VV Rare gathers unique digital works on Ethereum, released through Foundation from March 2021.
The series uses the Visualize Value language to think through the new split between an image, the record of who owns it and the market around it.
Each work is a single black-and-white proposition. One of the earliest, NFTs, explained., is a diagram of the idea it was made with. Butcher later named it as a starting point for Checks. Each work stands alone, issued once, its image as easy to copy as any other picture online.
René Magritte painted a pipe and wrote under it that it was not a pipe. The picture explained itself and undercut itself in the same move. VV Rare does something similar with the token. A unique work that explains what a unique work is invites the viewer to ask what the uniqueness covers, given that the image travels freely.
If the image can be copied by anyone, what is the one thing that cannot?
Read the individual image
The series is a collection of separate works, not a single mechanism shared by every token. The retained gallery includes an NFT explainer and other visual propositions.
The fact that a work is issued once describes its edition. It does not prevent its image from being reproduced or settle the significance of the idea it presents.
In the January 2023 Checks notes, Butcher identifies the March 2021 work NFTs, explained. as a starting point and links its Foundation record. This gives one specific work an attributable place in the later project's development.2,1
Images and ownership records
The studio records releases through Foundation. A marketplace collection can help locate tokens, but sale prices and changing listings are not substitutes for a work catalogue.2
Development
Beginning of Foundation releases as dated by the studio. Source
Images
Notes on the record
- Each needs its own title, date and record to support close reading.2,1
- The link below is a finding aid rather than a statement of current availability.2
- The next archival step is a verified title-by-title index with token identifiers, original release dates, image descriptions and artist notes.2
- No complete count or comprehensive exhibition history is asserted here.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: an image becomes a set of rules
10 selected posts, through 2023-01-10. Early process notes distinguish the original image, a rejected distribution idea and a developing compositing system. Original wording and links are preserved; headings and notes are editorial. This is artist testimony, not independent verification.
2. Artist / studio · Preserved primary-source excerpts
VV Rare: Preserved studio catalogue excerpts
Selected passages from the public catalogue before this editorial revision. These preserve the artist's account; their inclusion is not independent corroboration. The capture date is not the work's creation date.