High resolution PNG 4000x4000 - Part of a series of algorithmic experiments exploring generative gardens and natural elements - Coded in javascript+SVG suited for plotting (inquire @zancan )

Generative Springtime 01

The Decagon is the infinitely evolving, always unique, and eternally open membership token of the Decaverse. Designed by Kjetil Golid.

Decagon #16026

zancan

The "Lushtemples" are a series of generative designs that attempt to capture the graphic harmony and density of the nature untamed ; the works remain aware of the un-natural process of re-creating nature with code, introducing some notes of artificiality and hints of the underlying technique, such as simplistic 3D meshes or destructive digital glitches.

Started as an experiment with "figurative generative" approach and pen plotters, the graphic style evolved into a more painterly style with timeless settings, while keeping its equation-based, line-art fundamentals.


— Generative drawing
— Made with original Javascript code
— Format PNG
— Resolution 4200x5940 

The owner of the NFT can claim :
- a fine art print of the artwork of the size of his choice up to A0
- a high resolution file of 12600x17820 pixels

request on twitter @zancan — print offered to first owner

Lushtemples—Through the Blocks

"Garden, Monoliths" is the result of an algorithm that started in April 2021. It was called "Grass.js".
Spring was blooming all around the house, taking over the stones and remnants of ancient battles that stood here. Inspiration was everywhere.
The initial goal was to use mathematical formulas for creating patterns inspired by the density of nature, that could be used by a pen plotter, so it kept focusing on outputting vector lines. This history and practice produced a graphical style based on line strokes, plus occasionally some transparent, filled shapes.
Each artwork will be either "Garden" or "Monolith", for they are variations of two existing designs from the workshop.



Garden, Monoliths #199

This works was started a while back. November 2022, after the charts dropped and everyone inside our small crypto sphere seemed shocked and in disbelief. I had a lot on my plate, working on many projects at the same time, I couldn’t get around that piece and use the right momentum. 
I tried to revive it a few times ( to be honest, the charts gave us several occasions ). 
Today, as I have finally completed the piece as a « celebration » of the closing of the Versum platform, in the light of the events happening in the world, this piece seems even more meaningful to me. 
I don’t like its original title so much though, « Touch Grass », which still makes sense but has been overused lately.
Caring about those charts is such a luxury. It’s so unimportant. What about art ? Isn’t it a luxury too ? It’s tempting to give up in the face of such statement, but on the other hand, I have this feeling in my guts that art is an absolute necessity. Because art is love. And love, right now, is an emergency.  


To the Moon and back
Just a leap and back, way back
Coiled in the dip, red candles lit
Candlesticks, lipstick
A touch of grass, a splash of red
A glass of wine, a drop of blood
Money comes and goes, you know
Grass
Green grass
Grass is greener down the charts


— Generative drawing
— Format JPG 4725 ×4725
— Made with Javascript code

This work closes the Versum Collection :
1 - Still life with meaning
2 - Skyscraper
3 - Thursday dawn
4 - The Cradle
5 - Plantpower
6 - Disruption in Stone
7 - Golden Glow
8 - Sunflowers still
9 - Earth and I
10 - Touched Grass

Thanks to you Versum <3

Touched Grass

Aux Arbres by Zancan

"To the trees"

Infinite variations around the universal symbol of a tree.

This piece belongs to tree number 794.
 Visit it at https://auxarbres.xyz/arbre/794

- Generative artwork
- Made with original JavaScript code
- zancan, 2024


Aux Arbres #63425

By placing our trust in any of the "future techs" to solve today’s environmental problems, we run the risk of postponing the actions that mattered. Carbon capture is one of those technologies we’ve engaged in to give us an impression of action; perhaps, unconsciously, in order to cover up our anguish, our helplessness or our guilt. 

Yet we need to keep moving forward. Art has this kind of energy, charismatic and unifying. If I believe little in technology to save humanity, I keep hope in humanity, in its conscience, in the universality of its love. If only one power is given to artists, it is that of being able to touch, sometimes, the hearts of men.
 
