CHERTI #18

Iskra Velitchkova is constantly moving back and forth between working with code and working with physical materials, in order to better understand the behavior and output of both. Her “CHERTI” artwork is a series of drawings that explore the relationship between physical drawings and software drawings. On that topic, Iskra writes, “The difference between digital and physical allows me to see the process itself. The constraints of the pen, the paper, and many other circumstances that only happen in real life make me more aware of how much we can learn from technology and its capacity to produce complexity.” The software drawing seen in the web browser is a small window of the full composition, to show more detail. The physical drawing reveals the whole picture, and both views are displayed together to convey this relationship.


“CHERTI” is a software NFT, but the first collector of each edition will receive the corresponding plotter drawing shipped directly from the artist’s studio. Each software NFT includes millions of other images beyond the primary image for each edition. The software NFT and the plotter drawing aren’t linked together; the NFT can continue to be collected on a secondary market without the drawing. Click on the artwork or press the spacebar to generate a new image with a different random seed value. Press ‘1’ to zoom out of the image and ‘2’ to zoom in. Press ‘3’ to return to the original magnification.

The image you see on the main artwork page on Feral File is the plotter drawing for the artist-proof (AP). Compare this image of the drawing to the corresponding software version of the AP to see how the software image and the plotted drawing are related. Because the artists are using a range of papers and inks, the software and physical drawings are delightfully different. Iskra uses two different color schemes selected randomly in the digital version of each digital edition, but the physical drawings associated with the editions will have the same colors and will match the AP.

The “CHERTI” drawings are 50 × 70 cm (19.8 × 27.6 inches) on ivory Fabriano Rosaspina 220 gsm paper. They are drawn with black, brown, and red Muji Gel Ink pens.