Maxim Zhestkov

Anamorphic Generations consists of ten 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.

The 1/1 artworks are available via enquiry only.

Open for a 72-hour period, the open-edition will be released alongside an event in London on Tuesday 1st August, 2023.

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 bronze cast is poured into the mould; and finally the object is electroplated in chrome. 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.

Maxim Zhestkov

Creating between art and technology, Zhestkov generates art films utilising algorithmic code. Beginning with fundamental geometric entities—points, spheres, and surfaces—he constructs three-dimensional forms that flex and stretch unpredictably within computer-simulated environments. Zhestkov combines work that is digital in nature with traditional sculptural principles, to create holistic concepts, ideas and aesthetics that cross the digital and material.

Artwork Details

Each of the 1/1 and Open Edition artworks in the Anamorphic Generations collection is an Expanded NFT, which is a file-based work that can be redeemed on-chain for a corresponding physical artwork. Collectors of Anamorphic Generations have the option to redeem their artwork at any time by using the Expanded NFT protocol, which fully authenticates the digital-to-physical transition within the same token. This process enables collectors to retain both the digital and physical artworks.