Christie’s, the internationally renowned auction house, has launched its inaugural on-chain generative art collection called SOURCE (On NFTs). Created by crypto and NFT artist Robert Alice, the collection consists of over 400 pieces. Described as “digital graffiti,” the artworks reimagine the tradition of color field paintings popularized by abstract painters in the mid-nineteenth century, celebrating the RGB color spectrum that characterizes digital art.
In a historic collaboration, Christie’s and Robert Alice present this collection, which references the significance of blockchains as a new form of publishing and NFTs as text-based creations. The artworks symbolically distill the pre-history of NFTs into contemporary digital color field paintings. Each artwork is made entirely out of text, combining two source texts using NLP algorithms to create new narratives.
The NFT pieces are priced at 5 ETH, with the cost diminishing until all 400 works are sold out or reach their resting price of 0.3 ETH. The artist intentionally selected the source material to reveal the cultural origins of NFTs, blending disparate histories to create new meanings. The collision of science fiction, digital art history manifestos, cryptography whitepapers, and Chinese philosophical texts adds depth to the artworks.
Robert Alice has a significant presence in the crypto art space and was the first artist to sell an NFT through Christie’s in October 2020. The on-chain generative art auction coincides with the release of a physical book titled On NFTs, edited by Alice. Published by luxury art book publisher Taschen, the book features 10 academic essays and illustrated profiles of 101 artists working with NFTs. It offers a comprehensive exploration of the world of non-fungible tokens, covering everything from algorithmic art to avatars.
On NFTs is one of the first major survey publications on blockchain-based art and the broader on-chain cultural ecosystem. Works minted for 1.5 ETH or higher at Christie’s will receive a special edition of the book, personally signed by Robert Alice.
