Introducing mxtter

A new generative art platform — by artists for artists

An Artist’s Statement

I’m excited to finally be able to announce mxtter (pronounced ‘matter’) — a project that has been brewing since I left Netflix to become a co-founder of BLOCK::BLOCK.

Pushing the limits of generative art

This year was also a successful one for me as a generative artist, as my Art Blocks projects, such as 27-Bit Digital — were recognized by galleries and auctioned at Sotheby’s largely due to the efforts of Erick Calderon and the rest of the Art Blocks team who have been championing generative art made for the blockchain.

Prior to that, it was my friendships with the pioneers of the ‘Art on Chain’ movement, Jim McNelis, Nate Alex and Alxo who encouraged me to take what had always been a hobby for me, creating procedurally generated art as a form of expression, and experiment with it in using the blockchain as a medium. It was those experimental years of 2017–2019 before the NFT frenzy created a ‘market’ that cemented my passion for this space.

Generative art is a dialogue — an act of co-creation between the artist and the collector at a specific moment in time when the collector pushes the button.

What I love most about generative art is that I create it, in a sense, but it will still surprise me with the ‘reveal’ at the time of creation.

While my generative heroes like John Maeda have been doing this for decades, generative art seems to be supremely appropriate for the blockchain as a medium. To capture a moment in time and make it into art.

Another act of co-creation that inspires me is to collaborate with other artists. Blending styles and ideas to make something greater than either of the pair could conceive on our own.

We wanted to bring that collaborative spirit to mxtter as well — bringing collabs to the generative space in a way that is platform native.

By Artists for Artists

Finally, we aim to put artists first on the platform. Often I felt that the artist’s own story and background was secondary to the art, if it appeared at all.

Instead of the artist in the background, we’re putting the artist front-and-center for us to learn about them before even seeing the artwork they’ve created.

Also, we want to give back to up and coming artists who are new to NFTs or new to generative art in this style to explore and experiment with us as we continue to re-invent styles of generative art.

I’ll be writing more about what mxtter is, give some sneak peeks at the platform and explain how mxtter DAO will encourage new artists into the generative art space.

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