"Landscape with Carbon Capture" is a critique of my own environmental consciousness as an artist working with technology around natural themes. Although I do not know any solution, although I am helpless just like you, I want to fight with what I’ve got. I want to acknowledge the great hypocrisy of our times. Carbon emissions are here to stay, they'll stain my canvas, no matter how green the colours on my palette.

—

Generative Art

Made with Javascript code

Right click to save a 3240x3240 PNG file

Pass up &pixelSize=5000 in the URL for a 5000x5000 image or more. Maximum is 16384 on a powerful computer.


Landscape with Carbon Capture #6002

As a fundamental element derived from organic matter, charcoal happens to be at the core of all life forms. It is also the tool for artists that dates back to the most ancient times. 
By using charcoal as the the primary medium for the exhibition ‘Organic Matr’ (and resulting series of physical pieces created in collaboration with Brooklyn-based lab ArtMatr), the works creates bonds between technology and the rawest tool that was touched by the human hand, and highlights how the cycle of life is also the cycle of regeneration of matter.

Since the generative process _that uses programming code and the intervention of randomness_ was used to design the physical pieces, the long-form generative series Charcoal Seeds is a natural way to seamlessly extend back into the digital realm the ideas of matter and physicality, while showing the elements at work in the creation process. 
In each iteration a virtual seed will encapsulates the essence of organic forms and patterns. The graphic style itself tries to convey the organic feeling of tools and materials such as chalk, ink, paintbrushes. 


—— 

- "Charcoal Seeds" offers a WYSIWYG experience : by deriving the randomness from the minter’s wallet address, it is guaranteed that what you see onscreen after adjusting the params will be your actual NFT. 
However, we wanted to allow the possibility of getting some rare features. By selecting "random" for the Format or the Paper color, you will get a chance to mint a Pink or a Back background, or have a Wide Landscape format. Beware : this will break the WYSIWYG ( but it will keep your params settings safe ) 

- As usual, the project is plottable : press [s] in live mode to generate a SVG file suited for pen plotters.

- By adding a ‘scale’ parameter in the live URL, you can generate a higher resolution image. The scale ranges from 1 to 10 with a default value of 3. 


Charcoal Seeds #246

Lushtemples—Milestones of Elation

After looking closely 
at a small patch of lawn  
I opened a text file  
and named it Grass.js  
this is how the garden started

—  
Generative art  
made with Javascript code  
PNG file 5400 x 5400 pixels

Grass.js

Generative art / Made with Javascript code  / Lushtemples series 

I was a very young boy when I was stunned by a machine in a store: a typewriter with an LCD segment display. It was tangible proof of a dream future, then called "the year 2000", which would bring us flying cars and helpful humanoid robots.  
I grew up and organized my professional and creative life inhabited by this childhood fascination for the marvels of technology.  
You have to mature enough to understand when adhering to these promises of a benevolent and playful future makes you a devoted consumer. I broke later with this utopia of abundance, ease and technological comfort, not without difficulty; Having become a critic of my own desires, I now live with this torment: our energy to build carries our own demise.

There are those gurus whom we love to revere, those makers of jewels, pleasures and riches, who chant the promise of our individual happiness in technological progress. These make solutions up that stir up the very problem. "Always control your speed," said the driving instructor; today no one knows how to brake.

Everything I create today is inhabited by this doubt and this guilt, in the realization that my innocent pleasure of creating depends on what fuels our race towards disaster.

Yet desire inspires change. Art has this kind of energy, charismatic and unifying. If I believe little in technology to save humanity, I keep hope in humanity, in its conscience, in the universality of its love. If only one power is given to artists, it is that of being able to touch, sometimes, the hearts of men, and in this sense, I have this duty to continue to try.

