the_garden

The Garden

and The Monoliths

Why this drawing of plants are sold for thousands of Tezos?

was what inside my head when I saw a tweet about a collector that happily purchased an artwork for an astounding amount of 3,200tz made by a man called Zancan, in my early days in NFT space.

Lushtemples — The Lightweight of Balance

Garden, Monoliths #118; Purchased for 3,200tz by dev.eth on Dec 27th, 2021

I mean, let's be honest

↑ This is just line art of plants, right? ↑

Or...

Let's dig deeper

not?

into the Garden

Garden, Monoliths #17

Right?

After some scrolls on Zancan's twitter, I found that his works can actually be printed in a plotter machine—a printer that use real pen to 'draw'.

Holy moly what a utility!

Garden, Monoliths #162

But one of the reply is what intrigued me more:

"I am more in awe of the code that creates the art. And I have not seen a single line of it :-) Can this be a thing?"

the code

that creates the art?

Huh?

Generative Springtime 01; burned

Generative, as the name suggests on the work showed above, is what is the term used for this kind of artwork:

"art (drawing) made using a predetermined system that often includes an element of chance – is usually applied to computer based art." -TATE

So what we see in here ↓

Garden, Monoliths #39

Is actually not a work of a diligent man striking lines after lines after lines with a pen to produce a drawing. But a work of a man diligently challenges the commands in lines of code, so it can drive a 'pen' to draw for him.

And not stopping at there. After I visited the notorious 3,200tz piece's home—fx(hash)—I was welcomed by hundreds of 'familiar' beauties

But they are all different.

Garden, Monoliths #41

Garden, Monoliths #245

Garden, Monoliths #65

Garden, Monoliths #46

Garden, Monoliths #156

Garden, Monoliths #100

The Oak Tree part #-1,0

The Oak Tree part #0,0

The Oak Tree part #+1,0

The Oak Tree part #-1,-1 ; #0,-1; #+1,-1

The Oak Tree part #-1,-2

The Oak Tree part #0,-2

The Oak Tree part #+1,-2

A generative

artwork_

But they are all the same.

The wonder of generative artwork brings this outcome a possibility. Because what you publish is the 'code' and it runs when someone mints it, generating a completely different iteration from the previous, and of course the next one. Making yours is undoubtedly a 1/1 while still retained in the same collection with your friends (or foes)

and I fell in love

*For a more cohesive understanding of Generative Artwork, an article by Amy Goodchild is a recommended read.

Lushtemples — Heart Shaped

with the Gardens

with the generative art.

Garden, Monoliths #39

This article is written simply as a memoir of my first encounter with both Zancan and generative art, which I eagerly followed afterward.

Needless to say, Zancan's works are way beyond the techniques. The reason he did all of them at first is sparking an even more emotion in me (especially the Heart Shaped).

Thank you for being here, ser Zancan 🌿

Lushtemples — Highlights of the Hike