Despite enduringly dismal conditions in the NFT market, some art-focused projects leveraging blockchain technology have managed to stay steady—or even, in a few cases, grow—over the last year and a half. One of those few outliers is Art Blocks, the digital art platform and gallery that uses NFTs to mint and distribute generative art works to collectors around the world.
After launching its own NFT marketplace in March—a move intended to protect the increasingly threatened practice of enforcing creator royalties, a fee between 2.5% and 10% sent back to an NFT’s creator in secondary market sales—Art Blocks has expanded its slate of curated, generative digital art projects to include live, globe-spanning in-person minting events and digital art projects featuring physical components.
In late September, Art Blocks hosted its third annual in-person gathering—the Marfa Weekend—in Marfa, Texas, home of the collective’s sole physical gallery. Hundreds of Art Blocks collectors, artists, and community members flocked to the tiny desert town for a weekend spent discussing the future of generative art, showcasing cutting-edge projects, and celebrating the organization’s remarkable resilience.
Inside Art Blocks' Marfa Weekend, Digital Art's Latest Hotspot
Last weekend, hundreds of digital art devotees descended on Marfa, the tiny West Texas artist’s oasis, to partake in what’s rapidly become a can’t-miss cult favorite in digital culture circles: the Art Blocks Marfa Weekend. Art Blocks, which curates and releases generative digital art collections minted on the Ethereum blockchain, first invited community members to the desert town in 2021, when the company opened its physical gallery just off Marfa’s main drag. Last year, the event ballooned sub...
There, Art Blocks founder and CEO Erick Calderon (aka Snowfro) sat down with Sander Lutz, lead culture reporter at Decrypt's SCENE, to discuss the company’s work and Calderon’s perspective on its recent accomplishments.
'Art of the Times': Art Blocks Founder Erick Calderon on the State of Generative Art
Art Blocks founder and CEO Erick Calderon sat down with Sander Lutz, lead culture reporter at Decrypt's SCENE, at Art Blocks Marfa Weekend 2023. They discuss the evolution of the company and the generative art world, along with what draws art enthusiasts to be an active part of the community.
