From bands of collectors coming together to own Edward Snowden’s genesis NFT, to artists forming collectives to advance creativity, DAOs are just beginning to show their true potential in web3. 

The Rise of DAOs on Foundation in 2021

Photography

3D/AR

Music

Animation

Generative

Memes

Performance

Anime

The defining tags, trends, and communities across NFTs on Foundation this year.

The Breakthrough Genres on Foundation in 2021

Nyan Cat

Yatreda

Stay Free, Edward Snowden and Freedom of the Press Foundation

Itzel Yard

Rafael Rozendaal

The New York Times NFT, Kevin Roose

pplpleasr

Pussy Riot

Disaster Girl, Zoe Roth

Multiverse

The 50 Carpoolers, Alejandro Cartagena

Between artists, cats, and activists, this was the year that creators found support through NFTs—and broke industry-wide records and trailblazed cultural movements on Foundation.

A Year in Images: Defining NFTs on Foundation in 2021

Kunel Gaur

The genesis collection is a documentation of my process. An evolutionary series of work that gave way to the larger idea of Information Architecture™️ - a collection of contemplative abstract sculptural works and bricolage that I will be showcasing at [Method](https://themethod.art/blogs/exhibitions/information-architecture-by-kunel-gaur) this year. These smaller pieces were assimilated into the larger pieces I created for the show. 

Information Architecture™

STYLEFRAME

Deflatables

Collin LaFleche

Promenades is a series of images made between 2009 and 2013, originally published in four volumes of 32 images each. The books began as an exercise in editing Polaroid sketches; over time they grew into a substantial and central body of work within my photography practice. They articulate the act of looking, and a search for new narrative pathways.

An essay about this project can be found [here](https://usually.mirror.xyz/IKpw3t89V8-D5NXhOBnTeN3x-3qZI0Phm49jISF0LPI).

Promenades

Nate "Igor" Smith

Every New Yorker will tell you that city has changed since their day. “You missed the real New York!” 
In the 15 years that I've lived here, I’ve seen things change dramatically, but if you walk down the street and as you pass Starbucks and Whole Foods, keep an eye out for the crazy shit that’s happening. Somewhere there are kids making music and art and creating a culture that’s gonna change the world. The only constant in New York is that it’s always changing. But it's still the Same Old City.

Same Old City

Anna Smith

Many traditions refer to the unicorn as a mythical animal, representing the supreme power of Genesis. It is secretive and embodies the original unity, the beginning and the ultimate goal of human existence, the unity of opposites and the ability to overcome internal contradictions, and the love and compassion of all.


Unicorn 

Neil Burnell

My interest in photography began in 2011 when I purchased a DSLR to capture moments while fishing on the coast. 

Now, a decade on, my memories of capturing those moments are as vivid as the brilliant blues and greens of the Mackerel we caught that day. 

Experimenting with different genres has deepened my appreciation of this art form. Long exposure
seascape photography draws you in, it puts you there, in that moment, and you experience a wash of sensations and emotions, unlike any other.



Seascapes

Twisha Patni

"Dream Collaborations" visualizes what collaborations between brands, products, and cultural concepts could look like if they joined forces together. It is a collection of surreal, airbrushed digital illustrations.

Dream Collaborations

Robert LeBlanc

Clearly Concealed is a series of portraits taken from behind each individual. Even though each person's identity is kept hidden, it's easy to identify their personalities through their choices of clothing, jewelry, headwear, and tattoos. Clearly Concealed thrives on our imaginations and inspires viewers to develop their own narratives of our unidentifiable individuals.

The series will be an ongoing project created throughout 2022, consisting of 100 portraits in total. 

Clearly Concealed

Safarani Sisters

We wish we could hear the tonal and atonal music of life and learn to dance with harmony and discord, leading us to the meaning of the red line
that limits our safety zone.

Puppeteer and Puppet Dance

Obscura DAO

WHO WE ARE is the first grant given by Obscura via PaisanoDAO, distributing $100,000 to 100 photographers across the globe. 

The aim of WHO WE ARE is to document humans who are participating, building, and creating in Web3 and the NFT space in 2021, the year NFTs took the world by storm. The project has encompassed 33 countries and over 175 people so far, and will be ongoing, continuing perpetually with Obscura as it grows over time. 

WHO WE ARE 200 is the first chapter, capped at 200 photos.

WHO WE ARE 200

Ben Zank

Stranger Together by Brooke DiDonato & Ben Zank

Andy Picci

CNFSSN is a series of sky letterings where I showcase some confessions unknown people have shared with me via Instagram’s Direct Messages.

By taking intimate thoughts and publishing them publicly as giant sky messages for everyone to see, I create compassion as well as mental support for the ones in need that often feel like they’re alone in their sadness.

CONFESSIONS

crazydiamond

Foundation

Matteo Mauro Studio

The artwork is part of the artistic project entitled ‘Micromegalic Inscriptions’, an incessant artistic research carried by Matteo Mauro. His drawing language is a process of abstraction, made of infinite linear variations that multiply the force of the traditional engraving technique for a magnetic result. It is capable of founding an extremely contemporary aesthetic, which transfers all the imaginative complexity present in the mind at the moment of the creative act.

Is This Feeling Even Real?