“Landscape with Carbon Offset” is a critique of my own consciousness as an artist working with technology around natural themes. The canvas where the desire to explore new forms of art is expressed, will always remain stained with the hydrocarbons that I participated in burning — the technological solutions that we place our faith in are barely more than ways to wash away our guilt.  
When hope fails and intentions are skewed, I want to believe that art remains honest and true, and a sanctuary for beauty.

—  
Generative art 
Made with Javascript code  
JPG file 5625 x 10000 pixels  
First owner can claim a signed print (up to 43'' x 77’’)

Landscape with Carbon Offset

zancan garden

Landscape with Carbon Capture #539

A long-form generative art collection minted on Verse platform as part of the exhibition "Reconciliation with the Living", 2022
—
In spite of the terrible challenges that we are bound to endure, we want to embrace our creative energy and the joy to share it.
—
"Landscape with Carbon Capture is a critique of my own environmental consciousness as an artist working with technology around natural themes. Although I do not know any solution, although I am helpless just like you, I want to fight with what I’ve got. I want to acknowledge the great hypocrisy of our times. Carbon emissions are here to stay; they'll stain my canvas, no matter how green the colours on my palette."

Landscape with Carbon Capture #7031

Landscape with Carbon Capture by zancan

— In the spring of 2021, I carried out a set of research for the rendering of vector trees with programming code, with the aim of making plotter drawings.
My work began to focus on tight and immersive framing in order to refine the rendering of the bark — and to pay tribute to a childhood spent hidden in the foliage of oaks. This resulted in a A4 drawing of dense leaves scattered around the slightly off-center mass of a solid trunk.

To my surprise, I found out that the code was actually calculating the entire tree, showing only a small window.

Then began a patient discovery of the hidden parts, computing and drawing one sample after another.
It was only after hundreds of hours of plotting and after all the drawings had been framed and hung that I was able to watch the Oak in its majestic entirety.

Parts coordinates refer to the position relative to the first drawing revealed, which is at #0,0

—
The Oak Tree part #+1,-1
High resolution PNG 4200 x 5920 
Custom javascript code

The Oak Tree part #+1,-1

— In the spring of 2021, I carried out a set of research for the rendering of vector trees with programming code, with the aim of making plotter drawings.
My work began to focus on tight and immersive framing in order to refine the rendering of the bark — and to pay tribute to a childhood spent hidden in the foliage of oaks. This resulted in a A4 drawing of dense leaves scattered around the slightly off-center mass of a solid trunk.

To my surprise, I found out that the code was actually calculating the entire tree, showing only a small window.

Then began a patient discovery of the hidden parts, computing and drawing one sample after another.
It was only after hundreds of hours of plotting and after all the drawings had been framed and hung that I was able to watch the Oak in its majestic entirety.

Parts coordinates refer to the position relative to the first drawing revealed, which is at #0,0

—
The Oak Tree part #+1,-2
High resolution PNG 4200 x 5920 
Custom javascript code


The Oak Tree part #+1,-2 

Foundation

How can one create a work inspired by a city where one has never set foot? Moreover, a place on the other side of the world, whose history and cultural richness are of such dizzying density? I quickly realized that my work could only be imagined, dreamed, imbued with my Western culture, tinged with my distant prejudices. I worked with a visual approach above all, around a few chosen colors, representative tree species, and some clichéd symbols: for example, the composition is organized around 3 abstract shapes, including the circle, directly inspired by the rising sun on the flag, the rectangular shape of a kakemono, or a cityscape.
My distant feeling, entirely subjective, towards the city of Tokyo and the few images that came to me, was that of a place where tradition and modernity, nature and urbanism were intimately mixed. Not in opposition, but in an indissoluble tangle, a form of organic fusion despite some contradictions. But also, the place of dramas that history reports to us, such as the earthquake that this year marks the centenary of.
Coming to Tokyo was an old, somewhat intimidating dream for me. I have been here for a few days now, confronting my artistic proposal with the reality of this enigmatic city. I have taken only a few timid steps, cautiously trying to understand snippets of its functioning. Suddenly time stops, because I have perceived the whisper of a tree. I know nothing of the language, but I understand its language.
"Kumono Shingou" means "Cloud Signals" it is the title of a poem by the Japanese author Kenji Miyazawa, who was an agronomist dedicated to the social cause, at a time when successive natural disasters struck the country while modernity transformed it at a dizzying pace.
It is with a sense of grace that I receive this gift of a title for my work, which was given to me by Kazumasa Teshigawara (Qubibi). It is a small door that has opened for me on an element of Japanese culture. This is what Qubibi does: he creates small doors and opens them slightly to allow us to glimpse, with kindness and simplicity, but also in enigmas, a little light and soul, a fleeting spark, a reflection of what, hidden, is the very treasure of humanity.

