18 artists. 18+ unique pieces of art. Artist names revealed only after the mint.

Welcome to the latest season of PROOFs marquee art collector experience. Minting is open December 15 - December 17. Artist reveal December 17. To participate in the mint, purchase a mint pass: https://opensea.io/collection/grails-v-mint-pass

Browse the full Grails V collection at: https://proof.xyz/grails

View past seasons: https://opensea.com/category/proof-grails

Grails V

Sin City: The Hard Goodbye

The utilization of neural networks (AI) in generating synthetic images has erased the previously distinct boundaries between illustration and photography. This seamless integration of fantasy and reality has been a source of fascination for Ganbrood throughout a diverse history in various visual storytelling disciplines. 

Over 30 years ago, the advent of Photoshop marked the onset of a post-truth era, challenging the trustworthiness of photographs. The current exponential growth of Large Language Models, coupled with image synthesis, further diminishes the traditional credibility of photography as we once understood it.

Since 2019, Ganbrood has been exploring deep learning algorithms, examining their ability to replicate human creativity or serve as a synthetic muse. 

The quest seeks answers to a fundamental question: Are humans shaping artificial intelligences based on their own cognitive processes, or are these algorithms revealing that our brains may be more akin to machines than previously believed?

Malik

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach is the first book that my father gave to me. 
To this day I think about the seagull who aspired to fly higher, contrary to the rest of the flock, and was exiled for going against the rules. 

Its not just about breaking limits but also forgiving and understanding others even if they cannot change. 

Let go and be free.

Migrating Has No Beginning

Solitude is the constant companion of the street photographer. Photographers are the observers, who wander alone through the endless churn of circumstance, eyes always scanning for the beautiful overlaps of light, subject, texture and tone. In this solitude I find calm. I find depth, story, empathy and connection to a greater whole. 

New York is an intricate sculpture, with millions of stories embedded. This work is an ode to that feeling of grounding solitude, and a celebration of every soul who calls this city home. 

SOLITUDE

In 2010, I created a DIY music video for TiK ToK by Ke$ha starring my familys pet dog Kasha. 

I made it using a combination of technologies: my Flip Video camera, the default PhotoBooth application, and the iMovie software on my parents desktop Mac computer in our kitchen. 

This video marks the moment I began seeing and engaging with the computer as an artistic tool. I can see many elements of my current practice reflected in this early, teenage creation. 

If I did not start making videos in this way as a kid, I am not sure that I would have ended up doing what I do today as an artist. 

tiktok.mov_2010.png is a custom digital image that embodies this early work of mine by aligning frames with the lyrics from the song as they appear in the video.

tiktok.mov_2010.png

In a nod to John Baldessari, the artist makes 36 attempts to generate an image of three balls thrown in the air to make a straight line. 

Each attempt was generated by giving the prompt "three balls thrown in the air to get a straight line" to Stable Diffusion 1.5 (the default model used by stable-diffusion-webui), using the default sampling method, number of sampling steps, and CFG scale. 

While the original series explores randomness through a futile attempt at capturing three physical balls aligned in a specific configuration, this series explores randomness in a different way: through a futile attempt at generating coherence all together.

"three balls thrown in the air to get a straight line" attempt #1

## *Spire (Bokashi Cone)* explores soft gradations of color.  

In traditional Japanese woodblock printing, bokashi refers to the technique of applying ink to the print in a manner that produces a subtle transition of tone or color. The resulting look of a bokashi effect can be described as a hazy gradient. The technique was famously used by Hokusai in Red Fuji (c. 1830), as well as by many other artists of that time period. 

In Bokashi Cone, the technique takes center stage. Each cone form is rendered in soft gradations of color that span from light to dark. The effect is very subtle in some instances, and more pronounced in others. Further heightening the bokashi is the transition of hue within each gradient, a process which would be laboriously difficult to reproduce with traditional block-printing techniques. Bokashi Cone's generative color model means that the colors are chosen algorithmically without the artist needing to assemble predefined palettes. Each cone has its very own unique generative color theme and gradient.

Spire (Bokashi Cone) #1

After gathering experiences in the distant world, one ends up exactly where they started.

Return to Dino-Rama 02: Pachycephalosaurus Duel

Output #1 from the first working prototype of p5.js, created 2013-07-04 at 1.21.09 AM.

p5.js output #1

a black dot with a white dot on a green background

Bolt Pattern is a new series of stills from a 2006 video recording session that LoVid produced during a residency at the Institute for Electronic Arts at Alfred University. 

The 2006 video was created using LoVids custom engineered and built audio/video analog synthesizer, Sync Armonica, along with Dan Sandins Image Processor, which convert electrical current into video and audio signals. Bolt Pattern is representative of LoVids practice exploring connections between analog and digital instruments, material and media, craft and video. 

In this series of video stills, LoVid positions NFT token-based art in the continuum of their practice that bridges analog and digital, live video performances and algorithmically generative works, and within the broader history of media art. 

The glowing patterns, colors, and video texture in Bolt Pattern are characteristic of LoVids embraced aesthetic that spans across all media and projects and addresses the relationships connecting industrial (e.g., mechanical and electronic) and natural signals (e.g., waves and wind) with textile and tapestry design. 