r4v3n (American, b. 1988) is a generative artist whose work in code, print and photography engages the lineage of abstract expressionism and color field painting.His practice centers on translating painterly gesture into on-chain marks, most directly in Dots, an Art Blocks Engine project built from code-based paint strokes rotated around a center point.
r4v3n released his first generative collections on Art Blocks in 2021, Moments and Pieces of Me, and has since released work through SuperRare, Bright Moments (Color Streams) and Plottables (Shields).Moments takes its title from the question “How many moments make up a life?”, while Pieces of Me explores the varied, differently shaped elements that make up a person's identity. With his sibling Brett Sylvia, he created Marfa: Middle of Somewhere, a collaborative photographic series exploring the duality of the town of Marfa, Texas.
In January 2024 he launched Dots, an Art Blocks Engine project on Arbitrum in which code-based paint strokes rotated around a center point form individual, collectible marks. Conceived as an accessible entry point in the vein of Snowfro and Jordan Lyall's heart + craft, Dots distills the painterly language of Moments and Pieces of Me into a single, collectible unit and sold more than 5,000 pieces.A companion project, Dots: Composites, lets collectors combine their dots into larger works that inherit the character of the pieces used.Alongside his studio practice, r4v3n hosts Studio Visit, a long-form interview series with generative artists, collectors and builders, and Beyond the Blocks, a video series produced with Art Blocks.
