Verse Live at Frieze No.9 Cork Street

This September, Verse is pleased to present the debut Verse Live. Taking place at Frieze No.9 Cork Street, the programme includes an exhibition and live minting experience by conceptual digital artist Jonathan Chomko and 'The Green Collection' - the never-before-displayed personal collection by leading generative artist Zancan.

The opening event will culminate with a talk entitled 'The Concept of Colour' with Jonathan Chomko, Zancan and David Batchelor, in partnership with The Digital Art Salon.

Jonathan Chomko - Colour Time

On show in a physical space for the first time, Jonathan Chomko will present his latest works Colour Time Sync and Colour Time Generative, extending his Colour Time series. Chomko’s work delicately straddles lived experiences in the physical and digital realms, working through and against technology, to probe the boundaries between these two not-so-separate worlds.

For Verse Live, he will present two new works: Colour Time Sync and Colour Time Generative. Colour Time Sync features two panes of shifting colour synchronised to the clock, enabling visitors online and IRL to experience the work through a shared temporal frame. Colour Time Generative is series of works co-created with the market, where each buyer receives a slice of the timeline from Colour Time Sync. There is no fixed size for the edition - instead, as depending on the number of pieces minted, the gradient expands. Each buyer owns a section of a continuum, constantly shifting until the sale closes.

As a body of work, Colour Time draws inspiration from the seminal colour studies of Joseph Albers, the light installation of James Turrell, and the op-art of Bridget Riley. Working within the frame of the every-day digital display, these works seek to overwhelm the process of visual perception, inducing a state where the unconscious of the artist and viewer can meet. Viewing Colour Time, one is drawn into a state of contemplation. Slowly shifting colours create complementary colour after-images in the eye, blurring hard edges to create a visual experience that exists between perception and reality.

“As I played around with the idea of a colour sequence animation, I became curious about slowness, perhaps influenced by my friend Timothy Thomasson’s slow CGI video work. I set out to make colours shift as slowly as the movement of the sun; movement perceptible over time but difficult to observe as it happens.”

Zancan - The Green Collection

Never in history have artworks been collected by other artists so frequently. Much like the Painters’ Paintings exhibition at London’s National Gallery in 2016, Verse will present the personal capsule collection of, oil- painter turned top-selling NFT artist on the Tezos blockchain, Michael Zancan’s The Green Collection.

Each artwork in The Green Collection tells an individual story, capturing seminal moments over the last two years, at the dawn of digital and generative art augmentation in web3. Here rose the community of NFT artists-collectors, who supported and empowered each other. The works on show from Zancan’s collection include tokens of friendship, cherished acquisitions, sources of inspiration and seeds for future collaborations, allowing a true insight into this prolific NFT artists-collector community.

The exhibition includes a number of significant works from the personal collection of the artist, including Manfred Mohr, Sputniko, Toxi, Ivona Tau, and ciphrd - the founder and creator of the generative art platform fxhash.

Verse Live will take place from 28 September - 1 October. Opening event from 6:30pm on 28 September. RSVP here.