Jack Butcher, the creative mind behind Visualize Value and the innovative Checks VV NFT collection, is set to launch a new venture - Checks Elements. This project uniquely combines generative digital art with tangible, hand-drawn prints.
Checks Elements is a 152-piece art collection inspired by the four fundamental elements of earth, air, fire, and water. Each piece in the collection is a distinctive blend of colors representing these elements, generated algorithmically. The collection delves deep into the continually evolving relationship between consensus and truth.
As Butcher described to CoinDesk, elements are essentially the original form of decentralized consensus. The Checks Elements collection aims to explore the transition from pre-internet consensus to modern-day internet consensus. This includes a variety of cultures, languages, and worldviews that universally agree on the four main categories of matter - earth, air, water, and fire.
Butcher collaborated with master printmaker Jean Robert Milant and Cirrus editions to translate the NFT outputs into physical 30x43 inch monoprints. They achieved this using a vintage lithographic printing press that converts an on-chain SVG file into a physical print.
The creation of physical prints involved etching the signature Checks grid onto a printer's plate. The team then added each paint color featured in the collection, based on the algorithmic outputs they created. Each artwork is authenticated using Butcher's fingerprint and comes paired with an Ethereum-based NFT.
The first three "Alpha" elements - water, air, and earth, will be auctioned at Christie's from May 16 to May 23. A portion of the proceeds will go to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The physical and digital pieces will be displayed at Christie's New York gallery from May 20. The remaining Checks Elements, including the fourth Alpha element - fire, will be up for public auction for 24 hours. The physical prints will start shipping on June 24.
While the auction will use some dynamics from the original Checks collections, Butcher clarified that this project would not necessarily be interoperable with the other gamified pieces. However, he mentioned that the idea of Elements is to exist as pairs, complementing the existing checks ecosystem.
Despite the possibility of collectors decoupling their physical prints from their NFTs, Butcher believes that for provenance purposes, people will prefer to keep them together.
Recently, other NFT artists and galleries have also started to embrace the physical forms of their NFTs, marking a new trend in the NFT world.
