Weekly Recap Report - August 19, 2023

📰 This Week on Creative Bytes

• Why Everyone in Tech Should Read 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'

• Decentralization in the Web3 Art World: It's Not A Binary Choice But A Multivariate Spectrum

• The Power of Intention in Digital Art: Crafting for Longevity and Impact

• What It Takes to Make a Great Artwork: The Essential Elements of Great Art

• Crypto Art Friday: Lucid Dream
  

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🖼️ Crypto Art Friday Winners

We had 90 submissions for the genesis Crypto Art Friday open call.

Our theme was “Connection” and I curated 12 pieces from 12 different artists for a showcase on JOYN: Magicalords, Truffle Soul, Yatima, ruwaiting_4, Sworvx, Coraline Von H, Psyber, WomanNFT, Jolene Casko, Dragsi, Simone Risi, and YSDian.

Give each of them a follow on X!

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🍎 This Week’s Quick Bytes

• Beeple announced an open call for creators to share their CryptoPunks inspired artwork which will then be on display at the CryptoPunks Meetup at Beeple Studios in Charleston, SC. I personally submitted two from my Unofficial Punks collection that launched in February 2021 (pre-BAYC).

• As the creator of the alt-punk movement, I maintain the most comprehensive set of resources related to CryptoPunk derivatives artwork. Including the history of alt-punks, the historical timeline of derivatives (2017-2021), and a growing list of over 200 more derivatives.

• I minted my first-ever drop on the Coinbase’ L2 blockchain, BASE, in support of Onchain Summer using a Manifold contract. I love Manifold because they continues to be responsive and provide artists with the tools necessary to independently monetize their artwork. Here’s my piece, "It's Good To Be King,” from the Life is Blue collection. It’s available for .01 BETH (aka ETH on BASE).

• Art curation on the blockchain seems to be top of mind in Web3 (again). In 2021, I discussed this topic in depth on my podcast with Art Educator / MFA, Jay Delay and Contemporary Art Curator and Founder of Blockchain Art Exchange, Sascha Bailey.

• In a short video on X, I made the case that the first-ever CryptoPunks derivative is not Pride Punks from 2018. But I was wrong (sort of). I had said that the #paintapunk Series by Samuel Holt (aka @cryptopunkart) was created in 2017. I then learned that “Me in The Matrix” by @BokkyPooBah was made a month earlier. So I updated the CryptoPunks Derivatives Timeline accordingly.

• I updated my post about Adapting to the X Algorithm Changes to include a section about the lack of transparency in how the algorithm works with regard to user ranking, post ranking, de-ranking, and blacklisted topics. You should also follow NFT God, who is spending the time sifting through code to help us understand what’s happening under the hood of X.

• At Twitter between 2018 and 2019, I was a Sr. Program Manager on the Global Support Operations team. I had access to a tweet-level sentiment analysis plugin that employed machine learning (ML) to evaluate every tweet on my timeline in real-time and categorizing them as negative, positive, or neutral. It showed me this by wrapping each tweet in red (negative), white (neutral), or green (positive) border and included a percentage indicator. The internal tools we had at our disposal were quite sophisticated.

• Your JPEGs are not secure and I’m glad you’re finding out. The prevailing narrative that platforms have perpetuated from the beginning is that “NFT” equals “JPEGs stored on-chain”. Which was actually the exception, not the rule at the time. Recently Cozomo de’ Medici shined the light on this issue and many artists and collectors are finding this out for the first time.

• Slime Sunday is providing an opportunity to participate in a symbolic cleanse on Monday, August 21. You’ll be able to burn anything to collect one of his artworks on BASE.

• Vertical Crypto has on open call for a chance to display your artwork at NFT Paris 2024.

• According to rightclick (rc.xyz), my primary and secondary sales of artworks total more than $507K. This app might be the cleanest, most informative, and accurate NFT discovery / social profile tool in the space. And I’m now using it as the website link in my X profile.
  

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🎨 New Artwork: Chasing the Dragon (.05 ETH)

Mirroring aspiration and reality, this piece prompts viewers to ponder the costs and cyclical nature of ambition in a subtle and introspective manner.

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I hope I added value to your day. ☀️

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