RedGraphite

Red

Graphite

Red/Graphite was originally a monotype series completed in 2014 and minted on Rarible October through November 2020.

The physical works are rendered in two inks, as the name suggests, applied, treated, layered, and printed in various ways.

This set was minted before the NFT ethos as I understand it now was established: public art monetized through enthusiasts. I spent quite a bit of effort taking very high resolution scans of the originals, hosting them with IPFS, and minting the token with a lower res watermarked version that unlocks the download. This was a compromise for what I had actually wanted to do: a token which could be "spent" to receive the physical piece and thereafter would serve as a digital certificate of authenticity. As much as I try, I'm no programmer and I don't have the ability to write such a smart contract myself, so I rely on the various NFT platforms for functionality. As of yet, I haven't found a platform that can mint a token with exactly the features I'm looking for, but I'm optimistic.

Red/Graphite 12

The last original to be produced, the first NFT minted.

An old friend of mine (who actually owns a physical piece) asked me to mint a version for PoolTogether v3's week 1 prize pool. I sort of rushed through the steps, trying to get all the material together before the start date. As a result, this token is ERC-721 and not connected to the larger ERC-1155 collection.

Red/Graphite 11 "Totoro"

I sold the physical version of 11 to a friend before it was minted. They said it looked like some kind of abstract Totoro, drawing from the eponymous wood spirits of Miyazaki's 1988 animation classic. I truly had no figurative aspirations when I was putting ink to plate on these works, but we have this animal tendency to find patterns even where none exist. You can see whatever you want to see. Personally, I find find myself staring into the textures and the interfaces between color and texture fields, trying to figure out how they came to be.

8 "Tarmac"

9 "Ghost"

10 "Human"

8, 9, and 10 speak together as a set. 8 is the first impression of an overinked plate in various stages of drying. The ink was applied over five days, mostly with a brayer. The bright spots are dots of napthol red which got pressed out wider than their original footprint.

Those same spots turned dark in 9, a "ghost" print of 8, the leftover ink that didn't transfer in the first pressing. Graphite became red and red became graphite. You can see how structures in 8 evolved or disappeared.

10 "Human" is a ghost of a ghost flipped upside down. Finally what was underneath is revealed, though echoes of the layers above remain.

Red/Graphite 7 "Pool"

Arguably one of the more chaotic renditions in the series. This was one of the more heavily inked plates, but pressed immediately, resulting in a more, but clearly not completely homogeneous mingling of colors. It's an intentionally less controlled technique, you get whatever comes out the other end of the process, similar in concept to algorithmic art: stochasticity let loose within a framework of concerted design.

Red/Graphite 6 "Pleat"

"Pleat" then is a more ordered approach to ink application. The lower graphite patch was applied first, then red applied symmetrically opposite with a big dot of both inks in the center. The same brayer was used without cleaning in between applications, so somewhat dryer opposing ink bled into both sides. Graphite seems to have an easier time overpowering red, as exemplified in the central dot. Despite the imbalance, I find the play between them harmonious.

Clearly this is not the end of the series, but it's all of it on web3 for now. I've been looking into options for a physical-backed release of the last (first?) six pieces. Eh, we'll see. Maybe I should just focus my attention on new projects.

ak.mono