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I first came across Matt’s work through Subscapes, which I somehow missed the mint of (story of my life). Luckily, I was able to collect a great campground palette for 0.75 ETH a month or so later, and when Meridian was announced I was immediately excited to see the early outputs.

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Part of me doesn’t want to talk about price when discussing such a beautiful collection, but it’s an important part of the history and, looking back now, a fascinating snapshot of that time. Meridian dropped right in the middle of the 2021 bull market, and everyone knew it would be a big deal. The fever around the mint and the secondary activity was wild. I think I spent around 125 ETH on Meridians that day, between mint and secondary. Within days I had sold a pink “Prime” to Alan Howard for 50 ETH and an “Inverted” to another collector, Cygninae, for 80 ETH.

One memory that stands out vividly is seeing the blue one, #689, appear in the listing feed and thinking, I have to have that, whatever it takes. Thankfully, by cranking the gas high on the transaction, I managed to secure it. Back then it was common to miss something even if you clicked “buy” the instant it appeared. Gas wars were a part of everyday collecting.

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A year or two later, I had just moved to London when Matt held his book launch on Brick Lane in Shoreditch, not far from my house. Meeting him and seeing the work so professionally presented was a real buzz. I had spent most of the previous two years in the southern hemisphere, so I hadn’t seen much digital art displayed properly. That night shifted my appreciation of the entire space and reminded me how special it really was.

Living in London meant I could finally print and frame my pieces, which I did with the blue Meridian and one of my Folio works, a series Matt created for the London Bright Moments event. The Folios are now possibly my favorite generative art collection, and I have slowly built a small group of them.

We printed the blue Meridian a meter high and hung it in my wife’s home office. Seeing it daily at that scale deepens your connection. You notice how it changes with light and mood, taking on new character every time. That piece in particular opened my eyes to what it means to have a real, evolving relationship with art.

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Since then, I have collected each of Matt’s releases, including Hachure, Filigree, and Bitframes, along with several Tezos editions. Filigree was exhibited at the Disrupted Gallery in London and was especially striking. As an avid photographer and lifelong traveler, Matt’s way of capturing terrain, layering, and landscape resonates deeply with me. Beyond that, his ability to strike a balance between distinct outputs and cohesive style in long-form work is remarkable. He is truly one of the very best.

Four years on from that chaotic minting experience, my collecting has evolved from pure excitement into deep appreciation for the generative art medium and immense gratitude for this community, which now includes many artists, builders, and collectors who have become close friends.

My appreciation for Matt’s work continues to grow with every release, and while it is hard to choose a single favorite collection, I can safely say my favorite individual piece, and possibly my favorite of all time, is that bright, beautiful blue Meridian, #689.

- @blockbird

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Emi Kusano is a multidisciplinary artist based in Tokyo, Japan. She employs AI to merge past and future aesthetics, challenging our perceptions of art and technology. She holds a degree in Environment and Information Studies from Keio University, Tokyo, Japan and is a part-time Lecturer at Tokyo University of the Arts.

Jordan Kantor: Hi there, Emi. It's great to speak with you. Before we get into talking about your debut Art Blocks project Melancholic Magical Maiden, I am hoping you can share a bit about your personal journey and creative history. How did you first get into making art?

Emi Kusano: I was raised by artist parents and always believed I'd become an artist as well. However, seeing their struggles, I gave up on going to art school and instead chose to attend a university to study business and design. Still, I always found joy in creating things: I was a street photographer in high school and formed a band called “Satellite Young” in college, dressing as an '80s idol and singing about modern tech.

\"Satellite-young_album — *Satellite Young* (サテライトヤング, *Sateraito Yangu*) debut studio album released on April 5, 2017.

JK: Wow. I am sure there are folks who will want to look up your career as a pop star! How did you then channel that creative drive into the digital realm, and how did you discover the blockchain as a medium for art?

