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Anamorphic Generations consists of ten unique video artworks redeemable for physical bronze cast chrome plated sculptures, as well as an open edition redeemable for prints that are hand finished with the artist’s sketches. Connecting computational complexity with human perception, this Expanded NFT project signals an ambitious new direction in Zhestkov’s work.

Exclusively available on Zien

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‍Opening Date:

1/1 artworks: July 12, 2023

Open edition: August 1, 2023

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Closing:

Open edition: August 3, 2023

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‍Location:

Open edition launches with an IRL event in London at Shoreditch Arts Club on Tuesday 1st August, 2023. See Zien's socials for more information.

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About the project:

In Anamorphic Generations, undulating cones of light uncover hidden architectural forms. What do artists reveal by utilising the latest knowledge and tools? In 1553, when Hans Holbein painted an anamorphic skull in the middle of The Ambassadors, it was a shocking and innovative way to relate viewer and painting. Zhestkov uses ultra-contemporary digital technologies to similarly engender new relationships between the audience and the artwork. In Anamorphic Generations, we see Zhestkov’s celebrated digital vocabulary extend by relating software-generated forms to Renaissance-era studies of perspective. The result is a new way of looking at the act of looking itself. A metaphysics of technology’s blackbox rendered as physical magic. The production of the physical sculptures developed through several iterations. A fabrication process, located in a Lebanese foundry, faithfully captures the complexity and chrome finish of the NFT’s digital sculptural form. The fabrication process has three steps: the sculptural form is 3D printed (a 20 year old method); a bronze cast is poured into the mould (a 4000 year old method); and finally the object is electroplated in chrome (a 150 year old method). Ancient and recent techniques thus combine to produce an artefact steeped in different material traditions.

Completing the project is an open edition that presents freeze-frames from the dynamic of Zhestkov’s digital forms. The open edition is redeemable for a Giclee print on Hahnemuhle Photorag Pearl paper, which is then hand finished by the artist.

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About the artist:

Maxim Zhestkov (b. 1985) is a London-based digital artist who blends sculpture and architecture with deep knowledge of physics and computer science. Zhestkov crafts intricate artworks that exemplify the intersection between the virtual and the real. Zien is a Web3 platform enabling a new way to produce and collect contemporary art as Expanded NFTs: onchain art that can be redeemed for physical counterparts. Through experimental collaboration with today's foremost artists, Zien transforms how art is accessed and collected by future focused audiences.

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Socials:

@zhestkov

@joinzien

@shumonbasar

@tommouna

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