Robert Whitman

Each of the 500 generative, interactive, and unique New Worlds NFTs centers on an imagined celestial body in space. The planets—and, in some cases, black holes—feature distinctive colors, patterns, shadows, and topographies on their surfaces, and they are situated in vast skies rendered in varying hues, opacities, and gradients. Some planets in the series are surrounded by rings, and they may have up to three moons in their orbits. Viewers can navigate around the planets and explore their sublime environments by zooming in and out and dragging their cursors on the screen. New Worlds will be presented in Whitman’s upcoming solo show with Pace Gallery, on view at 508 West 25th Street in New York from January 18 to February 4.

Whitman’s web3 debut reflects the limber and timeless nature of his influential and rigorous practice, which left an indelible mark on 20th century art history. As part of the artist’s forthcoming exhibition at Pace in New York, Pace Live, the gallery’s interdisciplinary platform for commissioning and presenting new live art performances, will stage live renditions of his seminal 1960 performance work American Moon. Whitman’s first NFT project can be understood in conversation with this disorienting, madcap performance, which premiered nearly a decade before the first moon landing. New Worlds, Whitman’s most technologically ambitious artwork to date, forges new through lines across the artist’s storied and experimental career, traversing his digital and physical investigations of universes beyond our own.

New Worlds is realized by Art Blocks and Pace Verso in conjunction with Digital Practice, an artist-focused web3 creative agency that worked in close concert with Whitman on project conceptualization, art direction, and development. More information about the project can be found at (opens in a new window) artblocks.io.