Cosmos
Information on the Cosmos Series.
TL;DR
I work best and have the most fun when I embark on worldbuilding projects through my art. This is one such. I will be making works within a mirror universe of the crypto space I’m calling the Cosmos, with the first pieces being Cosmos Dialectics — allegorical paintings summoned by random juxtapositions of archetypal cryptocosm forms and ideas.
A deeper Dive
Recently, in my NFTs, I’ve gathered a collection of over 40 archetypes from the cryptocosm, a theoretical space which involves human and machinic collaborators in DeFi and crypto trading.
The reason for doing this was not fully clear to me when I drew them — I knew it seemed urgent to try to capture the scope of DeFi degens, traders and builders, as well as some of the philosophies that frame their actions. I soon realized that what I was constructing was a cosmos, a system that is composed of some unknown shape, but includes many monads within it, and is invested with some balance, intricacy, hierarchy and lexical value.
I now wish to explore this further, using a technique of dialectic composition. I have isolated the archetypes within the source works as oracle cards, and now will set about pairing elements from the cosmos together at random to beget new, poetic works. I hope this might inscribe and illustrate networks of meaning. I also wish to grow it further, as I make the paintings, by making a new set of “Gods” that pull at the shape from its extremities.
In this process, I am aligned with arcane diviners, such as cartomancers and augurs, as well as the Surrealists and Beats. I also believe this meaning formation is similar to the experiences of the contemporary metaverse travelers, who are faced with no firmament, but rather a rhizomatic structure of fantastical architecture, upon which he/she must find passage by developing internal context.
Read on to learn more about how the series will be developed and minted….
Gods
Approximately weekly, I will draw a God. These will be made using a technique of ink washes and pen drawing that I have grown to see as a entryway into the unknown. Each God will be named and given a chance to populate one artwork, its own “God Portrait”, as well as immediately gain entry into a “Dialectic” (below).
Dialectics
Dialectic works are the narrative construction and myth generation mode of the work. To create the dialectic works, I use a randomizer script to select three of the archetypes that I have gathered so far, as well as one idea from a secret list of ideas (this is my secret sauce). These selections will form the basis of a landscape populated by the allegorical figures. I use the techniques of drawing and digital collage to create the works, and frame them with text.
The edition sizes of these works will depend upon the rarity of the archetypes that arise within them.
Contains a God: Edition of 3
Contains a Hermit, Demigod or Wind: Edition of 3–5
Commons Only: Edition of 5
Contains Multiple Rares: Edition of 1
Cosmos Score
A shorthand to figure out how potent a Dialectic image is:
God = 20
Demigod = 15
Hermit = 10
Wind = 8
Common = 1
Scope
I never really know how long a body of work will continue to last. I wish to continue this for some time. I imagine the outer limit would be 20 works and 8 Gods. It feel it should not be an unending process, but should circumnavigate enough territory that it feels episodic and epic, and enriches the quality of the works by the expanded hermeneutics of its interior.
Thank you for reading along.
~Zemm
The Cosmos works can be found here, on Rarible