James Mendenhall: 111 Night Cities Whose Weather Changes Every Day
Nocturne, a fixed edition of 111 animated skylines by painter and generative artist James Mendenhall, releases today on Art Blocks Studio. Each token's weather changes daily at midnight UTC.
James Mendenhall's night cities sit across the water, bright enough to touch and empty of people. Nocturne, his new long form generative series, releases today on Art Blocks Studio as a fixed edition of 111 animated works. Each hash builds its own skyline, palette and distance. The weather is not a static trait: it changes every day at midnight UTC, driven by the token's hash and the calendar, so the same city can pass through storm, fog, snow and clear skies over a week.
Mendenhall is a painter and generative artist based in Indianapolis. His primary mediums are acrylic and code, with a focus on dark abstracts, florals and skylines. Nocturne grows out of that practice. Holders can open a 7 day forecast for their token on his site, download stills up to 9000 pixels or a 15 second video, and order framed metal editions with a certificate of authenticity. On Art Blocks, pressing S in the live view saves a PNG or short clip from the running animation.
The launch is Friday, November 6, 2026, at 1 PM Eastern / 6 PM UTC. Art Blocks describes the series as cityscapes at night, "calm yet vibrant; close but just beyond reach." Mendenhall's own text puts the loneliness more plainly: "I've seen these skylines a thousand times, but never close enough to see a single person." For a painter who already works the skyline in acrylic, writing the weather into the token turns the view into something that keeps changing after the mint.
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