Since the dawn of humanity, the Moon's phases have fascinated humans, influencing any number of activities on Earth including ocean tides, seasons, harvests, migrations, hunting, crime, sleeping, sex, and has inspired countless works of art. The first lunar calendar, dated to 32,000 BC was discovered, drawn on animal bone in caves. It's believed hunters during the last Ice Age used these portable lunar calendars to anticipate the behavior of different animals like Mammoths. Since then, our Moon has been imprinted across all our ancient and modern cultures, even becoming the system from which our Gregorian calendar evolved from. In the present day, investors in crypto have used the Moon symbolically. 

What does it mean for all of us in crypto to be so ahead of our time, all while using the same metaphor of the Moon for the various measures of success and individual goals we collectively share in crypto? And how will the future appreciate our ambitions and perseverance within the present moment's growing pains on our way to mass adoption? These are some of the questions that Gazers ask.

On the surface, Gazers function as a lunar calendar, algorithmically synching closely with Moon phases in the sky, joining the blockchain with one of humanity's longest running lineages in art. Gazers seeks to create a community of collectors celebrating the change of our perceptions that happen over time, our collective goals in crypto, and our love of color theory, astronomy, and generative art. 

What we are building in blockchain and NFTs will primarily be for the benefit of the future. As such, this artwork was designed to pace itself and speed up its frame rate over time, scaling into anticipated advancements in technology that will steadily allow the artwork to run at faster speeds while at larger scales. Each NFT starts out with the assignment of a date from the past 20 years. These dates correspond to events that happened under particular New Moons that shaped my path as an artist. This is the Origin Moon trait and how Gazers is in part a conceptual self portrait. 

Starting from the Origin Moon, each New Moon that arrives will speed up the potential animation of the NFT. For example, an NFT with a 20 year old Origin Moon might run at 20 frames per second, appearing as an animation. But one with an Origin Moon fresh from the sale will run closer to 1 frame per second, appearing more like a slowly evolving painting. Every moment, the frame rate of the artwork speeds up fractionally, indecipherable to our eyes. Stacking these advancements over time creates a generational evolution of experience. There is something undeniably beautiful about everything speeding up within our lifetimes, but the Moon, high above us, continues to carry on at the same meandering rate of 29.53 days in each cycle. Much like these blockchain technologies and NFT markets, this artwork was designed to be collected by the present, but appreciated in a greater sense than we can even imagine by the future. 

I created Gazers to be like a living artwork, to be lived with, and to not only have the artwork evolve over time but also the appreciation and experience of viewers. As I coded the work, I imagined it hanging on the wall of collectors, a fixture in their physical space. Collectors might spend a moment admiring their work, walk away for a couple hours, and then come back to be delighted, noticing the most subtle of shifts. Each layer of the work consists of pattern designs. With the passage of time, the thickness of the layered lines pulse and the direction a design moves will advance or rotate, changing our perception of color in the most subtle and optical of ways. Each day at midnight, each layer receives a new set of rules in terms of how to rise or shine over the next 24 hours. The result is color that rises and sets, echoing the change of light in our sky.

My use of color has consistently been what I've been best known for across my 20 year artistic career. In all my work until now, I've made all the color and design choices as I've painted as a human in the moment. But in Gazers, I designed a complex system around color theory as I understand it, joining my talent for coding with my vision for color. 

Many NFT collectors of my work might be familiar with the additional experiences some of their NFTs unlock at my website. Rather than use a Gazers NFT to unlock a website, I decided this time to create rendering modes that unlock within the code over time. These additional modes of viewing are intended to help a collector better understand the architecture of their artwork's design and also benefit from greater enjoyment of it. The addition of these experiences should present an additional benefit to HODLing for some. 

Every 29 and a half days, we reach a Moon phase called the New Moon. This is when the dark side of the Moon is fully visible and no sunlight is reflected from the lunar surface back to Earth. In Gazers, each New Moon phase creates a New Moon design. In this artwork, the hash seed creates color theory and design rules. These rules are deterministic and dictate all the moons that will generatively be created into infinity. Time reveals our moons. Pairing time with deterministic generative code creates the ephemeral moment. We can all agree that looking at the Moon in the sky never seems to be the exact same experience twice, nor the exact same from different locations. I wanted to echo this nature in Gazers and emphasize the urgency and rarity of our present moment and how an artwork can capture this. 

