In 2020, Erick Calderon - better known as Snowfro - launched the Art Blocks platform, which would fundamentally reshape people's understanding of blockchain generative art.
Chromie Squiggle was initially just a simple visual demonstration of his ideas, and has now become an iconic piece, quickly becoming the creative spark behind a movement - bringing permanence, interactivity, and greater visibility to code-based art.
Five years later, with nearly 500 projects completed, Snowfro is preparing to launch the first chapter of Art Blocks history: encapsulating the platform's first carefully curated, community-driven works in a 'glass box'.
As this milestone approaches, we had an in-depth conversation with him about the origins of Art Blocks, the evolution of the generative art space, and how new tools like PostParams open doors for the next generation of artists, platforms, and collectors.
OpenSea: Let's start from the beginning. What inspired you to launch Art Blocks in 2020? How did Chromie Squiggle become a technical experiment and the creative spark for all subsequent works?
Snowfro: Although I have studied generative art and code-based art for some time, when I claimed my Cryptopunks in June 2017, I suddenly realized that blockchain technology could create a synergy with generative mediums. Squiggle was initially a way for me to showcase the Art Blocks technology and ideas with my own creation, but after helping me test the platform on the testnet, users requested it to be available on the mainnet, it ultimately became the official version on Art Blocks.
OpenSea: Chromie Squiggle may seem simple at first glance, but it embodies many of the powerful aspects of on-chain generative art. What early technical or creative decisions did you make that helped shape this project and the entire image of Art Blocks?
Snowfro: I am very excited about the interactive potential of on-chain software running in the browser, and I also wanted to incorporate limited optionality into the display experience. Therefore, while the default state of Chromie Squiggle is static on a white background, I set it up so that when viewed in real-time mode, users can click the curve to start the animation, speed it up or slow it down with the left and right keys, and change the background color within a preset grayscale range to suit their preferences by pressing the space bar.
OpenSea: Generative art was still a niche field back then. What gave you the confidence to build a platform on-chain? When did you realize it would become something grander than you imagined?
Snowfro: Many things motivated me to create Art Blocks, but this determination was not based on whether anyone other than a few creator artists and collectors would really care about it. My main motivation was to give this art form, which is widely shared on social media (and is mainly how I consume it), a permanent form. However, shortly after the launch, as both artists and collectors began to express strong interest in my work, I realized that it might be much grander than I had imagined.
OpenSea: You just announced that Art Blocks will reach its 500th project in November 2025. What does this milestone mean for individuals and the generative art movement?
Snowfro: I think of Art Blocks as a platform, but also as a collection of projects released by Art Blocks across different domains (curation, factory, playground, presentation, collaboration, and exploration). This may be my greatest achievement, and more importantly, it wasn't done intentionally. It was purely created out of a love for art and the medium.
So what about this movement? Well, there are many incredible generative artists and passionate creators who have laid the groundwork for Art Blocks, so if my work can support these artists and the medium and draw people's attention, then I believe that in itself is a milestone.
OpenSea: You wrapped these 500 projects in a 'glass box', formalizing them into a complete, foundational era. How do you consider the long-term preservation of these works?
Snowfro: There are two parts to this. First is preservation. Art Blocks has invested a lot of resources to ensure that artworks can be appreciated even in the absence of the platform. This is an ongoing effort that requires a lot of critical thinking and resources to advance.
Secondly, enhancing the exposure of artists and artworks within the collection to a broader audience, making this collection represent limited artworks and artists, will make the whole process more attractive, enticing people to explore, and hoping they can immerse themselves in the curiosity of the collection.
OpenSea: With the end of the Curated program, what is the next direction for Art Blocks? What types of experiments are you most interested in?
Snowfro: So, the role of Art Blocks as a publisher is gradually diminishing, which is subtle but important. Everything in the series is selected/curated by Art Blocks (in some cases by the curatorial committee) and released in the form of Art Blocks editions. I believe the world is changing rapidly, and the role of the platform will change accordingly.
Therefore, we want to focus on supporting artists and the release of works on other platforms, but these works are independently released and not chosen or presented by Art Blocks, which will mainly take place in Art Blocks Studio and Art Blocks Engine. In the former, selected artists can freely release works according to their wishes based on contracts, and in the latter, partners and galleries can use our technology to organize releases.
Both inherit the same permanence as any other works published on Art Blocks and share a standardized protocol for publishing and preserving generative art, which is very interesting to me because I know that any preservation work done for a single Art Blocks artwork can be automatically inherited by any fully on-chain artwork in the entire ecosystem.
OpenSea: You recently collaborated with Jiwa on the DDUST series to launch PostParams, the first project using this brand new on-chain feature. How do you view the potential of PostParams to expand the possibilities of artists' on-chain creations? What types of creative experiments do you hope it will inspire?
Snowfro: Tokens can interact with each other and with other smart contracts, while allowing artists and collectors to influence the functionality of artworks. This idea is really interesting to me, and Jiwa was very brave to be the first to apply this technology to DDUST, not only able to create a storm through the collection but also allowing collectors to choose from a palette defined by the artist.
The possibilities are endless, and we are excited to showcase the Lego-like characteristics of our ecosystem through PostParams, as well as the infinite creativity of creators in the field.
OpenSea: Over the past five years, you have collaborated with hundreds of artists. What have they taught you about the possibilities of generative art?
Snowfro: What amazes me most is the incredible productivity of generative artists. It feels like innovations like libraries such as p5js have indeed helped creators produce stunning generative art faster every year, and now, with the help of AI, this speed has increased even further.
Community has always been at the core of Art Blocks. How has the relationship between collectors and creators shaped this platform? How do you view the evolution of the curatorial role? From the moment I started engaging with web3, I found that one of the coolest parts, and still is, is the ability for creators and collectors to have dialogue.
From the Marfa weekend to our early artist-centered channels in Discord, we have always prioritized facilitating all-encompassing dialogue. Sometimes this is harder than other times, and sometimes there are more people participating in the conversation, but we are still happy to facilitate connections among everyone in the community, as this is such a special part of 23b4.
OpenSea: What do you hope future artists and collectors will gain from Art Blocks 500? How do you envision the development of Art Blocks over the next five years?
Snowfro: You see, I am going through some strange exercises, thinking about the speed of technology and human development. It’s hard to know what next year will look like, not to mention five years from now, especially when it comes to what it means to be a technology platform, an art and culture brand and manager, and an artist, particularly in the generative medium, in the face of AI.
What I want to say is that I believe, as our technology becomes more widespread, with a broader audience and institutional acquisition and support, having these limited works available for consumption feels like everything in Art Blocks 500 will be very easy for newcomers to accept over the years. I am proud that it is packaged in a clean format where everything shares the same standards of decentralization/permanence and the spirit of existence.
While when we confirmed 500 artworks our collection would be close to 300,000, I sincerely believe that in the future this number will become scarce, as this beautiful technology (AI) that will change everything around us will greatly lower the barrier to creating cool items.
OpenSea: If you could leave a message for yourself when you first started playing with Art Blocks in 2020, what would you say?
Snowfro: Hang on, it's going to be a wild ride!
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