fxGems #2 ⏀ Top 32 Best Abstract Projects from Nov. 2021
Happy birthday to fx(hash)! On the one year anniversary of this amazing space, fxGems is launching a historical retrospective excavating the best projects buried deep in the feed from the earliest days of the platform.
fxGems is curated by Haiver. Follow on Twitter and Mastodon for recommendations, and sign up for email notifications for when a new issue drops. To support the work, collect a copy of this issue on fx(text) or past issues, or consider minting one of my generative pieces on fx(hash).
In the first three weeks of fx(hash), 1859 projects were uploaded, with some artists releasing as many as 8-12 projects apiece. And with its open submission model, fx(hash) has become, since its launch on Nov. 3, 2021, the single largest repository of generative art on the blockchain with 20,916 projects and over a million minted pieces in its first year alone.
Among those early projects are some of the most iconic works in fx(hash) history, which you'll find below. I hope you find some art to fall in love with!
It's important to note that fxGems is not a ranked list. One part of good curation is putting pieces in conversation with one another, so each numbered mint featured here has been carefully selected, then ordered into groups of twos and threes to create a dialogue between the different projects. There are juxtapositions and echoes, recurring themes and visual motifs. A thread has been woven throughout. How it draws you from one project to the next is up to you to find.
As always, this issue is available to view on fx(text), especially good for those animated pieces. And if you’re looking for more recommendations, check out the representational Best of List, as well as the many Honorable Mentions, covering November 2021.
Lepidoptera by mjlindow
Hypergiraffe by Piter Pasma
Fireworks by Hevey
⚖️ Concord by revdancatt
De/Frag by toxi
RGB Elementary Cellular Automaton by ciphrd
Feedback Crystal by Spacefiller
Fractal Cubes by Reinder Nijhoff
Hex by Yi-Wen Lin
Machine 6 by Tomluyten
Yakutia by Aleksandru
Loom by andreasrau
Contrapuntos by msoriaro
Reading a Book by Kim Asendorf
▧▦▨ by lilcode
Duality by greweb
DataWaves GEN by ParseError
Between Stations by Lisa Orth
Impressions 02 by Chris Randall
Sound Check by idlebit
Fischinger by Rami Awad
Strange Loop by aebrer
Bad Burn by Alexthescott
Strokers by itsgalo
Ditherwave by Krankarta
Wavvve by bgola
operation 02 by Chris Randall
The Burn Within by Wesam Manassra
LL21 Fractal Anatomy by Lionel Lemarie
Rotating System 01 by Camille Roux
Starburst by Spectrolize
Expansion Path by phenom
fxGems is not affiliated with fx(hash) or fx(text), (hence the lack of parentheses), and none of the recommendations herein should be construed as financial advice. We’re here to celebrate the art!
Each month I go one by one through all of the projects that dropped on fx(hash) to find the strongest, most compelling work — generative art that has a unique voice, a wide variety across its many mints, and an intriguing approach to algorithms and technique.