Daniel Calderon-Arenas | Artist Corner #1

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Artist Spotlight
Highlighting the Top Generative Artists

Daniel Calderon Arenas (DCA) with DCA
A very special episode, we do our first Artist Spotlight on Daniel Calderon-Arenas aka DCA, who had the first Artblocks project, Genesis, and has been honing his craft ever since. We cover his artistic journey and dive into his beautiful collections Bosque de Chapultepec, Marfa Yucca, and Genesis. A fantastic conversation, we know you'll enjoy this as much as we did!

These episodes are best watched on video, so please consider watching this episode on Youtube.

If you are listening on audio only please refer to our Deca gallery for this episode to help you visualize this collection and for a reference for you anytime in the future - https://deca.art/Collectors_Corner/dca

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe (Podcast, Youtube, Twitter), like, comment or leave a review. We also welcome all feedback!

Episode Artwork: Bosque de Chapultepec #71 by DCA

Where to find Daniel:
Twitter | @DaCaldera

Discord | https://discord.com/channels/411959613370400778/810598817351204894

Time stamps
0:00 | Collector's Corner introduction
0:22 | Episode introduction, including our special guest Daniel Calderon Arenas aka DCA!
3:12 | DCA's lifelong journey as an artist, starting with the influence of his grandfather a well known artist
10:21 | How DCA found his way into generative art and why he's so bullish on the space
15:02 | The start of Artblocks, working with his brother Erick (Snowfro), and the early days of Genesis, the first Artblocks collection
21:28 | How DCA decided on 512 pieces for the first long form generative art project
25:05 | How DCA's art evolved after Genesis as he took on the new challenge of plottables, which furthered his artistic explorations
30:50 | DCA's journey into Marfa Yucca and teaching with art
34:24 | Incorporating IRL into generative art, an idea that DCA and Snowfro have thought about from the start of Artblocks
38:31 |The story behind and genesis of Bosque de Chapultepec, DCA's Bright Moments Mexico City collection
54:09 | Diving into the details of Bosque de Chapultepec - how DCA thought about the backgrounds, color theory, and the variety in the collection
58:30 | How DCA upgraded his understanding of color for Bosque de Chapultepec
1:02:22 | The genesis of Marfa Yucca, the Artblocks Exploration collection, and how it's still open for minting
1:08:37 | Diving into the details and variety of Marfa Yucca, and how DCA thought about the algorithm for an open edition mint
1:22:21 | Genesis, DCA's first long-form generative art creation and the first Artblocks Curated collection - the start, the trilogy book, and how why the collection is special to DCA
1:29:13 | DCA the collector - what he likes and his collecting style
1:33:55 | DCA's view on the future of gen art, especially given his experience on the Artblocks curation board
1:37:30 | Parting thoughts

Show Notes:
Genesis | https://www.artblocks.io/collections/curated/projects/0x059edd72cd353df5106d2b9cc5ab83a52287ac3a/1
Bosque de Chapultepec | https://opensea.io/collection/bosque-de-chapultepec-by-daniel-calderon-arenas
Marfa Yucca | https://www.artblocks.io/explorations/explorations/projects/0x942bc2d3e7a589fe5bd4a5c6ef9727dfd82f5c8a/1
Really Random Rock | https://www.plottables.io/project/2
Plottables | plottables.io
Garabaldi's (Mexican dessert) | https://theothersideofthetortilla.com/2011/01/garibaldi/
Andre Derain | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Derain
Ringers by Dmitri Cherniak | https://opensea.io/collection/ringers-by-dmitri-cherniak
The golden angle for plants (used in Marfa Yucca) | https://www.nature.com/articles/srep15358#:~:text=As%20a%20general%20rule%2C%20the,%2C8%2C9%2C10.