaos will be black shapes on top of a white background and will reverse its coloring at night.
The Garden also mimics plant photosynthesis and respiration process as it “blooms” during the daytime, and shrinks at night to get ready for another day of activity tomorrow.
This phenomenon of delicate balance is the heart of this autonomous Async work. It lives at the intersection between natural and mechanical, order and chaos. It's a man-made space where nature can thrive.
Playtime at Le Mans
Artist MBSJQ has created inspirational work at the world’s top design studios for clients including Google, Intel, Mitsubishi Motors, NASCAR, NBC Sports Network, Uber, and Rockstar Energy Drinks among many others.
He recently explored minting a duo set with Hacktao at SuperRare, so it comes as no surprise that the artist immediately is taken with the Day/Night template on our Async Canvas.
His debut piece on Async is an autonomous piece that changes to reflect the day/night cycle. The subject matter is a LeMans Porsche 917K, and in the artist’s own words “a beautiful mix of huge respect and memories from my childhood.”
There is the relaxed day cycle of the Gulf Blue and the more engaging and exciting Gulf Orange at night. What mood will you find yourself in as you gaze upon the piece?
ManWithNoName debuts on Async with a marvelous tribute to the creator of Bitcoin, “The Dreamer” on Jan 3rd, the day the first bitcoin was mined years ago.
In the artist’s own words:
“Although Bitcoin is a reality now, it was born as a dream, to disrupt the financial system and the centralization of wealth/power. This is clearly documented on the whitepaper and on the hidden message on the first Bitcoin block. It was a dream, it was built, [and then] it became a revolutionary reality.”
I believe that we can do a lot with effort, but to create something with soul and revolutionary power you must be a dreamer. Dream about your vision every day and make it the fuel to build.
It is important to build, it is important to dream!”
The entire Async artwork is a statement of balance. The visual aesthetics are a careful balance of dreamy colors and futuristic icons and shapes. Natural elements like a Satoshi face and planets are juxtaposed with 3D renders and digital symbolism.
“The Dreamer” autonomously changes to reflect day and night because the artist deems the pursuit of your dreams should be a continuous process as well as an uncontrolled force. Make sure to check out his cool portfolio website and take a peak in how a ManWithNoName manifests his dreams.
Timeless
We have autonomous time-observing Async pieces that change hour by hour, day by day, and now we enter the realm of monthly autonomous artworks.
Julian Brangold explores cultural memory and how technology affects its dynamic as a main topic of exploration. He’s been working with databases that store elements of cultural relevance for years.
For “Timeless”, a database of scanned classical sculptures were mixed with digitally created environments. A fragment of the Pergamon Altar is represented by Greek figures Nike and Gaia. The historical reference along with technological advancement is uncanny. The actual Pergamon Altar has been damaged beyond repair, and it is only with the benefit of modern technology that a well-made reconstruction now resides in Berlin’s well known Pergamon Museum.
“Timeless” mirrors the natural decay of a classical structure with the power of programmable art, as the digital scan sinks into the lush terrain on the first day of a new month. In December, the digital sculpture will enter its most “decayed” state and with the beauty of modern technology, resets the sculpture in its original form starting January.
Still Life on Niche
OficinasTK is often regarded as a “still life” master with his previous successful Async Artwork like “Apple” and “Skull” as they explore forms playing with light, usually with an added element of time.
For his last piece of 2020, he asked the viewer to slow it down a bit.
“Still Life on a Niche” gathers three recurring elements/symbols from his usual subjects - a skull, egg, and idol - and places them at the front seat of an ever changing still life, where no decay is manifesting. The observable changes come every month with light change, shadows becoming softer or harder, and the warm/cold shift in the general tone.
On each Equinox (March and September 21st) the focus will be on the idol which is used as a symbol for stability, an equilibrium attained by crossing both the earthly (horizontal) and heavenly (vertical) axis.
On the Summer Solstice (June 20th) the focus is shifted to the skull, when the Sun 'dies' and enters a period of reclusion and contraction. On the Winter solstice (December 21st) the focus is shifted to the egg - a symbol of a seed, an egg as expansion.
It's an intentionally slow piece because there is no 'fast' way of making time noticeable.
So in the end we have this image, fixed and static until it changes. A poorly crafted metaphor about human’s own perception of how things get noticed when we notice them, and yet the environment keeps changing silently, slowly building up until they become seen.
View Program
“View Program” is the debut Async Art release by Jeff Davis. Consisting of six Layers, owners have the ability to select from nine different window patterns, four atmospheric conditions, and can uncover over 16 billion color combinations through four different reflections.
Davis is well known for his abstract work made with algorithmic processes. The artist writes the custom software that randomly determines compositional elements related to size, quantity, color, placement, and grid density. For the first time ever, he is bestowing the ability to change his composition by allowing a Layer owner the ability to change his Async artwork.
Created with a 16:9 format, “View Program” is unsurprisingly optimized for your viewing pleasure on the Async Apple TV app.
And if that’s not enough, Jeff Davis will be sending collectors 2000 $ABST per 1 ETH spent on his work. $ABST is social currency that can be spent on exclusive art at The ABSTRACT Store.
GANOODLE (Async Edition)
Stina Jone’s trademark creatures are full of clean lines and whimsical style. Her last Async artwork was featured in an epic collaboration of 105 Collective and sold for an impressive $11K back in October 2020.
She returns with her first solo piece, “Ganoodle” which are GAN generated characters based off of her previous creations made from Playform.io. It started as an experiment, and we’re ecstatic that she chose our platform which also started in a similar experimental spirit to produce it.
The unnamed pet can be altered via Face, Body, Frame, and Canvas Layers to create a
“state change” with its body, eyes, frame and background layers. There are 5 different states in each Layer, which gives this Async Edition Ganoodle the ability to morph and change as the new owners wish.
Learn more about Stina Jones and her inspiration behind the piece here.
Phase Space #2 Divergences
The second installment of TS Moreau’s programmable art comic. When last we left our heroes Kallah and Ogdai, they were searching the rural hinterlands of “The Territory”, a desert-like world that’s constantly shifting and changing. Now we find them at the Bizarre, seeking wisdom from Enki, a mysterious sorcerer and foodie.
Phase Space is a choose-your-own-adventure series that takes place in a broad metaphorical analog of the arts world. Each page of the comic has a canonical “lock day” in which the current state will determine the story’s next branch path.
Phase Space #2: Divergences lets collectors choose from 20 possible Layers. Readers who wish to drive the story and the dialogue can do so via the “Ogdai”, “Kallah”, or “Rooftop Details” Layers:
while more playful fans can take over one of the Bizarre merchant sellers:
Each of these offers different dialogue options, poses, and actions.
Those wanting to be especially cheeky can control the Monkey or center bowl of Ramen.
Phase Space #2: Divergences, “lock day” is Sunday, February 21st, 2021 @ 9:00pm PST. So get your bids in and grab a Layer if you’d like to take part in this story’s path!
We hope to see you all throughout this week for another round of unforgettable Async Auctions!
Stay tuned on our Twitter and Discord for any updates.
