Finding Artist Gold
Now that the dust has settled from the (fx)hash 1.0 launch, the last two weeks have seen the return of several big generative artists in the space with instantly iconic new drops:
markknol with Smolskull-Pattern, ALT+ESC with Phantoms, mjlindow with Desert Sun Rising, Hevey with Dencity, and Christophe “Ulu” Choffel with Visa to the Stars. There have also been incredible collaborations like Proxima by ismahelio & mrkswcz, (un)existing by Tezumie & PersonChen, and Reconnaissance by Nat Sarkissian & TENDER x. It’s been a veritable bounty.
But the most exciting aspect of (fx)hash’s free-for-all approach is how it encourages viewers to discover new artists—you get to follow their career from the beginning, watch them as they grow, and celebrate when they land their first big hit. In that way, it’s like discovering an amazing new band before anyone else knows about them; they’re only yours, and for that brief time you feel like you’re holding gold.
For instance, I have a special place in my heart for Rami Awad who, with new projects like Basil and Fischinger, is quickly establishing themself as a true force in the generative music meets visuals scene that (fx)hash enables. Definitely worth a listen.
So allow me to highlight four people whose new projects have established them as artists to be reckoned with:
Zolfaghari & DouDi hit it out of the park with their deceptively simple Zometric. While composed of only rectangles and circles, stuttering hash lines break up these familiar shapes and make them palpable—as if this were a physical canvas, and not simply digital—but it’s their perfect division of space and intriguing, unexpected color combinations that sets this work leagues above the other Mondrian inspired pieces that clutter the generative art space.
Impending Cloths by wage_du conjures a rumpled piece of fabric reminiscent of a plaid handkerchief or a bunched up picnic blanket. It’s an incredible illusion, made all the more impressive because zooming in on a hi-res save reveals it’s made up of only small circles with thick translucent lines streaking out behind them. And while this is wage_du’s first project on the platform, their mastery of bending space and the math to do so is impressive.
In contrast, 3DManatee uploaded their first work to (fx)hash a mere three weeks after the beta launched, but it’s with recent works like “Test Print” from February and Soma from this weekend that they’ve come into their own. Soma absolutely sings with its pleasing palettes and scalloped swirls that cluster into lovely nested arcs. And though it arrives on your screen as a finished image, you can see traces of earlier works like Landfall and Erupt in their technique. Practice pays off it turns out. Soma is a real stunner—the work of a mature artist who has found their voice—and it’s exciting to see this journey as it happens, and over such a short span of time at that!
Watching all of this unfold in realtime is the joy of browsing (fx)hash’s explore page without a guide. Sure, at times it feels like being thrown in the deep end of the pool—but eventually you learn to swim. And as you do you start to recognize the names of artists that put out new projects regularly, and you get to be there to see their steady growth and small triumphs turn to big ones. It’s quite a rush to witness.
I know there are a lot of curated lists to help you navigate (fx)hash, heck I have one going myself, but give the chaos of the explore page a try and you just might fall in love with your new favorite artist before anyone else knows how great they are. It’ll be our little secret.
fxGems is curated by @HaiverArt. Follow on Twitter for daily recommendations of other up-and-coming artists on (fx)hash.