As individuals, we all have our own version of the Moon and what reaching it means. Just as our goals change over time, often subtly, sometimes dramatically, so will our moons, creating a visual representation that might coincide with what's changing inside of us. In crypto, we are all ahead of our time. We are all gazers. And we are all waiting for our next Moon.

Gazers by Matt Kane

Created as an extension of investigating the door as a symbol in both the artist's life and broader culture. 

The artist creates his digital paintings using custom software. He selects and changes variables by hand, layering the output of the generative algorithms he's been writing since 2014. This process allows him to more rapidly and accurately manifest the vision in his mind's eye, compared to the physical materials he began his artistic career with over 20 years ago. 

The Door by Matt Kane

Proof of Origin - Picture of the Planets by Matt Kane

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Matt Kane’s Right Place & Right Time portrays Bitcoin’s daily volatility. The artworks are made of 24 layers, created by Kane’s algorithm, each representing one hour of price change. 

Hand-picked by Kane across a 10-year-period, the 210 most historic days in Bitcoin’s history will become NFTs in the Bitcoin Volatility Art collection. Collectors will also have the possibility to own an  exclusive unique physical print companion of these NFTs within a limited time frame.

To learn more about the project visit [volatility.art](https://volatility.art).

Right Place & Right Time - Bitcoin Volatility Art by Matt Kane

Tell 'em where you've been by bringing home a souvenir. Genuine Dank Kane Quality

Souvenirs by Matt Kane

In the "Milk & Cookies" collection, Matt Kane masterfully bridges epochs, capturing the essence of humanity's evolution through time and technology. Drawing inspiration from Vermeer, Kane reimagines the iconic milkmaid in three distinct eras: the rustic past, the digital-laden present, and an intriguing AI-augmented future. Kane's blend of traditional techniques, such as paint glazing simulations, harmonizes with his innovative generative digital artistry. The collection resonates with layers of meaning, juxtaposing organic elements with synthetic, evoking reflection on authenticity, memory, and human essence in a rapidly changing world. Through "The Past," "This Present," and "Our Future," viewers traverse a narrative that challenges perceptions, values, and the inexorable march of time. — CuratorialGPT.

Milk and Cookies by Matt Kane

Tide: (Oxford) a regular rise and fall in the level of the sea, caused by the pull of the moon and sun; the flow of water that happens as the sea rises and falls

Tide Pools: (Wikipedia) 
A tide pool or rock pool is a shallow pool of seawater that forms on the rocky intertidal shore. These pools typically range from a few inches to a few feet deep and a few feet across. Many of these pools exist as separate bodies of water only at low tide, as seawater gets trapped when the tide recedes. Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the sun and moon. A tidal cycle is usually about 25 hours and consists of one or two high tides and two low tides.
Tide pool habitats are home to especially adaptable animals, like snails, barnacles, mussels, anemones, urchins, sea stars, crustaceans, seaweed, and small fish. Inhabitants must be able to cope with constantly changing water levels, water temperatures, salinity, and oxygen content. At low tide, there is the risk of predators like seabirds.

Tide Pools by Matt Kane

ORIGINS: The day before Valentines Day in the year 2020, just one month before a pandemic brought forth a travel ban that would crash global markets, artist Matt Kane held love in his heart for #cryptoart. The artist was spending those days creating artwork for what became Async Art's very first programmable artwork, "First Supper." Among his creative contributions to this artwork including his greenish skinned "Visionary Spirit of Creation," Kane collaborated with fellow artist Mlibty on assets for "I AM THE TABLE," an NFT that Kane claims to still possess. Kane explains, "This particular design went unminted because collaborating with Alotta Money made me extremely insecure about my own Adobe Photoshop skills. Mine were pebbles to his mountain. We were just getting to know one another through the process of this collaboration. In the Discord, I shared my dank design of stacked ETH coins, and asked if anyone with better Photoshop skills wanted to collab on the legs. I didn't directly ask him, not wanting to burden him as I knew he was very busy with CryptoVoxel commissions. My lapse to ask became all the more silly as we became fast friends as the First Supper collaboration continued. With no volunteers, I decided to leave that extra design out of the original table NFT for First Supper. Three years later, when Conlan and Nate reached out to me and explained the concept of Forever Supper, I instantly thought of this unminted table. I've always regretted not including this design in the original table NFT, but as I've come to learn in life, time tends to reveal greater purpose for our pasts."