One cannot absorb a culture, only experience it. Some encounters can connect you to it, much like synapses in your brain connect pieces of information and influence the construction of your being.
Certainly, one does not come to Japan to find answers, but rather to encounter questions. And here I am, in the middle of the night, gazing up at the sky, wondering: what do the clouds want to warn us about? Suddenly, I am enriched by my ponderings. Who am I, here ? A mere dot on this Earth, a human somewhere on the road, from the cradle of Nature en route to our technological and dematerialized utopias.

——— 
"Kumono Shingou" 
- Generative artwork in 100 editions
- Released for Bright Moments "The Tokyo Collection" on May 5th, 2023
- Coded in Vanilla Javascript 
- Format portrait 9/16, 4K résolution 2160 × 3840 pixels
- In live mode, pass a parameter ‘scale’ to the URL (up to scale=5.4) to get a higher definition output
- In live mode, press ’s’ to get a .SVG file suited for experimenting with a pen plotter

Kumono Shingou #2

Kumono Shingou #82

Kumono Shingou by zancan

A forest has stories to tell.
About times that were, about times that will be.
-
This project was minted in much unusual conditions. 
We gathered here, by 38 degrees heat. We belong to a crowd who loves stories, of civilisations at stake and deities, of afterlife and worship. We drank and hugged and chanted pagan hymns. We minted the Bugged Forest from our place on earth that we call Hell just for the fun of it. We are passionate, and loving, and angry and desperate. We, people of the soil, under a bugged sun.
-
This project is the long-form version of an algorithm that contains a bug. “The Bugged Tree”’s code was salvaged and stored and served as the core motivation and engine for an entire forest. Its concept is about releasing the control. I am a  byproduct of evolution, an iteration of that specie who wanted utter control, and which at some point, lost control over its own creation. As a generative artist, I chose to welcome the event of chance into my creative process. The symbolism in chance made me feel humble and free. Unwilling to make any change to a story that the Tree needed to tell me, as a listener, rather than a writer of my own idealised fantasies.
-
The iterations aren’t under control. They may be odd and off. We have to accept it. They are also plottable, press [s] in live mode to get a SVG. Attempt the plot at your own risk, as there’s a possibility for it to come near to impossibilities or cause paper or motor damage, and most certainly, a bugged drawing.
-
From Earth or from Hell, with love, yours truthfully, NFTBiker and zancan


A Bugged Forest #384

A Bugged Forest #897

A Bugged Forest

Charcoal Seeds #13

Charcoal Seeds #16

Charcoal Seeds

Garden, Monoliths #4

Garden, Monoliths #1

Garden, Monoliths

Generative art inspired by Garden, Monoliths. Number of edition and price is randomly defined by the seed. 

G4rd1n, Monoli7h #259

9ard3n, Monol8 #161

8BIDOU

Time has encrypted our carvings on the historical block chain.
The point is, we're new as much as we were old.

— Generative drawing
— Made with Javascript code
— Format PNG 4000x4000
— Somehow carved in stone


Disruption in Stone

[...] there, where the void begins, the "non-built", where humans can gaze in wonder at their own absence.

