GM

Welcome to the 5 new subs who joined yesterday.

There's more to life than NFTs.

Can't think of anything rn but I'm guessing there is.

In today’s edition:

• Huge news for NFT art

• Two new drops make the Lists

• Plus a few more new drops to check out

More info on Mint/Watch lists HERE.

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We have a premium pass that gives you access to a directory of every drop we cover, complete with detailed information on how to get on every whitelist (including those underrated ones that aren’t already full).

And for those curatooors out there, you can get free NFTs just by finding drops that end up on the Mint or Watch list.

Lastly, hang with me and the MoS team in a private discord with weekly voice chats. The vibes are great.

Huge news for NFT art

Context

Sotheby’s announced a new Generative Art Program that will start releasing new collections in a manner similar to Art Blocks.

For their first collection, Sotheby’s is partnering with computer art pioneer Vera Molnár.

Details:

• Collection name: Themes and Variations

• Date: July 26th at 11 AM EST

• Supply: 500

• Price: Dutch Auction starting at 20 ETH, with a 2 ETH resting price

Our Take

If you were presenting a bull case for Art Blocks and on-chain Generative Art, you’d probably have a slide that looks like this:

And you would say something like:

Maybe throw a dab in there and then the curtains fall to a standing ovation.

It’s silly, but also kind of true. I think these are some fair assumptions:

1. On-chain Gen Art is a groundbreaking new medium

2. More trad art collectors will realize this over time

3. Money will shift in a big way when this happens

From there you can debate the speed and the size of the shift.

But what you can’t deny is the trajectory – and yesterday, we took one more step in that direction with Sotheby’s latest announcement.

Sotheby’s is a huge player

Together with Christie’s, these two auction houses accounted for 70% of all Modern art sales in 2022. They know every large art collector in the game, and they know how to convince them to spend.

Until now, their involvement with NFTs has been mostly limited to handling secondary auctions for existing pieces, like the famous Goose sale earlier this month.

Now they’re doubling down with Sotheby’s Generative Art Program – essentially their version of Art Blocks. This includes:

1. Dutch Auctions (their first time using them)

2. On-chain minting (using the AB engine)

3. ERC-721 tokens

4. ETH payments

It’s a full embrace of the crypto art ethos.

The first drop

Sotheby’s plans to release three Generative Art collections per year.

The first is a collab with Vera Molnár, a pioneer of generative art, who began experimenting with computer graphics in 1968.

Vera is 99, but amazingly she already released her first NFT in 2022, a piece called 2% of disorder in co-operation, which later sold for $138,600 (also by Sotheby’s).

This time she’s selling an on-chain gen art collection with Martin Grasser, who already has experience launching on Art Blocks.

It’s a huge moment that feels like the passing of the baton of sorts, and Sotheby’s picked the perfect artist to represent the medium’s long history.

✨ Added to Mint List #7✨

NOTE: These drops are lightly curated. Our only requirement is that they have recognizable founders. As usual, DYOR. To learn more go here.

Baby Pepes

Now, I don’t usually write about this type of project. For the past three months, it is estimated that pepe meme coins and NFTs have accounted for a third of all gas fees on Ethereum (Source?). Alright, maybe that’s not true, but the point is these things come and go like the wind.

So why, then? Well, it’s made by a couple of Cool Cats founders.

Which begs the question: Why are these founders releasing a 20,000 supply pepe NFT at 0.0069 ETH, just a day after announcing a Cool Pets upgrade (more on that below)? I guess we’ll find out shortly.

Mycelia by Jimmy Herdberg

Three-time Art Blocks artist Jimmy Herdberg returns with his Presents collection, Mycelia, set to drop this August.

This collection, like some of his previous ones, is rooted in nature, depicting the growth of fungus. It looks better than it sounds: smooth, progressively-growing animations unfurl in soothing autumn palettes.

Maybe it’s the melancholic tunes I’m listening to as I’m writing this, but I’m finding these appealing.

LUCI: Chapter 5 by Sam Spratt

For nearly two years, New York-based artist Sam Spratt has been crafting and releasing the captivating tale of Luci, a monkey seeking the meaning of humanity in a post-civilization world.

But this isn’t your average monkey jpeg. Rather, the NFT art series accompanying the tale is a favorite among some of the most esteemed collectors and auction houses.

Now, after having recently sold another piece at Christie’s, Sam revealed that the fifth chapter of the story will come in the form of a 256-piece edition, with the first piece going towards that Christie’s sale.

We don’t know what form the mint will take but we’ve…

✨ Added to Watch List ✨

Cool Pets Upgrade

It’s safe to say that Cool Cats, a top 5 PFP collection at one point, doesn’t get brought up anymore when someone asks for the “hot top pfps to invest in”, and ”we like the cats” is something of a vintage meme at this point.

Despite the decline in popularity, the team continues to introduce new concepts, as they’ve just unveiled an upgrade for the Cool Pets collection.

Revealed alongside other announcements, including the discontinuation of $MILK generation and the release of 3 games, the Cool Pets upgrade requires holders to burn two existing pets to receive one upgraded companion.

Here’s to hoping the future games are engaging enough 🥂

The Mint List

1. Taproot Wizards. OG Bitcoin meme inscribed as ordinals

2. Project Animus. RTFKT's biggest launch since Clone-X

3. Symbiogenesis. Square Enix's upcoming gaming NFT

4. Garbage Friends. New PFP from the creator of Invisible Friends

5. Dimensionals - EVE. Free gaming PFP from doxxed studio

6. 10KTF PFP. Drop from a team that includes Yuga and Beeple

7. Themes and Variations. Sotheby’s showcases pioneer gen artist

8. 6529 Meme – Botto. Affordable edition from the decentralized artist

9. Ether. Anime PFP collection by viii, an artist with a cult following

10. Tony Babel x Typical Friends. Limited edition from the popular artist