epistolary studies

A series of 1/1 digtial paintings that connect with aesthetic thinkers of the past through asemic writing. noumenal starts by asking ChatGPT to write a letter to the particular thinker (the first five are written to Harold Szeemann, Agnes Martin, Immanuel Kant, Giorgio Vasari, and Susan Sontag) explaining the nature and importance of art-on-blockchain and, further, to consider how each thinker might respond to this new technology given their particular aesthetic bent. This text is taken directly out of the browser (copy & pasted) into Adobe Illustrator and manipulated to the point of indecipherability. This vector file is then pen plotted with a vintage HP 7475a plotter, the plot is scanned and brought into a digital painting environment. Finally, noumenal writes her own letter to the thinker on top with gestural marks and swaths of color and texture.

The works are minted on a custom Manifold contract and are available on Foundation.

Works from this series have been included in From Though To Form, FCollective’s digital group exhibition, March 2023, and TOMORROW & TOMORROW: Exploring Digital Art in the Age of NFTS, Larsen Warner Gallery’s exhibition Stockholm, May 25th-June 22nd, 2023.