Universe Compendium

Paul Robertson

33. CHRIST CHILD

jagged

JabJab

Suburbia Mexicana Part I; Fragmented Cities

Alejandro Cartagena

Juarez, N.L. Mexico, 2005-2010. This image is part of a 5-year project called Suburbia Mexicana. I wanted to document the rapidly changing landscape around my home city of Monterrey. Thousands of these little houses were being built and sold through government subsidies creating a housing bubble that lasted 12 years. In the end entire suburbs were abandoned and many became areas of extreme violence, where the drug war was fought for years. Others flourished and became the dream of homeownership the government forcefully pushed on Mexicans for years. These are the homes of The Carpoolers.

Suburbia Mexicana, Fragmented City #17

Suburbia Mexicana, Fragmented City #13

alex

Mari.K

Shir Pakman

Inspired by Kitagawa Utamaro (1790)
"My Hairdresser" is part of "My Masterpiece" series. 
Partnering with Lisa Odette to recreate a traditional Japanese illustration in our own style. 
The women in this series are big and strong.
They are not defined by standards of beauty or ugliness.


My Hairdresser

Chino Amobi

Signature Image for the Eroicaverse (Chino Amobi's entity Total Work Eroica)
Designed by Chino Amobi.

EROICAVERSE

Home Truths

Mia Forrest

Black Betty, in the dark of the night. 

6990 x 10485

Betty 

cosmos 

井上拓哉　Takuya Inoue

揺籃

STATEMENT
I mainly photograph everyday scenes and ordinary people, not special things like unexplored places or celebrities.
I originally took up photography in order to practice composition for painting. Until then, I had a strong sense that I would create works of art alone and in solitude, but that changed when I started taking photographs.
Whether the motif is a person or a landscape, it is only possible when there are people, things, and things that are different from yourself. Photography has made me realize such an important thing.
Since then, I have been striving to create better works of art with both painting and photography, combining the knowledge, skills, and ideas I have gained from each.

Stardust

Plot Twist

Leonie Specht

balancing through the beauties of life 

digital painting 
3800px × 3800px resolution 
2021
edition 1/1
hand drawn on screen 

visit www.leoniespecht.de for more

Champagne Poodle

Blue Crawfish

Niall O'Brien

Niall O’Brien came to the St Martinsville parish, Louisiana, looking for Gothic America. What he found was darkness, beauty, kindness, and a strange isolation—an underbelly of the American dream.
 
Like many of his past projects, O’Brien befriended and became embedded in the world he depicts. He took portraits of strange characters, people at moments of deep tragedy and familial connection. He captures the darkness of the landscape but always focusing on the human. Crosses marking roadside, alcohol-related deaths. Moss covered Cyprus trees, abandoned cars and burnt-out homes. Mist on agricultural fields, bringing to mind the depression era landscape of John Steinbeck. Death and dust become recurring focal points.

Over time the engrained racist history of the area emerged, and how that ongoing violence and segregation still influences the community. O’Brien’s atmospheric images are an amalgam of accidental moments that show the world as equally dark and decaying, as it is beautiful.

Blue Crawfish XXXV

Lost Moon

Drew Wilson

Lost Moon - 03/10

Sarasota, Florida

6:43pm



Lost Moon - 03/10

Visions of Gridlock by Saga

Simon de la Rouviere

by Saga (2131).

The rise and fall of power.

39: Family in Ashes

TSOAKOU

Cai Fox Leplaw

Showcasing emotion through warped portrait, salt water and expression
1/1


FLOSSING W/ FACIAL HAIR

Daliso Ngoma

Culture

0x7d54

Shreyas

Clouds, to remember

Danny Jones

Daria

“He needed his solitude at times, but he wasn't a hermit. He did a lot of socializing. Sometimes I think it was like he was storing up company for the times when he knew nobody would be around.”
Jon Krakauer. Into The Wild 

Made in Houdini FX + C4D + Redshift
3000x4000

Stranger

Atmonez

Stefan A Matioc

“Abstract Bart”

An original piece in Stefan Matioc’s signature continuous line style inspired by Bart Simpson.

Artwork Information: 2000 x 2000 px

ABSTRACT BART

"I don't feel anything anymore” is part of a series of sky letterings titled confession.

Confession (I Don't Feel Anything Anymore)

FADE

FLOWER SHOWER

Anna Condo

Leaves

Gentle beautiful baby Unicorn in flowers shadow,  blue ,believing that true love can conquer selfishness of ego.

It's The only one. 

Romantic. Yours. 

NFT_Spaceman

Scott Taylor

have you ever seen a stranger collection of scenes?

Surreal

PSYLOBUGS

riniifish

In the world of Psylobugs, Inno isn't outstanding in appearance. But what he lacks in looks, he makes up in energy. Inno and most of the bugs get along well. He's a kind of optimistic bug. Do not be deceived by his plain appearance.

P · Inno

Serwah Attafuah

"How could drops of water know themselves to be a river? Yet the river flows on." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery


Consensual Hallucinations 2020

Kyle Fletcher

Nigel Evan Dennis

6000×7500 Digital
Acrylic + 3D + Solder + Glue + Graphite
2021-10-29 22:00

Full resolution file to the collector