What does your crypto wallet say about you? Artist Ian Cheng creates a series of algorithm-based NFT portraits

In August, American artist Ian Cheng will explore the depths of metaverse psychology, pairing generative art with blockchain technology for a new NFT portrait series. “3FACE”, as Cheng calls the project, is based on an algorithm that generates abstract portraits of a buyer’s online persona using data from their public cryptocurrency wallet.

Cheng has produced “3FACE” in collaboration with Christopher Y. Lew, a former curator at Whitney and MoMA PS1 who is now the artistic director of the NFT platform Outland, which will host the new works. The new company raised $ 5 million in start-up capital last month.

No artwork has fallen yet, but Cheng has offered a concept sketch. Three layers of consciousness will create each unique digital portrait using a personality model of the artist’s design based on three core forces: Posture, Nurture and Nature.

Each of these elements has been further developed into four characterizations – Nature has, for example, the categories Idealist, Abstractor, Artisan and Guardian – determined by a user’s cryptocurrency consumption data.

“Each wallet’s transaction history is publicly available on the Ethereum blockchain using the blockchain’s own inherent design,” said Cheng. “We look at factors such as willingness to use gas [cryptocurrency transaction fees]balances volatility, interaction with decentralized exchanges, hold / sell patterns, diversity index for NFT and token holdings. “

Attitude is the most superficial facet of the portrait. It is immediate, changeable and determined in Cheng’s project by degrees of change over time. Two perpendicular axes delimit the classifications each occupant falls into: Content, Growing, Annoying or Monstrous.

“A ‘bitten’ personality position can show a sour face,” it says in the release. “A ‘monstrous’ personality attitude can show an energetic form that has chaotically expanded to overwhelm the whole composition.”

“3FACE is about looking at a person’s personality from an energy perspective – how a person uses their psychic energy, whether they let it go wild, inhibit it or find a balance,” Cheng said. The artist uses “procedural regenerative computational processes to compose, deform, and integrate hand-drawn assets.” Each layer will be woven into the unique jumble of each abstract portrait.

“Stylistically,” Cheng continued, “I try to use my drawing style and set of computational transformation tools in a way where you can not see where the hand stops and the creative coding begins, and you only feel the specific energy that comes through a person’s psychological parts. . »

Each portrait can be updated with changed behavior, like a real mood ring. “Maybe some 3FACE owners will like to mess with our personality model by transferring NFT to different wallets or changing their wallet behavior, as a way to discover more of the latent space of the model and the artwork generator,” Cheng thought.

Ian Chengs BIR. Image courtesy of Gladstone Gallery, New York and Pilar Corrias, London.

Cheng views NFTs as digital objects that people collect to communicate tacit self-truths. “We are already using these aesthetic non-verbal ways to distill our identity and make it readable to others that we want to attract or repel,” Cheng said. “It’s not just a part of human nature, it’s an important step in a person’s mental development, especially younger people for whom cultural objects are scaffolding to articulate yourself.”

He compares “3FACE”Portraits of an astrological sign or Meyers-Briggs personality type. “It’s a way of relating to others based on psychological compatibility, rather than lower resolution terms such as taste, appearance or status.”

Lew brought Cheng with him for his first exclusive project with Outland. “I’ve known Ian for a decade now and have been following his work since he started exhibiting in New York,” he said. “When I started at Outland, he was one of the first artists I contacted, since I had a clue that he wanted a perspective on NFTs that is completely different from what has been done so far.”

The project is based on Cheng’s interest in viewing agencies, a practice the artist describes as “the world” and new technology as artificial intelligence. “Especially as we move into a new era, understanding yourself and integrating multiple parts of yourself is an important factor in your ability to navigate the changing tides,” Cheng said.

“3FACE is meant to be a fun portal to make you think about your personality. Or rather the subpersonalities that together make up” you “, the artist added.” Which parts are immutable? What parts can you write about? “

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