Checks Elements pairs 152 monoprints with digital works. Jean Milant and Cirrus Editions printed them in 2023. Christie's showed three of the works at its Rockefeller Center galleries in New York in May 2023.
The project takes the checkmark from Checks off the screen and onto paper. It organizes the color around the four classical elements, earth, air, fire and water, as another system people have believed in.
The compositions come from the same generative rules as Checks, so the grid of marks is familiar. Here Jean Milant drew each one by hand from its instructions and pulled it on a Mailander 202 lithographic press, and the palettes run to the earth tones, blues and reds of each element. Every print has a digital twin, and the token records whether a collector holds one or both.
Josef Albers spent his last decades painting nested squares to show that the same color changes with its neighbors. That was a rule followed by hand, again and again. Checks Elements works the same way in reverse. A coded rule specifies the image, then a printer's hand and a press make every impression slightly different. It is the old tension in print editions between the matrix and the pull, with a blockchain as the matrix.
When the digital twin is exact and the print is not, which one is the original?
Verification on paper
In Erika Lee's interview, Butcher explains earth, air, fire and water as a way of extending his interest in shared systems of belief.3
A digital rule, a manual process
The compositions use generative logic related to Checks, with palettes organized around the elements. Each pair starts as a generative work on Ethereum. Jean Milant then drew it by hand following its instructions and pulled it on a Mailander 202 lithographic press. The pairing makes it possible to compare a digital specification with its material realization.
The documented process does not give collectors the compositing role they have in Checks Originals. Here the focus is the relationship between a print and its digital counterpart. A pair is not interchangeable with a downloadable reproduction.3,2,4
152 pairs, six tiers
All multiples of the four elements.
Alpha, 4. Order, 12. Isolate, 16. Composite, 24. Compound, 32. Complete, 64.
Christie's auctions closed on 23 May 2023, Checks day 100. The rest went to auction from 24 May, one tier at a time, from Completes to the last Alpha Element, Fire. $8 reserve.4
Collection
Checks Elements #82 is in the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The artist announced it on 27 November 2024.5
The print claim and token record
On 17 July 2023, Butcher announces the monoprint claim and states that tokens will reflect single or pair status. This documents how the relationship between the digital record and the print was represented at that stage.1
Exhibition record
Christie's announced Earth, Air and Water from the collection for its 3. 0 auction, with bidding from 16 to 23 May 2023. These three works were on view at its Rockefeller Center galleries in New York from 20 to 23 May.2
Development
Printing
Images
Notes on the record
- That is the artist's account of the theme.3
- It is not evidence for a universal history of how cultures classified the physical world.3
- The announcement is not a record of every delivery or a guarantee of current claim availability.1
- The auction-house announcement is primary evidence of that presentation, not independent critical endorsement.2
Sources and further reading
Artist statements describe intention. Reporting and interviews record different perspectives; exhibition announcements establish specific presentations. How sources are classified.
1. Artist / studio · Selected posts from the downloaded account archive
Checks Elements: the print claim
1 selected posts. A July 2023 announcement connects physical claims to the token's single/pair status. Original wording and links are preserved; headings and notes are editorial. This is artist testimony, not independent verification.
2. Exhibition record · Exhibitor announcement (PDF)
Jack Butcher: Checks Elements: This Artwork May or May Not Be Notable
Announces three works at Rockefeller Center, New York, 20-23 May 2023, with bidding 16-23 May. Identifies the collaboration with Jean Milant and Cirrus Editions. An auction-house source, not independent criticism.
3. Independent publication · Reporting with artist interview
Jack Butcher Unveils Checks Elements NFT Collection
Describes the print process and quotes Butcher on the four elements. His explanation is artist testimony, not independent historical evidence.
4. Artist / studio · Thread on X
Checks Elements: tiers and press
152 pairs in six tiers (Alpha 4, Order 12, Isolate 16, Composite 24, Compound 32, Complete 64). Each pair is hand drawn following its algorithmic instructions on a Mailander 202 lithographic press. Remaining auctions from 24 May 2023, Checks day 101, $8 reserve.
5. Artist / studio · Post on X
Checks Elements #82 enters the LACMA permanent collection
Announces Checks Elements #82 in the LACMA permanent collection and thanks Jean Milant, Cirrus Editions, Martin Klipp and Jalil Wahdatehagh.