On the occasion of Art Blocks' third anniversary, we had the chance to catch up with CEO and founder, <a href="https://www.artblocks.io/artist/snowfro" target="_blank" id="">Snowfro</a>, to ask a few questions. From pivotal moments to superhero aspirations, below are a few behind-the-scenes stories that shaped Art Blocks into the generative art platform it is today.

Art Blocks 3-Year Anniversary Q&A with Snowfro

We are proud to share a preview of a selection of the artists and collections coming to the platform this winter.

Previewing the Art Blocks Curated Winter 2023–2024 Program

In this Collector Spotlight, discover Matt Miller’s journey as an Art Blocks collector, better known by his Twitter persona, <a href="https://twitter.com/balon_art" id="">balon.eth</a>. Matt started his career in real estate and finance but always had a passion and enthusiasm for art. Discovering digital art, and generative art, in particular, made him realize he wanted to collect more seriously and work in the sector full-time.

Art Blocks Collector Spotlight: Matt Miller (balon.eth)

This is my algorithmic love letter to a forefather of mathematical art: **M. C. Escher**.

To commemorate 125 years since his birth, my goal was to honor Escher’s enduring influence by reworking his iconic motifs into a medium that embraces mathematics as much as he did.

I gave it the name **Escherly Seeds** because its meaning is three-fold:

-	_Metaphorical._ This work can be seen as representing the seeds that Escher planted in the minds of the artistic community, and I make several references to his work. Concave and Convex (1955) and Waterfall (1961) were the main inspirations for up to three distinct optical illusions hidden within this algorithm. Expect Escher’s love of polyhedra – a few of which can be seen in Stars (1948) – to make appearances too!

-	_Arboreal._ This metaphor is illustrated as a tree with surrealist botanical components. It starts out, drawn on paper, as a root network from which a stem sprouts, branching into a fully developed crown with leaves, flowers, and/or fruit. Flowers are depicted as enlarged polyhedra with special properties, and fruit are cyclical structures inspired by the iconic Penrose triangle. Fruit can also, on occasion, be ripe with its own seeds, thus completing its life cycle. The pencil-to-3D effect is a reference to Reptiles (1943) and Drawing Hands (1948), except I take the metamorphosis to the present – becoming fully chromatic, dynamic, and interactive. The seed is planted in Escher's world, and blossoms into ours.

-	_Cryptographic._ Generative art is, in a way, the craft of making pseudo-random _art_ generators. Each output is the result of a cascade of calculations caused by one unique numerical seed, and in this case, it just happens to be an “Escherly” seed! For those curious about the details, I tried to avoid excessively obfuscating the code.

The viewer is encouraged to play with the artwork! In an effort to make the tree feel alive, I used an equation called the Kuramoto model which, most notably, mimics the flashing patterns observed in species of synchronous fireflies. Each cube is animated by an internal “clock” which is weakly coupled to its nearest neighbors. Interacting with these clocks will cause them to align, giving you the ability to synchronize or desynchronize certain areas of the tree.

Thank you to all who helped me along the way, no matter the weight of your contribution.

Special thanks: Jiahui Cai, Vincent Cohen, Daniel Bothner

Escherly Seeds

Martijn Cohen

12/4/2023, 6:00 PM UTC

Edition of 327

Art Blocks is dedicated to bringing compelling works of generative digital art to life. We unite artists, collectors, and blockchain technology in service of groundbreaking artwork and remarkable experiences.

Art Blocks 3-Year Anniversary Q&A with Snowfro

Previewing the Art Blocks Curated Winter 2023–2024 Program

Open Projects

Glasshouse INAT

Aleksandra Jovanić

0.08 Ξ

216 / 230 remaining

Lucky Clover

Sputniko!

0.1 Ξ

164 / 200 remaining

Recollection

Robert Hodgin

0.1 Ξ

60 / 200 remaining

Muttenz

wuwa

0.08 Ξ

236 / 300 remaining

Art Blocks Collector Spotlight: Matt Miller (balon.eth)

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Want more? Read Spectrum, the journal of Art Blocks

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Want more? Read Spectrum, the journal of Art Blocks

Want more? Read Spectrum, the journal of Art Blocks

Want more? Read Spectrum, the journal of Art Blocks

Want more? Read Spectrum, the journal of Art Blocks

Want more? Read Spectrum, the journal of Art Blocks

Want more? Read Spectrum, the journal of Art Blocks

Want more? Read Spectrum, the journal of Art Blocks

Want more? Read Spectrum, the journal of Art Blocks

Want more? Read Spectrum, the journal of Art Blocks

Want more? Read Spectrum, the journal of Art Blocks

Want more? Read Spectrum, the journal of Art Blocks

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