(The Architecture of Trees — Leonardi / Stagi 1982)

— Generative drawing
— Made with Javascript code
— Format PNG
— Resolution 4200x4200

Skyscraper

Versum

The "Lushtemples" are a series of generative designs that attempt to capture the graphic density of the nature untamed ; by re-creating natural elements with code, the works acknowledge the impacts of human interferences by introducing elements of architecture or digital anomalies appearances.

Started as an experiment with "figurative generative" approach and pen plotters, the graphic style evolved into a more painterly style with timeless settings, while keeping its equation-based, line-art fundamentals.


— Generative drawing
— Made with Javascript code
— Format PNG
— Resolution 4200x5940

The owner of the NFT can claim a high resolution file of 12600x17820 pixels



Lushtemples — The Lightweight of Balance

Nature-driven generative drawings crafted with programming code 🌳🪨🌿🌒

The Stills from Last Night are selected outputs from the nightly experiments with code. That night, a broad idea of introducing abstract, 2D patterns entwined with the vegetation was initially sketched with a basic round shape. It was by forgetting that the round shape must be the least abstract shape there is in Nature, the way our eyes picture it. Round is the planet or the atom. It is Moon as much as it is Sun. It's the perfect equilibrium of forces.
Round is protection — it's the shell of the egg before it breaks and opens up to the possibilities. Or chaos. 

—

— Generative drawing
— Made with Javascript code
— Format PNG
— Resolution 6000x6000
 
￼

StillsFromLastNight #08b — 🟢

The Lushtemples

This NFT is bound to a physical drawing :

Unique edition
Format 30 x 40 cm
Drawing on Hahnemühle “Le Rouge” Watercolor paper 325g/m²   
Plotted with Axidraw SE/A3 using Rotring black ink / Rotring Rapidograph and Isograph pens at 0.5, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1 mm.
Plotting time : about 50 hours. 
Generative design handcoded in Javascript. 
NFT Format : PNG 
NFT Resolution :4500x6000

The drawing  will be sent to the owner by snail mail worldwide at no additional cost. 
Should the owner trade the NFT, he would be inclined to transfer the physical drawing as well, although the specific terms of that trade would no longer be of the artist's concern. 
Note that the physical drawing differs from the following NFT image. 
—
Also The initial owner of the NFT will get a free edition of Lushtemples - A broad conversation in time
—


Lushtemples — A broad conversation in time — Physical drawing

On Nature’s resilience

-

On April 23, 2021, OBJKT#43891 was minted on HicEtNunc under the name zancan. 
It was never listed for sale. 
Later on, it was sent to a burn address. 

It wasn't until 6 months later that the first artwork in the Lushtemples series was minted. 

This is what the text said :

Generative Springtime 01
High resolution PNG 4000x4000 - Part of a series of algorithmic experiments exploring generative gardens and natural elements - Coded in javascript+SVG suited for plotting (inquire @zancan )


Today, as the burnt token was excavated and brought to attention, I comprehended that it illustrating the process of birth and death, quite naturally. 
I was intrigued about how well the generative piece would render after a year of modifying the algorithms. The initial code had been transformed greatly, but the settings were still intact. After a bit of adapting and tweaking, the parameters went through the generator and rendered this fresh "Generative Springtime". DNA inheritance and an incremented generation. 

- SVG format
- Made with Javascript code
- Naturally plottable

Generative Springtime 02

Hic et Nunc

Work released for zancan’s solo exhibition “Sheltered Landscapes” (Florence, Rifugio Digitale, 28.09 – 15.10.2023).

This NFT is the digital counterpart of a series of physical prints:

Sheltered Landscape 2
Limited edition of 15
Titled, numbered and signed in pencil by the artist on the front.
Dimensions 42 × 59.4 cm ( A2 )
Paper : Hahnemühle Photo Rag Fine Art 308 gsm
Year : 2023


Initial acquirers of the NFT on primary sale can claim the physical work via the artist’s store (zancan.art/Prints)

Sheltered Landscape 2 - Limited Edition Print

Excerpts from the eponymous series of generative landscapes born at Rifugio Digitale (Florence, Italy, Sept. 2023), a former air raid shelter from WW2 turned into a digital art exhibition space.

