This week in collaboration with Arbitrum and Caldera, we announced the mainnet launch of the RARI Chain—the chain with royalties built on the node level, pioneered to empower creators. To celebrate this milestone, we have teamed up with HUG and collaborators Aniko Berman and Justin Gilanyi for a curated series of open edition drops, available exclusively to RARI Chain via Rarible.
Dubbed TEN by RARI, this series of drops coincides with the launch of the RARI Chain mainnet both as a nod and endorsement to a key ecosystem we serve—the creators—and to showcase the brilliant simplicity of minting and transacting on RARI, via our close partner Rarible. The cohort will feature ten artists dropping over ten days from January 29-February 9th, 2024. Bridging is seamlessly integrated into the minting flow and you’ll earn points towards the RARI Chain Quests on Galxe! Explore our docs to learn more about adding RARI Chain to your wallet.
Selected based on the uniqueness of their works, innovative processes, and the incorporation of technology into their artistic practices, these ten artists represent a fusion of styles and perspectives. The cohort was carefully curated to reflect the creator-first values of inclusivity and accessibility at the heart of RARI Chain, which guarantees creator royalties, eliminates marketplace fees, and continues Rarible’s commitment to expanding opportunities globally for digital creators and collectors alike.
Arriving at a crucial juncture in the expansion of digital artistic practices, the RARI Chain launch and participating artists strongly reflect technological innovation and the plethora of digital processes available today; from algorithmic coded visuals to glitch and sculpted 3D rendering.
Importantly, however, these ten artists also participate in an aesthetic conversation with creative legacy. While signifying a step into a new cultural future, these artists draw inspiration from diverse existing cultural sources of the past and present:
Meet the Artists
US-based Colombian-born Jimena Buena Vida’s abstract compositions are derived from algorithmic code built in P5.js. Generated from a series of coded rules, the resultant output is the expression of the artist’s vision as interpreted by her technological collaborator. In this way, her work’s process recalls the collaborative Minimalism of Sol Lewitt, while its colorful patterned array references mid-century Op Art pioneers such as Bridget Riley.
Drop date: January 29th, 2024 at 9am ET
Ed Balloon elevates performance art to a multi-sensory experience, intertwining both sound and visuals. His in-person performances serve as immersive journeys, and his stop-motion art plays with nostalgia and social commentary. Drawing inspiration from the realms of performance art, he comments on current culture while drawing from contemporary advertising and mass communication. The works find dialogue with artists like Hank Willis Thomas and Nick Cave in the fusion of ancient and modern rituals expanding the investigation of social issues.
Drop date: January 30th, 2024 at 9am ET
Brazilian artist Ottis Ots is a pioneer in digital graffiti and painting, seamlessly merging the raw dynamism of street art with cutting-edge technology. By utilizing platforms like PaintingVR and Photoshop, Ottis breathes life into his visionary creations, poetically intertwining references to the classical backgrounds of Old Masters paintings, such as Rembrandt and Caravaggio and the abstracted gestures of Clyfford Still and Motherwell. The result is an abstracted Baroque aesthetic that emerges dynamically from the vibrant streets.
Drop date: January 31, 2024 9am ET
LA-based Lindsey Byrnes utilizes her lens to transcend the confines of the frame. With a background in both fine art and skateboarding, she offers a unique perspective that enables viewers to project themselves into her vision, skillfully freezing moments that provide insight into her subjects. Her street art photographs channel Lissette Model in the California sun, as well as skateboarder Ed Templeton.
Drop date: February 1, 2024 at 9am ET
Turkey-based Iranian artist Saeideart references the long legacy of Persian miniature painting on paper - negargari - which started in the 13th century and was intended for intimate, private consumption. She revisits the aesthetics of this tradition using digital illustration tools, creating figurative scenes that speak to the poetry and plight of the female experience.
Drop date: February 2, 2024 at 9am ET
US-based Cambodian artist ALIENQUEEN’s psychedelic illustrations convey the desires and anxieties of our current digital age. She uses bold colors and sinuous lines to treat her subjects, which range from uncanny portrayals of death and love, to banal and irreverent cultural emblems, channeling Pop artists such as Andy Warhol, the counterculture, folk aesthetics of the Summer of Love, as well as the legacy of tattoo art and street culture.
Drop date: February 5, 2024 at 9am ET
Baltimore-based TechKeyz, a digital sculptor with roots in the music scene as a VJ, seamlessly merges reflections of the past with futuristic optimism in his captivating forms. Utilizing software like Cinema 4D and Zbrush, he meticulously sculpts objects with a unique color palette and textures, drawing connections to Ancient Greek sculpture, including references to sculptures like the Peplos Kore and the detailed aesthetics of the Hellenistic period. His works pay homage to his Peruvian ancestral lineage, incorporating nods to Incan iconography.
Drop date: February 6, 2024 at 9am ET
Atlanta-based Andre Oshea sculpts digital environments using 3D animation tools Cinema4D and OctaneRender. Referencing the legacy of classical Western architecture and monolithic non-Western ancient forms, Andre achieves a sense of timelessness through the incorporation of Surrealist motifs, referencing the works of artists such as Giorgio De Chirico and Rene Magritte, amplifying the uncanny in the everyday.
Drop date: February 7, 2024 at 9am ET
Canadian artist Trizzy Trunk paints with pixels and images to create captivating pieces that exemplify the essence of the glitch art genre. Employing traditional paint with a variety of computer software tools, his process mirrors the visual collages and combines of Robert Rauschenberg and the experimental play of image and display attributed to Nam June Paik.
Drop date: February 8, 2024 at 9am ET
Los Angeles-based Amber Vittoria explores identity and subjectivity through the language Modernist abstraction. The simplicity and beauty of her digitally-painted compositions - referencing Mark Rothko’s color field painting or Josef Albers’ color theory - belie the exploration of human interiority at their core.
Drop date: February 9, 2024 at 9am ET
With this dynamic group of creators, TEN by RARI celebrates the launch of RARI Chain mainnet and continues Rarible’s mission to prioritize creators today, contributing to and expanding the digital art conversation across time.
Each drop will only be available for 24 hours, so follow @rarichain on X and join daily X spaces with the artists to keep up to date with the drops! Check out the Creator page of the RARI Chain website for future drops.