According to Decrypt, Art Blocks founder and CEO Erick 'Snowfro' Calderon has expressed his skepticism about transforming his digital art pieces, crafted by generative code, into physical prints. During an onstage conversation at Rug Radio's R Haus event at Art Basel Miami in December, Calderon shared his concerns about printing his first generative art collection, Chromie Squiggle. The 10,000-piece NFT collection, created in 2021, has generated over 74,700 ETH in sales, equivalent to more than $192 million at the current value of Ethereum.
Calderon stated that Chromie Squiggles were not meant to be printed, as they are digital-first pieces. However, in collaboration with Avant Arte, a marketplace for limited edition physical and on-chain art pieces, Calderon managed to find the right balance of textures and tones to translate one of his favorite Squiggles, #8107, into a physical print. A total of 262 print editions were sold during the limited sales window in December. Calderon explained that the added layer of the ribs on the print helps to lose the perception of the imperfectness of the color, making him comfortable with the printed version.