When NFTs first took off, it was by beeple digital art, CryptoPunks, and Bored Ape Yacht Club PFPs that dominated headlines and top sales, but one individual bucked the trend in a unique way, garnering attention with generative audiovisual art using only a C compiler.
that individual was 0xDEAFBEEFa Toronto, Canada based artist and engineer who spent over 20 years experimenting with art, technology, music, generative art, computer animation, blacksmithing and sound recording.
The use of low-level computer code and a minimal set of tools to turn raw information into audiovisual works of art has proven more popular than one might expect. TO collection of six from 0xDEAFBEEF sold for $6.8 million in August 2021, and two weeks ago, “Series 1: Angular – Token 134” fetched $241,300 at Sotheby's. It was auctioned off during part 1 of “grails”, a collection of highly desirable NFTs originally owned by the now insolvent 3AC (Capital of the three arrows).
Trained in classical piano as a child and something of a mad scientist when it came to audio equipment, discovering a programmable blockchain on Ethereum was a revelation.
“I would describe myself as a handyman, jumping between many fields, layering art and technology. It just happened that the project I started before I knew anything about NFT, doing audiovisual work with code, aligned with things that were happening inside Ethereum,” says 0xDEAFBEEF.
"It was a great moment. When I look back, if I had missed that window in 2021 by three to six months, things could have been very different."
But like many successful NFT artists that have emerged in the explosion of the new era of digital art, "unplanned" is a common theme.
In March 2021, his “synthesized poemswere born, inspired by the sound of analog synthesizers. These short pieces of generative music are stored entirely on the string.
NFTs that degrade quality
NFTs have been a playground for 0xDEAFBEEF experimentation and work."entropy” is unique in that tokens degrade in quality every time they are traded.
“Entropy is thematically about permanence, and permanence is a theme of chain generative art. It's a general crypto issue with things that are permanent and immutable,” says 0xDEAFBEEF.
“It was interesting to me. There is a narrative that chain art is more permanent than other NFTs where files are stored on another server and have the potential to disappear. But I wondered how immutable it is through 'Entropy'”.
"Using the 'Entropy' artwork to paradoxically critique the idea of permanence by having this digital artwork that changes and degrades every time it changes owners – I thought it was interesting thematically."
Since the recent introduction of the blur marketMany NFT collections, particularly PFP projects, have seen the emphasis on aesthetics decline with most sales anchored to the current rock bottom prices. It also raises the question of whether the number of times an NFT is passed between owners matters.
For some collectors, it really does. While a digital or collectible piece of art doesn't face the same wear and tear challenges as a physical item, ownership history could be a factor, as some collectors value those that haven't been passed down as a hot item. dad.
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"Entropy" was an experiment ahead of its time. “People can have their own interpretation, but I don't think it was necessarily a means to discourage people from trading NFTs or transferring NFTs,” he says.
“Is it more valuable if it has been transferred or not? It's up to the collectors to decide, but add this narrative. It wasn't really a way to get attached to people buying and selling works, that's obviously part of the culture. Marketability and collectability are a very interesting dimension of NFTs. It really is just a piece of art that touches on all of those themes and at least asks you to consider it.”
Personal style:
Many NFT collectors believe that it is harder for digital artists who focus on audio to stand out as effectively as visual artists, since audio takes longer to consume.
0xDEAFBEEF have been able to overcome this friction with their own distinctive monochrome visual style which is a great hook for unlocking the audio aspect of art.
“Usually people see it first before they hear it because of the dominance of social media – everything is visually oriented. The monochrome aesthetic of my work is something that is very noticeable. There are a lot of reasons why I work in monochrome. One of them is just being practical because it was originally a sound-based project,” he says.
“I focused on audio synthesis and I focused on movement and animation. Putting those two things together is already too dimensional, so working with sound and movement that could introduce color is too much. Monochrome has become part of the style for those reasons.”
Notable sales to date:
DEAF BEEF complete set (6 items): Sold for 2,275 ETH ($6.8 million on sale date) on August 19, 2021.
(The buyer was later revealed to be Brevan Howard founder Alan Howard.)
“advection” (below) sold for $307,157 on June 29, 2022.
Influences:
0xDEAFBEEF cites American musician Frank Zappa as someone who was very influential early on in his way of thinking about music and art.
“It's about their music, but it's also about the spirit and ethos of it: a kind of sticking to your guns and doing things for yourself. Another way I think about it is to do things that aren't necessarily for the crowd,” he said.
“If it hadn't been for that encounter, I could have gone on with my engineering degree and ended up in a boring job and regretting things. It helped give me permission to do something riskier.”
“I don't listen to Frank as much anymore as I used to. Looking back, he has some troublesome types of topics and things. I don't idolize him or anything, but he was still quite influential on me when I was young."
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Which Hot NFT Artists Should We Pay Attention To?
Operator — Experiential duo of ania catalina and I hate you.
“They have a long-standing art practice, but more recently, I think they're working with generative choreography. I think that's really fascinating. They approach it from a very solid technical and conceptual aesthetics”.
Trevor Paglan — Satellites, deep time, machine vision, infrastructure
“Trevor is an artist who investigates. He has a recent 'Art Blocks' release that ties in with other projects that he's doing that are security and privacy related, which I think are really relevant right now."
Paul Pfeiffer — Video artist
“Paul is an incredible video artist. He is well known and is doing the first NFT of him with art world. It looks really phenomenal."
holly herndon — Artist working with voice models and artist rights
“Holly has been studying artist rights at Stanford for a while. She knew what was coming for many years. She has been working with voice models. It's something fascinating."
Notable collectors:
0xDEAFBEEF's skilled electrical engineer genius is collected by many notable NFT whale collectors, but it's other artists in particular that he pointed out that make him smile knowing they appreciate his work.
“I am very appreciative of all my collectors and anyone who has taken an interest in my work. The most significant ones that have honestly made me smile have been art-for-art exchanges with other artists.”
“I changed a 'fault box' with snow for several without minting'Chromie doodles.' I'm very proud to have that in his collection, and also receiving those Squiggles is very significant."
“I also exchanged 'Synth Poem' with Mitchell F. Chan, who is a concept artist who has been working with blockchain stuff. He has a project from 2017 that is really relevant called 'Digital zones of immaterial pictorial sensitivity.'”
“Then there is jack rockland, who has held one of my 'Synth Poems' since March 2021. He works at ArtBlocks and is an artist himself. I am very proud to have it as a collector for a long time.”
Favorite NFTs in your wallet that are not yours:
“dotted sunsetsby Jack Rockland.
“It was the first NFT I ever coined that wasn't mine; Plus, it was a friend's work, so it makes it really meaningful to me."
Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_deafbeef
Website: https://www.deafbeef.com/
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