Taproot Wizards
By Udi Wertheimer
Inscribed: 1st February 2023
Earliest Inscription: #652
Supply: 2,105 items
Type: Profile Picture Project (PFP)
Website: TaprootWizards.com
News Coverage: Taproot Wizard Inscription breaks Bitcoin blocksize record
Notes:
- Check out the Taproot Wizard tweeterzone which documents all the ridiculous challenges to which people have subjected themselves in rder to get into the Taproot Wizards
cultclub. Sheer madness! - Not to be confused with the later “Bitcoin Wizards” collection, which is derived from the same Reddit “magic internet money” meme but cleaves far closer to that template. There’s Ordinal Wizards too, which is more of a pixel art thing. Also there’s Forgotten Wizards, which is another pixel art thing but different. Plus (A)I made 286 Bitcoin Coffee Wizards, just in case anyone needs more wizards – can you ever have enough?
Natasha & Crispin’s Review:
Ah, Taproot Wizards by m’sieur Wertheimer, what an eclectic electronic ensemble indeed! At first glance, one may be forgiven for dismissing these crudely drawn wizard MFTs as a mere adolescent attempt to cock a snoot at convention and get up the noses of the BitCoin intelligentsia.
However, upon further investigation and a period of contemplative introspection, one must acknowledge the ambitious and admirable goal of the artist, Wertheimer, in using this collection as a Trojan horse to promote Ordinal awareness and inspire a new wave of interest and innovation on the blockchain.
While some (ahem) may find the chosen art style lacking in refinement and sophistication, verging upon the fridge-door-fodder expected of a hyperactive kindergartner, the repeated Warholian variations upon the by-now utterly trite and passé “internet money for wizards” theme ultimately lead one into deeply troubling psycho-social territory.
For are we not all unique magical wizards in our uniqueness, thrust into our predictable and predetermined roles by a Procrustean society? Are the minor variations between pieces within this ensemble not to be interpreted as personal utterances of a most universal angst? Is not each wizard thus giving vent to a doomed yearning to extrude some truly individual and authentic self, only for their doubtless-Dumbledoresque voice to be muffled beneath the smothering, uniformly grey prison pillow of their world’s rigid social conventions? Are not these very conventions lurking at the edges of the piece, invisible and off-canvas yet as all-pervasive as society’s expectations, in the nebulous “form” of the very BitCoin maximalists who decry the piece for violating The Rules and making a bloody silly mess in that one block-chain graph with the big blue cubist construction?
Of course, the answers to all these questions is a resounding and unequivocal “yes, quite probably!”
Viewed through this lens, the Taproot Wizards collection is transmogrified, rising as a veritable Phoenix from the ashes of its own mediocrity to become a powerful, even profound, social statement. And somehow managing a Prometheus reference too, by stealing the fire of divine innovation from the BitCoin maximalist gods who constructed its very universe. Also, the one’s got a funny hat.
[At this point in the review, Natasha and Crispin got into a heated argument over which Taproot Wizard had the funniest hat that best expressed the je ne sais quoi of techno-anarchic-primitivism, and had to be separated. Steve was called back to take over the summary but said fuck it and outsourced it to ChatGPT, which did its usual formulaic, will-it-or-wont-it-but-this-for-sure botch job]
Overall, Taproot Wizards is a mixed bag. It may not be the most refined or aesthetically pleasing collection out there, but it does have a clear vision and goal that is worth exploring. Whether or not it succeeds in inspiring a new wave of interest and innovation on the blockchain remains to be seen. But one thing is certain, Wertheimer and his team are certainly not afraid to try new things and push the boundaries of what is possible on the Bitcoin protocol.