20 artists. 20+ unique pieces of art. Artist names revealed only after the mint.

Grails III by PROOF introduces new mechanics and generative art series. Minting is open until January 24. Artist reveal on Jan 27. To participate in the mint, purchase a mint pass: https://opensea.com/collection/grails-iii-mint-pass

Browse the full Grails III collection at: https://proof.xyz/grails

View past seasons: https://opensea.com/categeory/proof-grails

Grails III

Reticulum is part of my continued exploration of developing deep color and texture using 100% generative approaches. For this project I created an entirely new generative color model and for the first time rendered the entire artworks using SVG making it possible to scale the outputs to any size in live mode.

I wanted this series to look like rudimentary and mutating networks. Crude interconnecting webs of primordial elements. I love the idea of a network coming online in terms of self awareness. Networks seem to pervade all of life from the vast Mycelium webs in forests through to the circulatory, nervous and neurological systems in our own bodies. More inspiring for me however is thinking about the first pulses of life that evolved in microbial networks in ancient epochs and also the possibility of self awareness evolving quietly and wildly within the interconnected machinery of the internet. This series of artworks I hope are a playful expression of my fascination with this subject. 

A recurrent theme in all my work is an attempt to create a simultaneous sense of both macro and micro vistas. In building the primitives for this project I was inspired by images of both microorganisms and vast skeletal gas clouds in interstellar nurseries revealed by the James Webb telescope. I often have the sense when looking out into the cosmos that this might be what it's like for a cell or even an atom looking around at its neighbors and unfathomably distant cousins. In this way I am filled with a sense that we ourselves might be nodes in a much larger self aware network. 

When Im at my desk developing a work I dont tend to think about much else other than the code and what is directly in front of me. Mostly Im thinking visually or just involved with technical problem solving. It is exciting and sometimes even surprising for me to see how the subjects I have been contemplating and reading about recently reveal themselves in my work. When I write about my work it may seem contrived, but I would say the subjects I write about are genuinely inspiring a series, it's just that the means by which they get translated into visual forms is often a mystery even to me.  

As a way to make this a true Long Form Project in the sense that it is not just a curated collection of generative outputs I used a list of Seed Phrases to generate each output. These are included as a feature so collectors can see them and potentially use them as a name for each piece. I started out by forming a list of words that describe the project plus a few other words related to Long Form Generative art and the Web3 space. 'Proof' is in there! Each seed phrase is then passed to an algorithm that turns it into a hash of the same variety that is generated on the Ethereum network. This hash is then passed to the algorithm and the artwork is created in the same way an standard Art Blocks project is built.

Reticulum

The belief that the Holy Grail can heal or provide eternal youth is likely based on the cauldrons of Celtic Mythology and their life restoring powers.

This small iron cauldron is made out of overlapping curved steel sheets, held together by rivets. Cauldrons were often traditionally made this way due to the difficulty of shaping a single piece of iron into a deeply recessed form. The drawback is that they often leak; this one is no exception.

Lowly iron is among the most common and abundant metals on earth. However, the cost of the material is not as important as its symbolism. Just as Rumpelstiltskin spins straw into gold, blacksmiths pride themselves on using primitive tools to transform raw base materials into something of beauty or utility.

Using fire, hammer, and anvil to spin scraps of iron into an object of powerful ritual magic: like alchemy, the ultimate purpose is not the forging of objects, but rather the forging of meaning.

Iron Cauldron

Echoes

An intangible resolution becoming apparent, frustrations transform into beautiful efficiencies, nothing else matters. Realization is a 150-piece generative collection written in GLSL.

Realization

Shermie

Crayon and code are united after four decades in a collaboration with the self. Artist Matt Kane has become well known for using time and change as artistic mediums. Additionally, Kane has referenced space and the cosmos in several series including his 2021 magnum opus, Gazers, a generative lunar phase calendar released on Art Blocks in 2021. In fact, Kane's very first NFTs in 2019 were depictions of the M87 Black Hole. The subject of 'Proof of Origin' is a red crayon drawing that the artist made when he was just 4 years old, which he titled at the time 'Picture of the Planets.' 38 years later, as a cryptoartist, Kane reminds us "don't trust, verify. I've explained how my interest in the cosmos extends back as long as I can remember. This drawing is proof of my early passion and to my estimate, my very first visual expression of outer space. My father remembers the drawing hanging on our refrigerator for a very long time. That's probably where the stains came from. He and my mother were both very happy to see it again."

Each NFT has a unique set of stars which are deterministically generated according to an NFT's minting transaction hash. The sky is made up of one star for every month that has passed since the original drawing was made on March 1st, 1985. The work begins with 454 stars. A new star is added to shine brightly at the top of each new month.

In addition to archiving and responsively presenting the original crayon drawing, the work also serves as a 24 hour clock. Each hour is represented by a different color from the 24 pack of crayons Kane would have drawn from in 1985. "I've traded black and gray for 'Cornflower Blue' and 'Sea Green' - my favorite colors from the larger packs of crayons. I remember trading these with my kindergarten class's box of 64. I'm pretty sure I got in trouble for that." The sky fades according to the minutes that have passed, appearing darkest at the top of each hour.

Clicking on the left and right edge of the screen or pressing the spacebar changes the viewing mode of the artwork. Viewers are encouraged to reflect on their own memories of interacting with the night sky, especially at an early age.

Proof of Origin - Picture of the Planets

A hand hammered vessel and variations of stands forged from pure copper.

Forging is the process of heating a metal until it becomes malleable, like clay, and can be shaped with hammer and anvil, or other means of force. Forging is distinct from casting, where a metal is melted and poured into a mold. 

The vessel is hand hammered from a thick sheet of copper. One stand is of riveted construction, the other a coiling formed from a single flat bar.

Copper Grail, Coiled Base

Wrapped in ribbons with an introspective gaze, she is a symbol of balance, energy, life, power, and beauty in the world. 

The title "Her" is a nod to the ideal that many creatives like myself strive for: a state of flow where the world melts away and we are one with the muse. In Her, we all see different things: a reflection of ourselves or those around us, inspiring us to tap into our own potential and lead the way to balance, love, or the next challenge. When I look at Her, I see my own journey as an artist, creator, builder, and the struggles and triumphs that we face everyday.

This piece is the first time I have used artificial intelligence in my artwork. I was fortunate to be trained by an AI engineer, James, who taught me how to create training sets from scratch, run trained text to image and image to image models, and of course how to write successful prompts. It was a pleasure and honor to have this hands-on learning experience with this new technology.

I added my human touch, enhancing the work with hand-drawn layers. In a collaboration between human and machine, her spirit embodies the beauty of both worlds.

A grail forged from bronze. Bronze is an alloy of copper, with a deep lustrous color.

Neck and vessel hand forged from a single piece, with riveted base.

Being reflective, metals are difficult to photograph and sensitive to lighting conditions. The forging process produces a pattern of overlapping facets that reflect in interesting ways in rotating light, bearing the mark of a unique hand made object.