Until December 31st, order a limited edition, signed & framed 11 x 16” risograph print. Order from your gallery page or buy on the secondary market to explore this unique form.

In Interference, Phaust foregrounds two scientific discoveries in a search for purity of generative systems—an 18th century German physicist and a 20th century Japanese electronics corporation.

Investigating acoustics, Ernst Chladni took a violin bow and drew it against a metal plate lightly covered with sand. When the plate reached resonance the sand would settle on particular nodal lines–leaving what is known as Chladni patterns. These proved to be important in fields as diverse as acoustics and instrument design to wave theory and quantum mechanics.

Chladni patterns vary according to a range of factors and can be described with some pleasingly simple equations. Those equations lie at the heart of this collection and perhaps show generative art at its purest: a set of simple equations which give rise to near infinite variation.

Phaust drew upon a 1980 invention by the Riso Kagaku Corporation to bring these forms to life–a machine that looks like a photocopier but works like a screen printer. The Risograph uses stencils and vibrant semi-transparent spot color inks to print a single layer of color at a time, producing prints that are vivid, textured and unique thanks to subtle imperfections in the printing process.

Interference embraces the quirks of Risograph printing, adopting the semi-transparent colors of Riso inks and exaggerating the mis-alignment found on Risograph prints. Instead of plotting solid bands of color, the collection mimics the texture of Risograph prints through over half a million distinct tiles, each subtly varied in shape and color. This treatment suggests mosaics when viewed up close and harkens back 200 years to sand particles settling along nodal lines on Chladni's plates.

Unlike earlier collections such as Pointilla, where the artists had to define much of the forms through code, this is fundamentally a handful of mathematical functions and transformations that create a dramatic variation of composition. Phaust chooses to break the faithful presentation of a physical phenomenon by deviating from standard Chladni patterns — introducing polar coordinates that create a pinching effect to otherwise more rounded forms and an additional distortion that occasionally disturbs these flows. These interventions remind the viewer that this is an unreal depiction, algorithmically generated.

This mathematical and conceptual simplicity speaks directly to the beauty of generative systems. By foregrounding a familiar physical phenomenon, the vibration of sound, Phaust elevates the unique beauty of generative art.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

• LONDON LAUNCH PARTY: Works will be available at the preview event in London, UK on the evening of Tuesday, July 18th. Email concierge@tonic.xyz if you would like an invite to the event.
• PRE-REGISTRATION OF BIDS using a credit card can be executed anytime before the auction begins. Bids can be set at any available price level and will execute on a first-come-first-served basis when the auction reaches that tier. Use the pre-bid button on this page to submit your pre-registered bid, starting on Thursday, July 13, 10AM PT until 24 hours before auction starts. Learn More.
• HOLDER REBATE: Click here for list of qualifying wallets. Collectors who hold any Tonic work will receive a rebate to the auction sell-out price. Wallets must hold one Tonic NFT 24 hours before the auction. This includes if the wallet has been declared a delegate to another wallet utilizing delegate.cash holding the Tonic NFT. Note that all rebates will be issued in ETH, regardless of original payment method, after the auction concludes.
• SEASON ONE SET HOLDER BENEFIT: Collectors that hold at least one Chromesthesia: Ascend, one Intimità, AND one Strands of Solitude work will receive free shipping up to $1,000 on all prints and framed works, including those from Phaust's Interference.
• PRINT OPTIONS: If you buy at mint, you are entitled to a complimentary 16 × 11-inch print with the option to upgrade to a larger size or add a frame for an additional fee. You can request one more print after the complimentary one. If you buy on the secondary market, you also have the option to purchase a printed version of the work.
• RESERVED WORKS: The first 10 pieces will be minted in advance and not available for sale during the auction: 5 for the artist and 5 for Tonic.
• COPYRIGHT LICENSE: At the artist's discretion, this specific collection is governed by the copyright license: CC BY-NC 4.0. Under this license, you are allowed to (1) Share the material in any format and (2) Adapt and transform the material. You must attribute the artist, indicate any changes, and use the material only for non-commercial purposes. Click here for collection-specific terms.