Jack Butcher Reveals Checks Elements NFT Collection
The alpha
- Jack Butcher, of Checks VV and Visualize Value, has announced his latest project. Checks Elements is a 152-piece generative art collection of hand-drawn monoprints and non-fungible token pairs, which he says explores “the ever-evolving relationship between consensus and truth.”
- The collection will contain four elements: Earth, fire, water and air. Three of the four items will be auctioned off at Christie’s on May 16. Thirty percent of the auction proceeds will be donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
- Each digital piece comes with a 30″ x 42″ physical counterpart created by master printer Jean Robert Milant.
Dive deeper
The Butcher’s Checks VV collection hit in early 2023 with an iconic phrase: “This art may or may not be remarkable.” The phrase, as well as the collection, is a play on the phrase: “This is an older verified account. It may or may not be notable,” which previously appeared when you clicked on the blue badge after Elon Musk announced that he would be selling verified tick marks for eight dollars.
The Checks Ecosystem has grown considerably since then, with hundreds of Checks derivatives and even a mechanism to migrate the original editions to on-chain artwork through Checks VV Editions. After this, many wondered if Butcher would continue to grow and add value to the Checks.
Now, after months of brainstorming, Butcher has unveiled Checks Elements.
When asked where he got the idea to use elements, Butcher says it was conceived with his friend Martin Klipppresident of Beyond Art Creative.
“The element concept comes from the idea of translating what Checks represents digitally into something physical,” said Butcher in an interview with nft now. “So this idea of consensus, what was consensus before we had these methods of digital communication? The four elements were basically present in every way, were discovered or arrived, and decided in all these different cultures that had no way to communicate with [one] another for thousands of years.”
For Butcher, Elements is an extension of the idea of using checks as a symbol of decentralization. It is the continuation of the story. He says using elements felt like the right way to describe the physical world.
“So we essentially took those four elements, built these color palettes around them, and then used a version of the algorithm that built checks generatively to produce these 152 prints. They will be put together as pairs so that the instructions and the immutable version of the NFT will live on Ethereum, and basically they translate physically.”
For the physical editions, Butcher and Klipp got help from Milant and his gallery, Cirrus Editions.
“It takes Jean almost a day each to make these prints handmade on a lithographic press,” Klipp said. “Each piece is also hand finished by Jack, so they are both physically and digitally verified.”
“They’re huge,” Butcher said. “They have to be rolled. So if you got 20 checks, it could be a minimum of 20 rolls of each color on each on each piece of paper.”
What will be next
Checks Elements will be on display at Christie’s until 23 May. Following the first auction, the Butcher’s 24-hour collection will also be auctioned from May 24-25. The last element, Fire, will be hidden in the 24-hour collection. Physical prints for those who purchased the 152 Checks Elements pieces from both auctions will be sent out on June 24th.
When asked about being showcased at Christie’s, Jack attributes this success entirely to the support of the community. “It’s just something I haven’t experienced before,” Butcher said. “And I’m learning and kind of getting to experience it with everyone else, which is amazing.”
If you own Checks, Openen and Visualize Value 1/1s, you will be able to have a special participation in Checks Elements auctions. Butcher stated in a tweet (pictured above) that you will receive “Infinity Check” bidder’s issues for each auction level you enter.
One Check collectors will receive a complete set of issues whether they participate or not, as will those who participate in Alpha and Christie’s auctions. There are currently only 31 “One Checks” out of a possible 250 currently exists.
If that seems confusing, it simply means that if you’re not a One Check holder, you’ll need to bid and own one of the collections mentioned to get a full set of Infinity Checks (all four items).
When asked if Checks Elements will be related to Visualize Value’s other popular project, Open Edition, Butcher says they are separate projects. But there is “a lot of work to do” that we will all see more about soon.
