Art Blocks Collection: Presents
Project Description: This collection is a study of identity in the modern digital era, increasingly dominated by NFT profile pictures. We all construct complex identities to project out into the world, perhaps to distract ourselves from facing the real question that is gnawing at our subconscious. "Who am I?" The moment we feel ourselves begin to grasp an answer it recedes further out of reach leaving us in free fall. The good news is there is no ground.
We pay homage to Ukrainian-born artist Kazimir Malevich, founder Suprematism, an avant garde art movement focused on the fundamentals of geometry and the essence of experience. In the same way that artists from this movement explored the supremacy of pure artistic feeling, we explore the pure essence of identity and self-expression. Can we express an identity using long form generative art with nothing but math and code? What is considered beautiful and desirable?
Taking this further we then explore the concept of Ego Death. Each piece represents not just the aesthetic combination of geometry and faceless human energies, but can be used as a meditation object that will remind the collector of the illusion of self. We have created a new type of pfp project that doesn’t just represent the egoic desire to fulfill ambitions and own scarce luxury goods, but rather is a true expression of one’s soul on the journey to enlightenment.
This artwork contains one important interaction. The viewer is invited to click on the image, at which point it comes to life allowing the viewer to explore his or her identity by moving the mouse. We liken this to sitting down to meditate and asking the question “who am I?”. As the exploration continues, the viewer realizes that the decorative and outwardly expressed aspects of identity are but an illusion and they begin to dissolve. Eventually the viewer experiences ego death, arriving at a pure black square illuminated by a sliver of light. The light of pure awareness. The viewer realizes he or she is nothing more, and nothing less, than consciousness itself.
The algorithm maps color palette variations and meta-structures of the geometries to different human archetypes. The code playfully generates characters for each collector based on a unique moment in time, and the collector’s unique wallet address, which we hope will establish a personal connection with the piece.
Some of the most rare pieces are the most undecorated, representing the highest version of enlightenment that is hardest to achieve through practice. When you dissolve into the absolute there is no more decoration but only the feeling of oneness.