EK: I became aware of the blockchain in 2021, and it was a revelation that expanded my artistic horizons. The pandemic was pivotal, and, one of the silver linings was to unveil the potential of digital art for me. It came about kind of by happenstance when my eight-year-old son Zombie Zoo Keeper created an artwork that went viral after well known people (like Steve Aoki) bought it. This introduced me to a new network of artists, builders, and collectors worldwide. In 2022, I co-founded a web3 anime studio called “Shinsei Galverse,” that was focused on making iconic anime. Over the last year or so, I’ve deeply delved into post-photography using generative AI.

\"synthetic — Emi Kusano, *Synthetic Reflection #3*, 2023.

Around the same time, I developed an interest in coding art and began Melancholic Magical Maiden with the creative coder Sayo towards the end of 2022, taking over a year to release. I’ve learned a lot from working in this space, and thanks to collector support have been able to engage full time in creative endeavors. I am really drawn to the interdisciplinary, cross-sector nature of this space, which can draw in participants from entertainment, art, fashion, and more to innovate using the blockchain. This synergistic element of the blockchain resonates with me deeply.

\"493000000.gif\" — Emi Kusano, *Melancholic Magical Maiden #0,* 2024. Live view.

JK: The radical interdisciplinarity of your approach to working on the blockchain is apparent, and super exciting. Can you talk a bit about how your creative process has evolved, and how Melancholic Magical Maiden fits in?

EK: Technically, generative AI has reshaped my creative process. I’ve produced numerous AI-based works, and in collaboration with Sayo, we’ve efficiently learned to use this tool to realize our vision in post-photographic works, music, videos and installations. From an artistic standpoint, a through line in all of this is my interest in addressing Japanese culture and identity and I seek to portray the depth and complexity of our culture, which I think can often be overshadowed by its pop culture image. Melancholic Magical Maiden marks my creative coding debut, and the process was profoundly intricate. Figuring out how to embed meaning and my narrative into code was fascinating. The project has taken over a year, undergone 28 revisions (!), and incorporated a lot of valuable feedback from many more veteran artists in this space. Honestly, there’s still endless scope for improvement. In terms of subject matter, Melancholic Magical Maiden deconstructs elements of 1990s Japanese animation, exploring themes of femininity and societal pressures within these narratives. Specifically, it tackles how the “magical girl” genre, in which young heroines battle using magical powers, has continually evolved. It is complicated though, for while it has provided empowerment, it has also occasionally perpetuated gender stereotypes.

\"493000001.gif\" — Emi Kusano, *Melancholic Magical Maiden #1,* 2024. Live view.

JK: It is really interesting how your examination of these themes has moved across your work in music, AI, and now generative art. In terms of this project, what should collectors look for in the series as it is revealed? And Is there anything specific you’d like to share that would help viewers approach and appreciate your work?

EK: I hope they enjoy each piece’s nostalgic aesthetics in their simplicity. The color palette is reminiscent of the 1990s, and I’d be delighted if they appreciate the animation’s movements. Really, I just encourage an open mind and curiosity. I hope viewers might research some of the references and relate them to themselves. Also, I am intending to invest proceeds back into further expansion of the project and plan to make installations and physical works.

JK: Are there any recent accomplishments you’d like to share?

EK: 2023 was the turning point of my art career. I participated in a Christie’s x Gucci auction in collaboration with Claire Silver and toured with Bright Moments. I’m honored to exhibit my project “Neural Fad: AI dreams Nostalgia” at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Contemporary Art until early March 2024. This spring, I’m excited to have a solo exhibition at Expanded Art in Berlin.

JK: I am sure folks will want to keep up to date with all these things and more. What is the best way for people to follow your work?

EK: Sure. People can follow me on Twitter: @emikusano, Instagram: @emiksn, and subscribe on Deca for notifications on new releases.

JK: Thank you so much for bringing Melancholic Magical Maiden to Art Blocks, Emi. We are looking forward to seeing the project unfold on February 28, 2024.

Top image: Tomofumi Usa, Portrait of Emi Kusano.

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Ben Kovach is an artist who focuses on building emergent generative work with a natural feel. He lives in Burlington, VT with his wife and two-year-old daughter. I had a chance to chat with Ben about his background in generative art in advance of his upcoming Art Blocks project Edifice.

Jeff Davis: Hi Ben! It’s great to speak with you. How did you first get into making art?

