WHOLENESS #28/67

Created during the lockdown period whilst being confined to the same place every day, this piece is part of a series of imaginary places that I dreamed of being able to work from.

"Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?" is dedicated to the mysterious creation of Bitcoin, and acts as the showcase artwork within Javier Arrés’ exploratory series "Bitcoin, The Origin". "Who is the creator of Bitcoin?" The artist, Arrés, explores this question, and the feelings of doubt and mystery that accompany it, through his unique artistic language. An unknown, an enigma. It should be remembered that the name Satoshi Nakamoto is a pseudonym of Bitcoin's author or authors and gives us little insight into its true creator. For this Visual Toy, Arrés uses the signature claw machine, his famous half-operation, to symbolize our collective ignorance and unconfirmed belief: As soon as it has the stuffed animal within its grasp and appears to have solved the puzzle, the animal escapes again, and again. At present, there are three more public and studied possibilities who are either believed to be the creators of the currency or who directly claim the creation of it. It may be all or none of them, yet these three personalities leave us clues which are an important part of this interesting enigma. For this moment, it will remain unknown... In this artwork, Arrés elevates the claw machine from the apparatus, to an iconic pop art object serving as an important element to the Bitcoin creation narrative. Action is everywhere, with each movement serving an iconographical or metaphorical purpose related directly to cryptocurrency: Various ups and downs, roller coasters, mining points, robot, coins and more speak to a sense of hope, risk, mystery, randomness and possibility of pay out. Hundreds of manically thought out details make this creation one of the artist’s most complex Visual Toys to date. ------- "Bitcoin, The Origin" is a set of two Visual Toys, titled "Who is Satoshi Nakamoto" and "It’s Alive!" which reflect and explore the mystery and enigmas behind the creation of Bitcoin. Arrés presents these proposals to us in his signature style, full of iconography, fantasy, maniacal animations and a panoply of details (both subtle and overt) which simultaneously fascinate, hypnotize, and narrate this historical milestone through the singular vision of the artist. Through this series, Arrés freezes a crucial moment of cryptocurrency history, taking a still photo under his vision and turning it into two unique crypto artworks. ---- More info about Javier Arrés: https://javierarres.com/about.html

Almost every year, we capture ourselves in a way that no photo or video is capable of: with a photoscan. If you dig through our archives, you'll find many of them and can see exactly how we change over time. Sam Gorski, Creator | I wanted to find the oldest scan of myself and put him side-by-side with Sam from the present. While it is hard to look at it and not miss the years past, at the same time, this gives me hope for the future by embracing and cherishing the change in my life. How would I have gotten this far without him? About This Piece | Sam on the left was captured in 2014, while Sam on the right was captured last week (2021). This work represents the personal, creative, and emotional journey in all of us, and the hope that ourselves tomorrow may be better than ourselves today.

This piece represents the creation of a new "Visual Toy", a term created by me to encompass my unique and exclusive GIF-Arts. The latter, "Crypto Toy Coin" is the only and first in the cryptocurrency theme. In it I represent the fast-paced world of finance in the virtual environment, the Internet with its universe of colors and infinite visual impact, an optimistic and exciting future, a world of possibilities that opens before us. These "Visual Toys" invite you to imagine, that is their function, that is the game. The ultimate goal is that you imagine, that it is you who gives it meaning. There are no good or bad answers, just the projection of each one. I've only created the trigger, the piece where you can project your imagination and let it fly.

Visual Toy honoring the greatness of the most awarded club in the world of football, Real Madrid. Including his top stars of all time including President Bernabeu, a myth in the club's management. This Visual Toy represents the club as a title machine with the Champions League as a great emblem, since it holds the leadership in victories in the maximum European competition. A magical and fantastic mechanism like the history of the club itself. Including the Bernabeu in its last year before the remodeling in 2020, this Visual Toy brings together all the essence and soul of the merengue team. https://javierarres.com

Continuing the exploration of well known algorithms, this work delves into pixel sorting. The works of several cubists were first averaged with custom averaging software and then sorted with a bespoke pixel sorting algorithm. All tools were written in javascript, for masochistic reasons.