“I have always been an appreciator of fine art and aesthetics. My family and I visit the art museums in our city frequently. I really enjoy sculptures, but generative art really speaks to me in a different way. Something about the creation of patterns, colors, shapes, distortions, sounds, etc. algorithmically from the chain is magical.” - Coin Alchemist, the curator, collector, and owner of The Alchemist Gallery on JPG

Crypto builder. Humble farmer. Meme theorist. Serial intern. That’s Coin Alchemist, an enigma wrapped in a pseudonym lately adventuring metaversally around the frontiers of DeFi and NFTs.

Such adventuring is what brought Coin Alchemist to one of their newest titles: curator of JPEGs. As of now, they’re also notably a curator on JPG with their release of The Alchemist Gallery today.

What brought this collector of names to start collecting and curating generative art NFTs? For Coin Alchemist, falling in love with games and computers at a young age started them on a path that eventually led to building custom computers and then discovering Bitcoin and cryptoeconomic theory. After going full-time crypto in 2016, the former psychologist-in-training hasn’t looked back since.

Thus when CryptoKitties arrived and NFTs began to bloom in 2017, Coin Alchemist recognized the same sense of magic and possibility they’d always found in games and computers. That’s why when a friend introduced the now veteran crypto builder to Art Blocks and Chromie Squiggles in early 2021, it didn’t take long for them to become awestruck.

“Truly, hats off to the curation board. Given my love for generative art and NFTs, after being introduced to [Art Blocks] I was like a kid in a candy store and became pretty intrigued by the depth of some of the collections within collections. At the time, every drop wasn’t an instant sell out. Simpler times where you could take your time and scroll through available projects on the site plus OpenSea and really find what you loved at reasonably low prices.” - Coin Alchemist

From those much simpler times and from more recent times, Coin Alchemist has amassed a collection of Art Blocks pieces and additional generative artworks that would be a fit for almost any museum this side of the metaverse. Now, the curations live forevermore on-chain courtesy of The Alchemist Gallery on JPG.

Indeed, this JPG gallery now serves as an on-chain recording of, and accompaniment to, Coin Alchemist’s virtual Cyber exhibition depicting the same curated artworks in spatial fashion. View the two galleries in tandem: in what ways do they augment and complement each other? What related possibilities can you envision ahead? These are open questions, and we’re asking them aloud thanks to Coin Alchemist’s work.

“I think culturally, NFT’s have taken Bitcoin’s place as the ‘gateway drug’ to crypto. It was kinda wild to see happen because of how quickly the idea of access tokens via art went mainstream. Regarding Art Blocks, I believe that culturally they have set the standard. Art Blocks is no longer just a platform to mint art from, they’re a part of Ethereum and art history. They’re the platform that is really bridging the gap between the traditional and digital art worlds by housing and curating some of the most influential generative artists and collections yet in history.” - Coin Alchemist

In curating these generative artworks through novel means, Coin Alchemist is drawing new cultural connections among the pieces involved and pointing out how creations can be elevated and expanded by experimentation and pioneering mindsets. Where art history goes from here remains to be seen, yet Coin Alchemist has reminded us that a new era of generative art has, in fact, dawned.

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Check out the The Alchemist Gallery here

For more information about JPG - head over to our docs