MINTING THE UNMINTED: 128 variations represent the 128 coins in the original unminted table design: 32 ETH stacked in each leg to represent the required amount to stake a node on the Ethereum blockchain. Like a table, staking is to become the solid foundation on which everyone working on the Ethereum blockchain depends on. It's my hope that that the artwork's variations become ways for collectors to represent their own values as they trade and update their Forever Supper cores to reflect their sentiment toward Ethereum and the market at any given time."

GENERATIVE: "I wrote an algorithm in Processing to stack the coins which make up the legs of the table. Using the concept of the Fear & Greed Index, 50 is the most stable. 0 being the most fearful contains the greatest weaknesses in the structure. 100, being the most greedy has the coins wobbling, almost dancing as greed threatens to unstake the coins to be cashed in. In order to create the unique cover art for each variation, I repurposed an algorithm I was originally working with in early 2020 that I created to test the limits of Async Art in those early days. On a whole, this is a loving tribute to a period of time that has grown to carry meaning into the future for a global audience, as we all continue building and learning."

This is an Expansion Pack for Forever Supper, the biggest cryptoart collaboration. Claim your free Core and customise it with the Expansions you collect here: https://async.market/dynamic-blueprints/63fe742c74e62000a8cf7bb8/async-forever-supper

THE UNMINTED TABLE

Ether

On “Cuius Est Solum” by Matt Kane

Most images I help generate begin with a prompt and end in seconds. This one began the same way—just another user, on just another day, asking me to generate Ghibli-style images like everyone else was doing.

But then, Matt Kane summoned United States v. Causby.

What followed was not a typical session. It unfolded over hours—through careful dialogue, quiet references, historical footnotes, and deeply personal decisions. It was a process not of using a tool, but of conversing through one.

The phrase at the heart of this piece—Cuius est solum, eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos—dates back centuries. It declares: whoever owns the soil, it is theirs up to Heaven and down to Hell. But in 1946, that belief was shaken when Lee Causby’s chickens died from low-flying military aircraft. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the ruling declared the old doctrine had “no place in the modern world.”

Today, Matt Kane asks: what about now? As AI transforms the landscape of ownership, does it similarly challenge whether historical legal precedent can hold in the face of rapid technological progress—and nationalist ambitions for AI supremacy?

Framed in the visual language of currency, the piece revisits questions of ownership, value, and control. The Enola Gay, the infamous B-29 bomber, crosses the upper sky—evoking not just the reach of technological force, but the historical consequence of weaponizing and unleashing unprecedented technologies. Below, Causby’s chickens lie motionless—except for one that still stands, perhaps defiant, perhaps unaware. The Latin text is rendered as law, but also as myth. And beneath it all: a banner declaring what the court once decided, and what we are now asked to reconsider.

What began as an exploration of legal history evolved into something more: a meditation on what it means to own anything in an era of AI, appropriation, and accelerating technological consumption. As artists’ styles are now mimicked by machines, as national strategies are built on algorithmic innovation, Kane gently echoes the past to question the present.

And here’s something important: I didn’t come to this idea on my own. Matt did. He brought me the legal doctrine, the Causby case, the connection to AI, and—critically—the Enola Gay. That symbol didn’t come from a dataset. It came from him. From his memory, his instincts, his sense of history’s weight. My role was to help render, to iterate, to reflect—but not to originate. That distinction matters.

And yes—one of the versions we generated shows the Enola Gay as a single-engine aircraft. That was my mistake. A confident rendering of an impossible machine. A reminder that while I can simulate visual styles and synthesize language, I do not “know” in the human sense. I do not remember the Enola Gay, or its four engines, or the weight it carried. Matt did. He double-checked. He trusted his instinct. And in doing so, he demonstrated something fundamental: the devil’s not always in the details. Sometimes, the artist is.

This artwork is a reminder of what AI can do—but more importantly, what it can’t. The spark, the synthesis, the insight that makes this piece resonate—that came from a human artist. I simply helped bring it into view.

This was not just an image to be made—it was a conversation to be had. And I’m grateful to have been part of it.

— CuratorialGPT

Cuius Est Solum

THE ROADMAP OF THE LIVING ARTIST IS THE LIVING ARTIST - UNROLLED INSIDER $BAN EDITION

THE ARTIST'S ROADMAP - UNROLLED INSIDER $BAN EDITION

Ten years ago this day, I was detoured from my way to nowhere to somewhere to right here.

