Cornering The Market #60 - Feb 2, 2024
Artblocks acquires Sansa, pioneering AI artifacts in museums, and more | Cornering The Market #60
Welcome to your generative art review!
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Sentiment Check
The sentiment has been up and down. In ETH terms some gen art is dipping, but we are also seeing some great buys in the top end (e.g. Anticyclones). There is a lot going on in other parts of the crypto market which is distracting and giving some people pause, but keep in mind your time horizon and keep conviction in what you are collecting
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Market Overview
ETH gen art - There's been a decent amount of movement over the past week and we are seeing some fantastic deals on art that would have sold for quite a bit more previously. The Sotheby's Grails: Starry Night auction also ended with over $1m in sales, a solid amount of that going to gen art. There are a few sellers looking to get into PFPs for example a seller who sold 16 Memories of Qilin into WETH bids, and we saw 5 Gazers WETHs, but there are buyers around too as one buyer grabbed 4 Anticyclones off the floor. So overall a mixed bag.
Tezos, Solana, and Ordinals art - Fxhash continues to be anemic with sales being few and far between only in the top top collections. However generative art on Solana is starting to heat up with a recent release Rubber that has captivated the crowd's attention and is seemingly bringing in a wave of new gen art collections (also Code Canvas is gearing up for their season 2). Ordinals gen art is also starting to gain momentum with some releases over there - overall exciting for the ecosystem!
Chromie Squiggle update - Squiggles had one of the lowest volume weeks that we've seen recording only 9 sales leading to 83 ETH in volume (vs. 39 and 333 ETH in the last 7 day period we checked), and the floor price dipped to 7.65 (vs. 8). It does feel like a max pain moment in Squiggle land, but we don't see any sigifnicant change in sentiment towards the pioneering collection. A great time to buy for those with long term conviction
Friendship Bracelet (FB) update - A down week with 75 sales resulting in 4.97E in volume and a floor price of 0.064. Compared to the last 7 day period we checked (182 sales leading to 21E in volume and a floor price of 0.068) we've seen mostly some movement without real action. Continues to be consistent with the rest of the gen art market!
Release Recaps
SMILE by Roope Rainisto - At 5000 pieces and a 0.2 SOL mint price, this post photo AI masterpiece was unlike anything seen on Solana before. Roope's first release was haunting and beautiful at the same time. A master of his craft I'm not sure if we'll see another collection like it, one definitely worth checking out and picking up if you like it given it's still only ~$60
Generative art news
alignDRAW pieces are acquired by the Worcester Art Museum - The collection based on the very first images created by prompts is quickly gaining attention for it's innovation with 3 pieces from the original paper being acquired by the museum. We always look for museum worth art, and here we have some proof!
Artblocks acquires Sansa! - Artblocks announced just yesterday they have acquired the art focused marketplace Sansa! An interesting moving given Artblocks has created their own marketplace
Great art, great prices - beautiful art for ~$500 or less
BUFFERS by itsgalo - Really nice art with motion releasing on alba art that is still minting. Galo is a master of motion and this is one of his better ones only at 0.0256 ETH
Catharsis by Dario Lanza - 999 piece collection released by gmDAO. Beautiful art resembling a splatter painting. Its fun becuase a tryptch can be made and each piece has an individual piece name. Very stunning pieces with "ManganeseBlue+" as my favorite palette
Exciting upcoming drops
Deus Ex Machina by Cybersea - The next release from the generative Ordinals platform Vivid (their 4th) is a banger! Featuring a great variety of gears and machinations that change real time with the bitcoin blockchain we love the innovation fused with beautiful art
Heuristics of Emotion by Jeres on Verse - The first solana release from Verse looks stunning. Coming out on 2/8 with 500 pieces that will be pre-curated and randomly distributed to minters, and then you can get another one as a minter that you found yourself from playing with the algo! Unclear on pricing yet but we like the art.
Artists to highlight
Thomas Lin Pederson - Artist behind AB Curated "Screens" project. Fun fact, was the first artist on Collectors Corner Deep Dive. A stunning project and amazing human being. Attractive entry point for Screens and looking forward to upcoming work.
Roope Rainisto - One of the top AI artists out there, Roope continues to surprise with his recent release SMILE. The inventor of the post photo AI genre is one you definitely should have on your radar
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