Sheltered Landscape
Series 2 « golden »
Left side, screen 7
—
Work released for zancan’s solo exhibition “Sheltered Landscapes” (Florence, Rifugio Digitale, 28.09 – 15.10.2023).
The full work consists of 4 series of 16 screens (8 screens on the left side of the tunnel + 8 screens on the right side). The artworks inside a row of 8 screens form a continuous generative landscape. 
—
Generative art 
Made with Javascript code
Video loop 26 s.
File format MP4, H264, 4K ( 3840x2160 pixels ) 


Sheltered Landscape - Golden series / left / screen 7

Sheltered Landscapes

"ORGANIC MATR" by Zancan: A Journey Through Art, Technology, and Nature
 
This NFT token represents the ownership of the physical artwork and can be confirmed via the NFC chip located within the physical work. This GLB file is a 3D scanned image of the unique physical artwork, including the digital Certificate of Authenticity incorporated in the token.

In collaboration with Artmatr and NFT Collective, Zancan uses natural elements such as brushes and charcoal to create essential motifs, highlighting the inherent beauty of nature while exploring the transformative potential of technology. This artwork reimagines artistic expression and offers profound insight into the future of art at the crossroads of technology, tradition, and nature.
 
Link to Artmatr platform for ToS and expanded CoA assets available to collector: https://artmatr.io/coa
 
This token is unique to the physical artwork by the artist Zancan. The subject of the work is digital tool path files created by Zancan and then “MATRed” with Artmatr’s hardware / software translation layer as part of the “ORGANIC MATR” limited series. The work was created at Artmatr in New York, USA in April, 2023.
 
Medium: charcoal, chalk, ink and acrylic on canvas 
© 2023 Michael Zancan. All rights reserved. 

Zancan x Artmatr x NFT Collective (2023)

ORGANIC MATR #02

A collaborative project with NFT Collective and Artmatr, ORGANIC MATR explores the digital to physical transformation of algorithmic code. Zancan uses Artmatr’s proprietary translation layer to “MATR” his digital art into unique physical paintings.

ORGANIC MATR #04

ORGANIC MATR

When Yazid and Zancan started their fxcollab journey, they knew very little about each other. They learnt about their rich cultural differences, their complementary graphic styles, and a 7-hour timezone difference. What they did have in common was each had two kids about the same age (one a pair of girls, the other boys).

Every kid was born a builder; every kid likes to sit in nature. It’s their way of discovering the world and dreaming of their future accomplishments. While they marvel at the heights of the cities and monuments they construct out of stacks of cubes, parents marvel at their ability to elaborate an unlimited range of worlds out of a limited range of materials. 

This project celebrates the humble and versatile cube. A deceptively simple yet powerful object of play and learning, regardless of age, whether you’re stacking them up in a sandbox, or learning 3D graphics for the first time. 

This project is dedicated to kids, those who were once children, to the dreamers and builders who still enjoy playing with cubes.

Coded in Vanilla JS, the project combines Yazid's iconic “Hashed/Hatched” aesthetic incorporated into childhood wooden toy block structures, and Zancan's signature lush foliage and framework, which enables all iterations to be plottable.
 
Controls (in live view):
- Press [s] to get a SVG file suited for plotters
- Click on the image to download a 4K resolution PNG

(kinder)Garden, Monuments #216

(kinder)Garden, Monuments #303

(kinder)Garden, Monuments

An interpretation of the Decal by Zancan. A symbol of permissionless creativity. Series Thirty.