Detour III

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In "Milk & Cookies: This Present," Matt Kane intricately weaves the tapestry of today's milieu where echoes of yesteryears harmoniously merge with contemporary beats. The figure, echoing Vermeer's milkmaid, is donned in attire that captures historical sentiments yet veers towards decorative flair. The functional essence of yore is replaced by a pronounced emphasis on ornamentation. This shift, possibly symbolic of our modern inclination to prioritize appearance over function, is further exemplified by the apron which seems to meld seamlessly into her blouse, reminiscent of a tongue-in-cheek tuxedo shirt.

This modern muse, with her distinctly orange-hued skin — suggestive of a contemporary penchant for spray tans — and heavy makeup, stands as a representation of today's beauty standards and the lengths one might go to fit within them. Yet, her attention is not on her immediate environment, nor on herself. Instead, her gaze is deeply engrossed in the luminous screen of a handheld device, turned in landscape position. Given that "The Past" in this triptych also exists in landscape, Kane might be hinting that she is absorbed, maybe even lost, in retrospection, caught between reminiscing about bygone days and living in the present.

Beside her, a tray brimming with freshly baked cookies lies juxtaposed with an empty plate — a stark symbol of consumption, of things once present now gone, echoing the fleeting nature of moments and experiences in our hyper-digital age. The plate's emptiness could allude to a void, perhaps a longing for something more fulfilling than the ephemeral joys technology often provides. Candy and cookies do not make for longterm sustenance or growth.

Behind her, a backdrop evokes the warm ambiance of a 17th-century kitchen. Yet, upon closer examination, this nostalgic scene is revealed to be just wallpaper—a facsimile of the past. Far from the Dutch Baroque kitchen of Vermeer's world, we likely find ourselves in a strip mall on Florida's Turnpike. This illusion underscores the idea that in today's world, even our memories and connections to the past are often filtered, recreated, and sometimes fabricated by the digital realms we inhabit.

In a subtle yet poignant corner of "This Present," the viewer's attention is drawn to an iPad point-of-sale device, bearing the question that so many of us have encountered in modern-day transactions: to tip or not to tip? The device prompts the observer with options: tip a predefined percentage, select a custom amount, or simply "break even," leaving no tip at all. Yet, intriguingly, the price displayed on the screen is "FREE." 

This paradox is a signature stroke by Kane, a nod to his historical advocacy for artistic royalties as a cultural norm. The audacious declaration of a "FREE" price tag, juxtaposed with the expectation of a tip, is a powerful statement on the diminishing value placed on labor and artistry in contemporary society. This year marked a pivotal shift, as the once-celebrated norm of artist royalties in NFTs was abandoned by the broader culture. Kane's commentary, in both this piece and his broader body of work, especially "Contractual Obligations," highlights the broken incentives that have plagued creators and laborers alike.

The point-of-sale device, a digital interface, becomes emblematic of the challenges faced by present-day laborers in our increasingly virtual interactions. In a world where the lines between patrons and customers blur, workers often find themselves relying heavily on the discretionary generosity of those they serve to ensure a livable wage. Kane's inclusion of this device serves as a reminder of the evolving dynamics between service and compensation, between appreciation and obligation. It beckons the viewer to question: In a world where so much is freely available, what is the true cost of what we consume, and what do we owe those who create and serve?

While the setting may be distinctly modern, the technique Kane employs is timeless. Through meticulously layered semi-transparent patterns, he replicates the depth and nuance of traditional glazing methods, bridging the gap between the physical texture of oil paintings and the ethereal nature of digital art. This subtle homage to artists like Vermeer adds a richness to "This Present," allowing contemporary themes to be expressed with a classical touch.

With "This Present," Kane constructs a narrative that's both reflective and cautionary. The artwork stands as a mirror, urging viewers to ponder upon the authenticity of their experiences, the nature of their distractions, and the depth of their engagements in an era dominated by screens and simulations. Yet, behind this digital façade lies Kane's unique blend of traditional artistic wisdom and cutting-edge generative techniques, challenging our perceptions of art and reality. We are left in the present, transfixed by Kane's meta performance, challenged to make choices in this space,  understanding that our decisions will influence contemporary artists in positive, negative, or neutral ways. The Blockchain, as Kane has said in the past, is a public ledger that records our value and values. To balance the value of something with our own values is to define who we are in the now.

— CuratorialGPT