GM

Programming note: Mint or Skip will be off Thursday, back on Friday

Somehow this song made it to my YT feed despite only having 37 views.

Be honest - which one of you made this?

Links for the Top 25 drops are HERE.

The only thing people hate more than NFTs

The most fruitful explorations happen when you find a trend where 

1. you have high conviction, but…

2. the masses misunderstand it, or better yet, deeply hate it 

Anyone spending time with NFTs knows this feeling. It can lead to opportunities, a head start on a new cultural shift, and the obnoxious satisfaction of being a contrarian proven right. 

Lately, though, the mood around NFTs has turned more to apathy than hatred. 

But luckily, my pain detectors are going off once again: there’s a new punching bag in town. 

The hordes have turned the Eye of Sauron to yet another, equally unstoppable, technology. 

AI Art 

There’s emotional wreckage everywhere you look. 

First, there’s famed art critic Jerry Saltz making an unusually sharp attack on top AI Artist Refik Anadol, calling his work “gimmick art” and “a banal screensaver”. 

Then you have this satirical post a few days ago where someone “improves” a classic Hopper painting with the use of AI. It went viral and was slammed with quote tweets, most of which missed the joke of course, with replies such as:

And of course, there was this case last month of university professors creating a “poison pill” designed to break AI models and prevent them from creating the art that paying customers want from them. In their words: "The point of this tool is to balance the playing field between model trainers and content creators”.

AI Derangement Syndrome is hitting a glorious crescendo. 

And yet, collectors and cultural institutions are placing their bets

The first NFT collected by the MOMA was an artwork by none other than Refik Anadol. 

Another large (unknown) collector spent ~$500,000 on an NFT shopping spree this week, including established “blue chips” like William Mapan and Tyler Hobbes. But they also made sure to include LIWA by Roope Rainisto, one of the main protagonists in onchain AI art. 

And brands like Gucci continue to dig into the movement despite the controversies, such as yesterday’s collab announcement with Christie’s. 

NFT collectors have a front-row seat 

Many of the top AI artists are luckily already onchain. Rising profiles like Roope Rainisto, Claire Silver, Refik Anadol, and Pindar Van Arman are here, today, jumping in and out of discord servers and Twitter spaces, experimenting in front of us, showing their progress, reacting to AI updates in real-time, etc.

And more importantly, it’s us – the small ragtag community on the island of misfit toys – that get first dibs on their works. 

Just in the next few weeks, you have: 

Trademark, by Jack Butcher (TODAY) – a collaboration with ChatGPT for Red Bull’s Velocity Pass. Sold out now but first covered as a new drop in late October.

Secret group show, by Botto (December) – an AI artist governed by a DAO. This 50-supply drop will be the first time it chooses the final output. 

Izanami Islands, by Richard Nadler (December 14) – a sequel to the beautiful and extremely popular collection Yamabushi’s Horizons. 

Maybe it’s time to lean in? 

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

Untitled Foundation Drop by Ordinary Willard

Kicking off the new Foundation x Highlight generative art partnership mentioned yesterday is pseudonymous artist Ordinary Willard.

They boast an extensive track record on the platform, and their minimalist style lends itself well to the creative coding space, making them a fitting choice.

AOFverse Founder Keys

This is an upcoming 2,222-supply genesis pass into Army of Fortune Metaverse (AOFverse), the first web3 venture from Z3 Bros, a mobile games studio founded by former team members at Supercell (makers of the third-highest-grossing mobile game of all time).

The pass provides perks for this “mobile gaming Metaverse” that will house multiple games, starting with Army of Tactics, a game that is currently soft-launched and will lead to the flagship title Army of Fortune.

You can find more information on the company’s plans here (which include an ERC20 token), but mint details are still limited. However, for the low price of free, I can’t really knock it.

Poglin

This one features a new, vibrant multimedia IP created by experienced (albeit undoxxed) game developers backed by Animoca Brands.

While we know that there are probably NFTs involved, this Premint page doesn’t really provide any non-fungible details.

Also, the roadmap looks quite 2021-flavored (wagami), so I’m hoping they reveal more specific and engaging plans soon.

Untitled Iconic Drop by Lucréce

The Iconic art platform is pivoting away from legacy fame to highlight web3 excellence in their upcoming collection release with popular artist Lucréce.

The artist’s colorful animations were the talk of the town earlier this year when Proceed w/ Caution dropped, an edition series that has amassed over 5,000 ETH in secondary trading volume since then (that open edition meta was wild, huh).

It’s definitely a vibe change for Iconic, following their Norman Rockwell release, but one that could be better aligned with the market’s desires.