The primary objective of this project was to create modernist generative portraits. We believe that NFT's purpose is to showcase serious modernist works. Inspired by a project dating back to 1948, we embarked on this venture with great enthusiasm and are thrilled with the outcomes.
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Modernism - Jean-Michel Basquiat
The NFT world centers around the concept of rarity. Rarity is determined by the count of features, where the highest or lowest count becomes the most sought-after and subsequently attracts higher bids. However, we seek to challenge this norm by adopting a different approach. As an avid collector myself, I have always purchased works on aesthetics, modernism, and historical value, after discussions.
We have noticed that a simplistic rarity calculation fails to incorporate crucial creative elements such as aesthetics, modernism (artworks extending the language of modernism) composition, and historical significance. We believe that true value lies not only in a scarce combination of features but also in the inherent beauty, artistic harmony, and cultural relevance of the piece. By considering these factors, we aim to create a deeper appreciation for NFTs that go beyond mere statistical rarity and instead celebrate the artistic essence that makes each work truly exceptional.
Certainly, as members of the Web 3.0 community, we will play by its rules. Therefore, we have conducted rarity analysis in the traditional style, based on trait analysis. Rarity is defined as the ratio of total artworks to the number of occurrences of each trait, and this calculation is done for each feature, including blanks. For detailed information, please refer to the downloadable .csv file. Rarities and their occurrences are also well defined and set in stone and verifiable via a provenance hash.
As seasoned auctioneers and curators, our reputation is firmly established within the modern art space. We've observed that modernist paintings hold significant value as collectibles, and hence, these captivating pieces should be the prime focus for art collectors.
XXXX is the rarest (as per the rarity calculation above) – the only artwork having all nine layers. Without including the ‘Baby’ layer (as there are very few babies) we have #XXXX as the rarest. We want to point out the number of layers differs slightly across the various traits, some adjustments should be made for this but we have not done so. This is simply a linear layer analysis – as mentioned earlier we wish that you simply go by your own aesthetics, as each artwork is quite different.
Given that we started from twenty-two digital artworks and then mixed and matched layers – we were curious if any were regenerated - #XXXX is close to the original ‘Childish’; however, it does not have the jewellery. #XXXX is close to ‘Orphan'; however, it has additional features. This leads us to believe that we could generate a lot more artworks. However, we prefer it this way as it results in the creation of very unique works and becomes a restrictive collection.
In auctions, there is a concept of ‘Title in Bracket’ which is a descriptive title and different than the office title which is in all capitals. The generative works in the 1948 Avatars project will have different features/characteristics. We urge the owners to name their NFTs possibly using AI or otherwise. We will update the screen name (in the description field) on our website to be the same – this will only be updated on our website as Meta Data once frozen (on IPFS) cannot be updated. We are not obliged to change the descriptions and will do so only for non-offensive descriptions and reserve the right to decline any change of name on our website.
The initial release price will be 120 USD per artwork. We also encourage buyers to contact us for physically printed work (for additional cost) – we have experimented with high-quality prints on metallic sheets and the outcome is super. Who says that digital artwork cannot be hung up on walls? There are many other avenues for printing – any NFT exhibition will always have a few exhibitors offering to do the same.
We have minted 10,200 generative profile pictures. We initially had thought that we would keep some aside for employees and possibly as grants to museums such as the Pompidou. But we struggled with this decision. We did not want to choose prior to others (our collectors) having their chance to purchase. We also wanted to delete some works possibly we thought were not perfect. But then what is perfect? as this is modern art. So, we decided to mint all 10,200 works – not keeping behind a single work. Our employees, creators, and museums can simply use any marketplace platform to buy as the NFTs will be minted on the blockchain with the artworks and entirely on IPFS. We are keeping the Royalty at 2.5%; however, this is not enforced – further following the tradition of the traditional art world.
We have created a modern art project. We are proud of the result. We hope you will like the aesthetics, the complexity, and possibly like the naming process and help us build a large community around this and future projects. The project is currently in the pre-release / whitelist phase.
