I keep my finger on the pulse of the worldwide web for new and tasty material every month. The results of my endless scrolling are the following: my top picks of recent projects to excite and entice, and maybe have you reaching for your cryptowallet.

‘Singularity in Heritage Chapter I #076’ by Orkhan Mammadov

Available on OpenSea

Mammadov, who hails from Azerbaijan, explores the tenuous relationship between ancient history and future technology in this AI-generated series of 333 NFTs. The rippling, textured images recall the craft of handmade rugs and carpets from Azerbaijan’s cultural heritage, but they are transported into the present through the use of data painting techniques, thread simulation, and colour data. The resulting series of video works, now available as NFTs, are generated by an AI algorithm that Mammadov designed to recognise and reproduce similarities between carpet designs and traditional decorative ornaments. He then transmutes these relics of the past into the current age using technology to preserve heritage and memory.

‘J. Folk’ by Ash White

Available on SuperRare

Ash White shows the disjointed fragments of our identity, and the layers of masks we wear as a guise. His work draws on portraiture and, like Mammadov, uses AI and generative art techniques to explore the human condition. Both masculine and feminine subjects in the ‘Folk’ series are deconstructed and split into their composite parts, like a surgery or X-Ray of the self. As we enter a new age of social media where our personalities are more and more exclusively constructed on the web, and imminently in the metaverse, these works remind us that we’re all more complex than what we see in 2D, or through a screen. Accompanied by a poem that references a beloved pet, this work is both personal and universal, revealing through their animation and collaged pieces that we’re all made of the same stuff underneath.

‘Reflector Dreamz #02’ by Galisfly and Sapirey

Available on Dissrup

The digital meets the physical in this dreamy collection, which features Galisfly’s organic, curvilinear mirrors set in lush interiors inspired by the 1980s, created by Sapirey. The collection explores the notion of phygital, offering both a digital collectible and a physical object as part of the NFT. Owners of the work will receive a one-of-a-kind, colourful and reflective mirror by Galisfly, as well as the digital interior artwork rendered by Sapirey. It’s a clever consideration of how NFTs can be used to go beyond GIFs and JPEGs; how digital art can also be as real and tangible as something we hang on our wall.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/102328_e9b63481d5af435d8de67f9b808038ef/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

‘Portrait of a Waterfall’ by Deanne Cheuk

Available on Culture Vault

Born from a charcoal drawing and using digital animation to create a video loop, Deanne Cheuk is another artist in this month’s spotlight traversing the boundary between analog and digital techniques. Her work is a re-imagining of the self-portrait, abstracted through a lens of surrealism and dreams. The body becomes synonymous with nature through the placement of a tumbling waterfall over the subject’s face. The subtle movement in the work is a nod to our ever changing identity and to the power of nature and art as tools for understanding ourselves and each other.

‘Painted Virtual Furniture IV’ by Play.Work

Available on Dissrup

This piece considers the current crisis facing traditional media such as painting, and how it can adapt to survive in a future where the digital threatens to dominate. Instead of pitting one against the other, digital media collective Play.Work imagines a reciprocal relationship between traditional painting and Baroque furniture design, and digital rendering. Brushstrokes made using acrylic paint are digitally sampled and superimposed on pieces of furniture, both literally and metaphorically redrawing this classic piece of design. Like Galisfly and Sapirey, Play.Work explores the boundary between the physical and the digital realms and the possibility for both to exist in a pattern of mutual exchange.

I’ll be back next month for another round-up of content – in the meantime, I would love to know what YOUR favourite artists and projects are. Comment below or send me a message with your top picks!