As the second project from Larva Labs following the launch of CryptoPunks, Autoglyphs occupy a unique position in the history of blockchain based art. Created in a series of 512, rather than 10,000 CryptoPunks, Autoglyphs are deeply rooted in art history and solely contained “on-chain.” Influenced by Sol Le Witt’s wall drawings, the Autoglyphs are instructional, code-based generative art.

Instructions:
. Draw nothing in the cell.
O Draw a circle bounded by the cell.
+ Draw centered lines vertically and horizontally the length of the cell.
X Draw diagonal lines connecting opposite corners of the cell.
| Draw a centered vertical line the length of the cell.
- Draw a centered horizontal line the length of the cell.
\ Draw a line connecting the top left corner of the cell to the bottom right corner.
/ Draw a line connecting the bottom left corner of the cell to the top right corner.
# Fill in the cell completely.

Hall and Watkinson, inspired and humbled by the vast ground covered in digital art during the early 60s and early 70s, embraced the aesthetic of early generative art to produce similar results with a blockchain foundation. In a similar vein to the storage and compute issues faced by generative artists such as Ken Knowlton and Michael Noll in the early 1960s, the impracticalities of storing traditional image files such as JPEGs or PNGs on the blockchain inspired Autoglyphs creation. Unlike many art projects on the blockchain where the actual image files are stored in a decentralized database “off-chain,” the pair took on the challenge to experiment with what could realistically be stored “on chain.” The extreme restrictions of storing art on the blockchain created limitations to explore and hone their concept. After extensive exploration of various generators and their compatibility with smart contracts, Autoglyphs were born. With an algorithm capable of producing billions of unique works, the scope for experimentation is endless. However, the duo restricted production to just 512 works.