LayerBreaker

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The LayerBreaker Collaboration

A dynamic, changing piece of artwork.

LayerBreaker is a collaboration born out of community.
62 artists were involved from over 20 countries. None of whom ever met in person, yet this is one of the largest collaborations to date.

Every artist was assigned a tile and a color.
The idea being what can we do with a global economy and technology which enables trust-less relationships.

There are 61 layers, 284 states for this project.

Each artist was assigned a HEX code and then given total freedom to create. This creates a gradient look for the master while allowing the artists to dream and share their creative expression with few restrictions. The gradient was made by color expert Jeff Davis.

There are some hidden features within this project and the purpose is to enable the community of collectors to continue on with the creative process.

You can read more about LayerBreaker in the official press release.

The full LayerBreaker piece:

The Gradient

The artist expert in color, Jeff Davis created a color gradient image for all 60 artists with 360x360 color squares. Each of these tiles had the HEX code on and, for each artist was assigned a tile and a #HEX value.



I was assigned tile #23 with HEX color #8D4368.

My layer

When you buy a layer, you have exclusive control to affect the final work.
When a collector changes a layer the master image will reflect this regardless of who owns it.

Every tile has 4 different states, the owner of every tile can choose what state is displayed on the final work, visible to everyone.
The final work consists of all the chosen states by every collector.
Because the state changes are recorded on the blockchain, the history of this pieces formation and creative expression will be traceable forever.

There are 61 layers, 284 states for this project.

These are the 4 states of my layer:



My layer gives the collector the choice between 4 semi abstract portraits, representing abstracted emotions.
I abstracted these emotions so they could be interpreted differently by everyone, at every moment.
Every day one could wake up and link how he/she is feeling to one of my 4 states.
Maybe on your father's birthday you choose a new layer to be displayed on the full piece for everyone to see, to honor this moment.


I tried to fit in my tile by blending the colours of the surrounding tiles into my background. The left, right, top and bottom have the colour of the neighboring tile slowly flowing to the colour that was given to my tile. While the backgrounds fit in nicely, the drawings needed to stand out! To make a big impact on the master artwork from within just a small tile I knew it needed bold black and white drawings.

This is my first non-commissioned NFT, the fact that someone was willing to collect it means a lot to me!

The Hidden Backside

There is also a hidden bonus piece behind all these layers, a backside hidden Layer developed by Mattiac.
Actually the artist made by hand and digitized all 62 artist names involved in the project plus the project name Layer Breaker and platform Async as well.
There are more hidden features within this project and the purpose is to enable the community of collectors to continue on with the creative process.

A word from MightyMouse, the creator of the project

This project was sparked by a desire to see what could happen if a truly open call to artists was made. I wanted to see what could happen if we opened this up to everyone regardless of their experience in the space.

Async reached out to me after a tweet I did in Feb and after some brief discussions they signed on and we were off. The idea was to gather as many artists together from as many places as possible. But I had seen other large collabs happen where they just felt like a bunch of art slapped together with limited cohesiveness. I wanted an idea which would allow for artist freedom but would give the master a feel that they belonged on the same canvas.

So, I came up with the idea of a gradient which was tiles. 60 tiles for 60 artists. Each tile would have a HEX code assigned and then that tile would be assigned to an artist. From there the artist could be given total visual freedom to express themselves and yet the gradient colors could create a cohesive feel and look. So, I reached out to color expert @jeffgdavis#0102 to see if he was willing to build the gradient for me. He was great and helpful, built the gradient and then I set out to open up sign ups

That was interesting as I wanted to make sure everyone had the best opportunity to gain access so picking a time to launch the sign up where someone in Australia, Japan, Russia, South America, the UK and the states all were awake made it difficult but I picked a time that was 11pm one place and 5am another and everything in between. That was my first hint that this was not going to be a simple collab.

Anyway, sign ups were filled within a half hour and we began the journey to explain the vision to all the artists. Along the way we had many bumps in the road but through the dedication of each of the artists and Async we have arrived here. Some don't really understand what Async did to make this happen as Conlan and the team literally built new minting technology in order for the artists to sign their work with their own wallets. This is paramount in my mind and a VERY unique aspect to this collab.

I believe every artist should sign their work with their wallet as it gives clear and easy provenance to the collector. To my knowledge this is one of the biggest collabs where the artists have all signed their work in this way. This brings a very unique and long-lasting value to this project aside from the incredible visual art made by all involved.

Layer Breaker is such a huge collaboration of epic proportions. It's a testament to what a community can achieve when they team up together, and not go against each other. We hope to share the spirit and ethos as Async goes forward too!

Other LayerBreaker artists and their process

Tile #26 by WHA

Tile #52 by Ryan Haigh

Tile #62 by Ruben Alexander