How does this NFT only have 30 followers?

Plus, OG artist drop coming Friday

GM

Welcome to our 15 new subscribers.

Heads up: we’re bringing you some exciting drops today. I mean, we do that every day, but we’re doing it today as well, just in case you were wondering.

In today’s edition:

  • How does this NFT only have 30 followers?

  • My updated rankings

  • Newly found drops

More info on Mint/Watch lists HERE.

How does this NFT only have 30 followers?

There are many reasons I started this newsletter. There’s the 1980s rockstar lifestyle, the VIP art parties in non-descript Brooklyn warehouses, the adoration of millions of women around the world.

Of course, none of these have happened yet. Your boy is still in the manifesting stage.

But above all, there’s the motivation to highlight the many innovative projects that tend to fly under the radar. Unlike those other reasons, this one actually does happen from time to time.

And, O Dearly Beloved…this is one of those times.

Behold, the largest animated GIF ever created

Weighing in at 5,800 megapixels, this tapestry is equivalent to ~2,800 HD screens put together.

This massive digital object is called TODEM. It’s made up of thousands of generative AI visuals and text prompts derived from the most-visited Wikipedia pages, grouped into 1,000 1/1 NFTs of varying sizes, and tied together in a mesmerizing large-scale animation.

The entire website is impressive. The tech is polished, the art is captivating, the blockchain angle makes sense – tbh it’s the kind of project that reminds me why I spend time on NFTs.

It also reminds me a bit of r/place, the social Reddit event where people worked together to build up a huge art canvas pixel-by-pixel. In a way, this is like if r/place was made by AI.

TODEM was created by artist Jason Salavon and his team of tech-artists at Latent Culture.

Who is Jason? He’s a world-renowned artist that has, for decades, been using software to create art based on pre-existing media. His work has shown up in the permanent collections of several major institutions including MoMA, LACMA, Whitney, and the Met.

He’s the real deal when it comes to these types of image overlay collages, and TODEM represents his first NFT project.

So how does this mint work?

As mentioned, it’s one huge artwork broken into 1,000 NFTs. Each NFT is priced based on the number of pixels – with cost ranging from just a few dollars to more than six figures.

The lowest tier, class D, is made up of 500 NFTs all priced below 1 ETH, with many of them actually priced below $100, like this $3 Malcolm in the Middle tile.

Also, larger NFTs are made up of many smaller sub-tiles (that can’t be individually bought).

For example, tile 0034, called Dorian Nakamoto, is made up of 23 individual sub-tiles, each with their own AI animation and text. You can also see the prompt used for each individual sub-tile, which is pretty cool.

You can buy these NFTs today, although the official launch which is set to bring an improved UI and a full marketing campaign isn’t until June 26.

It’s (very) early

The Twitter account somehow still only has 29(!!) followers. And there have only been 42 NFTs sold so far, probably to people who previously followed Jason’s work or traverse trad art inner circles.

Basically, no one in the space is aware this exists. I don’t know what sort of marketing the team has planned for late June, but it’s obvious this would need to change.

In the meantime, it’s tough to gauge the traction TODEM might get. 1,000 NFTs is a lot in this market, especially considering many come with 5 and 6-figure price tags.

Maybe it sells out over time, maybe it doesn’t. Personally, I think there’s a group of collectors that are going to get hot and bothered when they discover TODEM’s elegance and scope.

I foresee some threadooors in the near future.

Added to Watch List

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

Flow State by Coldie

After curating all of ClickCreate’s May drops, Coldie will take the reins as artist in today’s edition, Flow State.

The 180-piece drop (of which 160 will be available for SubPass holders) happens today at 3 PM ET.

Coldie is an OG cryptoartist whose work has been collected by renowned collectors and exhibited in some of the biggest galleries around the world. For that reason we’ve…

Added to Watch List

Reylarsdam - Life Death & Cryptoart

The fifth release of controversial founder sartoshi’s Life Death & Cryptoart series has recently been announced for this Friday, featuring Mexican/Dutch artist Reylarsdam, aka REY.

Like past releases, the drop will feature a 300-supply edition, which will be free to mint for eos pass holders who are lucky enough to win the allowlist raffles.

KRILLER

A generative audiovisual experience 2 years in the making, KRILLER is the work of Canadian artists James Paterson (aka @presstube) and Young Galaxy.

The project combines Paterson's decades of sketches with Young Galaxy’s unique compositions to create 6,300 "cassettes”, which will start minting this Saturday at 0.063 ETH each. Once the entire supply is minted, the project will take its final form: a looping, weeklong ambient art broadcast.

While I’m not sure if the supply and price numbers are appropriate for the current NFT market, I do find the art quite aesthetically pleasing.

MakersPlace Al Art Hackathon

As part of the first-ever AI Art Hackathon taking place on June 7-8, Makersplace is bringing together a bunch of established and emerging artists to create 1/1s, open editions, limited editions, and even phygitals.

There’s a lot going on but you can get all the details here.

THE MINT LIST

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

  2. Symbiogenesis. Square Enix's upcoming gaming NFT

  3. FewoWorld. New PFP by Fewocious, a rising star in the art world

  4. 10KTF PFP. Drop from a team that includes Yuga and Beeple

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

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

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

  8. Glacier Dreams by Refik Anadol. AI art from the MoMA exhibitor

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

  10. SIGHTSEERS l PERIMETER TOWN. Glitch art follow-up on sovrn.art

Team

Giancarlo Chaux@GiancarloChaux

Guillermo Martin@pikanxiety

Jon Yale @JonYale