#162 - Tyler Hobbs combines physical & generative art

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Today,

1. Tyler Hobbs' makes physical art with his QQL algorithm

2. Vitalik asks if retail crypto payments are worth the stress

Plus, all the web3 headlines, memes, and Tweet of the day.

Top 24 hr collection volume

via CoinMarketCap

1. Azuki - 384 sales earning 5,654.97 ETH (88.16%)

2. Moonbirds - 574 sales earning 3,897.14 ETH (147.15%)

3. MAYC - 256 sales earning 3,869.47 ETH (1.89%)

4. More Loot - 45 sales earning 2,620.02 ETH (274.28%)

5. BAYC - 40 sales earning 2,619.25 ETH (36.75%)

#1 Tyler Hobbs bridges art worlds by making physical QQL pieces

This week, Tyler Hobbs broke his auction record when Fidenza #724 sold for £365K at Christie's.

It doesn't get more legit than Fidenza. The project has a serious sales history, including the 320 ETH sale of Fidenza #692 in March '22 – nearly $1mil at the time.

Fidenza's success made Tyler a part of NFT art history and helped his other algorithm-based art projects find success.

QQL for example – Tyler's interactive collection, sold out for $16.5 million last September.

Developed with fellow artist Dandelion Wist, the QQL algorithm was integrated into a randomized art generator that mint pass holders could use to produce bespoke pieces.

You can try the art generator here!

Now, Tyler is using that same QQL algorithm to create physical paintings – in a super interesting fusion of digital and traditional techniques.

The paintings are made using brushes and robotic tools.

Tyler "adapted a plotter with mechanical customizations" to express his algorithm in paint.

The collection is called QQL: Analogs and comprises 12 large paintings. It will be shown at New York's Pace Gallery in April.

It's the first time the gallery will dedicate an exhibition to a Web3 project, which is a symbol for how Tyler is removing any remaining barriers between 'NFT art' and 'traditional art' – or generative art and 'real' fine art.

Here are some more pics:

QQL: Analogs will be on view from March 30 to April 22 at Pace's 508 West 25th Street gallery in New York.

Tyler Hobbs' first UK solo exhibition 'Mechanical Hand', featuring a selection of digital and physical works, also opens next week.

Notable Tweets ✅

On the web3 wire 

Coinbase launches Crypto 435 campaign for better crypto policy 📣The advocacy group will target specific politicians with the power to affect crypto regulation.

Coindesk announces Microcosms "multiyear ticket and reward layer" collection 🎟️The 1,000 unique artworks come with 3 years of rewards and event access.

Hollywood’s Studio plans “Momoguro” NFT project 🎥The IP is set to span a game and an animated show, with the genesis collection minting now.

#2 Should we ditch the idea of crypto retail payments? Vitalik says: maybe for now

Vitlaik (the co-founder of Ethereum) is nothing if not a prolific writer.

In his latest post, he shares his experiences of trying to pay for sushi and rounds of tea using crypto – and the challenges he encountered when doing so.

Here's a summary of what Vitalik found:

One time, a BTC transaction at a sushi restaurant failed because his "mobile internet was not working well."

At two coffee shops, Vitalik's ETH payments failed because of deposit minimums and insufficient gas.

And when making other retail payments, Vitalik encountered issues with syncing in-store systems and the blockchain, e.g.

• In-store systems taking too long to acknowledge transactions

• Unpredictable block acceptance times

• Payments being canceled because high traffic increased base fees during the transaction

So what conclusions did Vitalik draw from his sushi and tea experiments?

If we're going to seriously consider the idea of crypto payments in physical stores, Vitalik thinks a few improvements are needed:

For one, instead of unreliable internet transactions, there must be in-person payment systems (e.g. QR codes) to let customers directly transfer data to merchants.

Second, we need widespread defaults for things like minimum deposits and gas limits. Otherwise, there's no chance for mainstream understanding and adoption.

Third, wallets need to include simple explanations, alerts, and automated solutions for varying base fees and transaction times.

His bigger point: As crypto awareness grows, it's frustrating user experience issues like these that will prevent mass adoption.

Ethereum will continue to work on lowering transaction fees and times, but dApp designers need to remember:

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Meme of the day

Tomorrow: Our web3 threads of the week 👋

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