Decal by Zancan #58

Decal by Zancan #25

Decal by Zancan

I can't explain why the sight of a clump of grass growing bravely through the crack of a concrete wall gives me such joy. Or why watching my lawn explode in the spring into a chaotic throng of wild plant species demonstrating their determination to live fascinates me so much. There is something of the order of the unconscious, or of the collective consciousness, which attaches man to nature to the point of affecting his senses in a primal way, whereas I am like many an urban product of modernity and technology.

In my works, nature is not the main subject, but it is a means of depicting, among other things, the vital force, the resilience of the living. There is in its multiplicity and its autonomous, chaotic and organized aspect something that traditional painting did not allow me to capture, other than thanks to infinite labor and a gesture that was far too controlled. Algorithmic art opened up this possibility for me to render nature, in its movement, its density, its wild abundance.

The mesh is a familiar and basic object for the programmer, the framework of any 3D model, it represents the digital.

I used the yellow color for two reasons. First, the color chosen is a pure yellow (#ffff00) in the RGB spectrum, which immediately places it in the digital realm.  On the other hand the colors used for the representation of nature are muted, in order to attach it to the physical world. The background color also corresponds to that of a paper that I often use for my physical drawings.

Then, the yellow functions here as a representation of the sacred, like the illuminations on ancient religious texts. I am very admiring of certain contemporary painters or illustrators who use gold leaf over their drawings, allowing them to bring a surnatural light into their works, to access a higher stratum of symbolic representation looking towards spirituality. I never took the chance to try out this technique, and working digitally gave me that chance. 

The holes in the net that can be observed symbolize the impossibility of capturing the true nature, the real feeling that one experiences in its presence. The flowers, twisted to the extreme under netting, are there to evoke the sense of hypocrisy in using technology to create art that evokes nature, as a reminder of the impossible environmental challenges that we are facing while galloping toward the chimeras of technological progress.” - zancan

This artwork was nominated on Verse by [Tyler Hobbs](https://verse.works/persons/tyler-hobbs), and 30% of the initial sale will be donated to the charity [Girls Who Code](https://girlswhocode.com/).

Rapture Captured #223

In my works, nature is not the main subject, but it is a means of depicting, among other things, the vital force, the resilience of the living. There is in its multiplicity and its autonomous, chaotic and organized aspect something that traditional painting did not allow me to capture, other than thanks to infinite labor and a gesture that was far too controlled. Algorithmic art opened up this possibility for me to render nature, in its movement, its density, its wild abundance.

The mesh is a familiar and basic object for the programmer, the framework of any 3D model, it represents the digital.



Bloody Empire is a brand new work that continues Reid’s interest in subverting the portraiture of political figureheads and monarchs. Reid is famously known for his iconic artwork for the Sex Pistols, including God Save the Queen and Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols. In this composition, he switches the subject to Queen Victoria who was in power while the British Empire conquered the world. The blood dripping from the corner of her mouth alludes to the ruthlessness and power of the monarchy both then and now. The cut-out letters across the NFT, akin to a ransom note, are typical of Reid’s work. Over the years, Reid has retained an active role in politics and social activism through a variety of media. His practice which spans more than five decades remains witty, powerful and iconic. His works articulate key issues of our time and call on racism, criminal justice systems, nuclear weapons, civil liberties and equality. 

*"People who talk about revolution and class struggle without referring explicitly to everyday life, without understanding what is subversive about love and what is positive in the refusal of constraints, such people have a corpse in their mouth."*

100% of the proceeds from the initial sale of the NFT will be donated to The Florence Institute in Liverpool. [The Florrie](https://www.theflorrie.org) a community centre with an incredible initiative in which Reid has lived and worked for over 30 years.

Bloody Empire #13

Rapture Captured by zancan

Soixante-seize mille deux cent huit Aux Arbres

Aux Arbres is a generative art series of 76,208 unique pieces. 

This visualization shows a miniature view of all 76,208 pieces, arranged in a matrix of  399 columns by 191 rows = 76208 cells + 1 extra cell, fitting precisely inside a 16/9 format image. 