Ben Kovach: I’ve been drawing since I was a kid. My dad used to have a stack of books about drawing—I remember flipping through those a bunch when I was very young. As a teenager, art took over my life as I had some amazing teachers who really pushed me to express myself creatively. During that time, I primarily focused on pen drawings and paintings. Interestingly, most of my work around that time was either highly chaotic or followed some sort of rule I self-imposed. For example, I made a series of portraits in pen and ink that were drawn using only horizontal and vertical lines. I also dove into digital art around that time, playing with fractal generating programs and making abstract visuals in Photoshop. I went to college for an art degree but quickly pivoted to computer science and math as I found my early art courses uninspiring and creatively draining.

\"Manufactured — Ben Kovach, *Manufactured Turbulence*, 2020.

JD: That’s really interesting that you moved from art towards math and computers. I was actually the opposite as an undergraduate, starting with math and eventually pursuing art. So when did you bring art back into the equation to start pursuing generative art?

BK: I’ve had an interest in procedural generation for years. I have built lots of little projects like a Conway’s Game of Life simulation and a Julia Set visualizer before putting a name to what I was doing. What really kicked it off was seeing Tyler Hobbs talk at Strange Loop in September 2017. Some of his work looked hand-drawn to me, and this had my head spinning. I didn’t know algorithmic art could look so natural, and I had to try it. I spent the flight home setting up my Processing environment, then made one generative sketch per day in October. I called this Digital Inktober and started posting on Twitter. People seemed to respond well to these sketches, so I kept going. Nothing amazing came out of it, but that month of work gave me a solid foundation on which to build. I remember some people being impressed with some flow field work I posted on Reddit and thinking “okay, maybe I’m onto something.” Not long after, I started moderating the generative subreddit with Aaron Penne and Tyler and some other folks. Just living in that world. It was a lot of fun.

JD: Then how did you discover NFTs and crypto art?

BK: The first NFT project I remember hearing about was CryptoKitties. I never really got into it, but I thought the idea was pretty cool. I started taking crypto art more seriously when a bunch of artists I knew began posting on hic et nunc. The way I’ve always sold work is through 1/1 prints, and that was going okay, so I kind of ignored it and stuck to prints for a while. Eventually one of my friends directly reached out and told me I should mint some of my work just to see what happened. That was my Luminary series, which I minted in August. The experience of selling an NFT immediately felt like a more natural fit for my work than 1/1 prints. Soon after, I discovered Art Blocks and artists like DEAFBEEF doing creative things with code on-chain and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

\"Luminary, — Ben Kovach, *Luminary*, 2021.

JD: How would you say your creative practice has grown over time?

BK: This is a tough one. I guess I’d say that I now spend much more time with my work before calling it complete. Early on, I’d come up with a quick sketch, post it around, and move onto something new. Over time, I started spending much more time with other artwork, books, and research papers. Generally slowing my pace a bit. For Edifice, I bought a bunch of heavy body acrylic paints and spent several evenings just playing with them for the sole purpose of finding colors to sample for palettes. That sort of slower, methodical approach to art making has become more commonplace in my work as I’ve gotten deeper into it.

\"Good — Ben Kovach, *Good Night*, 2018.

JD: Any recent accomplishments you’d like to share?

BK: My artistic effort has been laser focused on Edifice for the last several months, so I don’t have a ton of recent artwork related accomplishments to share from that time span. Minting Edifice #0 is a monumental achievement for me, and I’m very proud of that. I’m also proud of my writing and StrangeLoop talk from 2018 “A Box of Chaos.” I find knowledge sharing very difficult but equally rewarding.

JD: Alright, well let’s get into Edifice! What was your inspiration for the project?

BK: I have a vague recollection of watching one of those demo videos from SIGGRAPH or something showing a simulation of a ball flying through the air and tearing through some cloth. I wanted to emulate this process, but in a generative work. The result of this initial exploration was my piece Good Night in 2018, which has this industrial feeling that I immediately fell in love with. I’ve used this algorithm in several pieces since then, but I knew there was so much more I could do with it. Art Blocks was the perfect opportunity to stretch

Memories of Digital Data

Kazuhiro Tanimoto

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