- JPEG 91.2 MB
- 15960 × 8977 pixels
- zancan, 2024

Pumpjacks. Good ol' pumpjacks everywhere. 
--
The Orange Incident

Last summer, I spent a week in Peekskill for Plotter Fest, experimenting and sharing a passion for plotter art with the artists invited by Bre from Bantam Tools. As I was about to go through the security checkpoint at JFK  airport to return to France, I hastily pulled out my liquids in a plastic bag. The security officer said, “What’s this?”, to which I replied, “Inks, sir, they’re liquids.” He answered, “We don’t check liquids. This is America here ! We don’t do that anymore.”

Surprised, under pressure (it had been a long day), I rushed to pack up my bottles, and in doing so, a bottle of that magnificent Noodler’s orange ink opened and spilled all over my bag and the conveyor belt. We artists are particular about our inks. This wasn’t a cheap ink, but the kind with ultra-saturated color, a vibrant orange, lightfast, waterproof, museum-grade++ … and it was everywhere.

A very kind woman gave me a packet of tissues to try and clean it up quickly. My hands, glowing with a shameful orange hue, bore the unmistakable imprint of guilt, a mark I wore openly as I crossed the terminal and boarded the plane.

—
Later, the orange incident gave me pause. That moment of clumsy chaos, helped along by a mischievous twist of fate, had unfolded in a time of stress, in the middle of a crowd, and yet it felt laden with symbolism I couldn’t resist trying to decipher.

What did it say about me ? Someone who used to care deeply about the environment, and yet whose carbon footprint had exploded ever since he began showing his art around the world?  I, a foreigner, moving freely across the borders of mighty America, a silent observer of rising nationalism, on the brink of a presidential re-election marked by protectionist policies, compulsory denial of human responsibility in climate change, and, perhaps coincidentally, a distinctively orange complexion?

I found myself reflecting on our individual power, our ecological and democratic responsibility, and on that quiet, persistent guilt we carry for not doing enough. On the growing realization that maybe our personal actions have no significance whatsoever.

But what if they did? I began to imagine that my orange incident might have triggered a butterfly effect, setting off a chain of disasters, echoing the eco-anxiety, political anxiety, and social anxiety that press in on us so intensely in our world spinning ever faster, ever further out of control.



—Part of the “Tree_Line” solo show at bitforms gallery in New York, supported by the Tezos Foundation
—“The Orange Incident” short series comprises the works : “Air_Line“, “Gaso_Line“, “Border_Line“, “Off_Line“ 
— Generative art
—Made with custom Javascript code 
—Format JPG, 5760x 5760 pixels 
—Made in New York, June 2025

Gaso_Line - The Orange Incident

Tree_Line, presented by bitforms gallery, traces the evolution of Zancan’s primary subject - the tree - as a motif and metaphor of a living structure composed of systems and networks, mirroring the algorithms that define generative art.

Everything, made simple, 2025
Single-thread embroidery on cotton
16 1/2 x 16 1/2 in / 42 x 42 cm


A Long Thread and Everything Made Simple are companion works that carry out the motif of the continuous line, stitched into fabric in a quiet tribute to pioneering media artist Herbert W. Franke. These lines become a symbol of connection, continuity, and the unpredictability that lies at the heart of both nature and code. Proceeds from both works were donated to the Foundation Herbert W. Franke, with a focus on funding the digitization of his manuscripts.

This particular piece, which originally exists as a digital NFT, has been plotted on paper multiple times. However, this stitched version is a unique artifact: executed in inverted colors—black on white rather than the original white on black—converted into embroidery machine file format using the artist’s custom generative process, and produced on the artist’s own embroidery machine. The work comprises a total of 90,147 stitches. This singular execution required a reworking of the original algorithm to allow for varying stroke widths while preserving the integrity of a continuous, single-thread process.


Everything, made simple

Tree_Line

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