Pace Verso

Lucas Samaras

XYZ

NFT Details

Lucas Samaras
XYZ

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Above: Lucas Samaras, XYZ 0817 (Chinoiserie), 2012/2021, non-fungible token © Lucas Samaras

NFTs derived from Lucas Samaras’s XYZ series figured in the inaugural Pace Verso program. A pioneering figure in photography and digital art, Samaras has been at the forefront of these mediums throughout his career, working in the digital realm well before it was associated with fine art.

The XYZ series, which includes four bodies of work created between 2010 and 2012, exemplifies the artist’s longstanding investigations of form, color, space, and the expansive possibilities of image making.

The NFTs from this series are dated 2012/2021 to reflect their original format and later transformation into NFTs. In these digital artworks, psychedelic, electrically colored formations intersect and interact, forging captivating compositions that beckon viewers into dreamlike realms. With the XYZ series, Samaras constructs ineffable universes rife with mystery and magic.

The XYZ series is engaged with some of Samaras’s most iconic works, including his Photo-Transformations series (1973–1976), centered on unorthodox manipulations of Polaroids, and Photofictions (2003), featuring fragmented self-portraits and fantastical abstractions. The artist has devoted much of his career to charting new frontiers in photography and digital art, and experimentation remains integral to his practice.

Featured Works

Lucas Samaras, XYZ 0810 (Chinoiserie), 2012/2021, non-fungible token

Lucas Samaras, XYZ 0813 (Chinoiserie), 2012/2021, still image delivered as a non-fungible token

Lucas Samaras, XYZ 0817 (Chinoiserie), 2012/2021, still image delivered as a non-fungible token, accompanied by an archival pigment print 8-1/2" × 14" (21.6 cm × 35.6 cm), sheet 7" × 12-1/2" (17.8 cm × 31.8 cm), image 9-1/4" × 14-3/4" × 1-1/2" (23.5 cm × 37.5 cm × 3.8 cm), framed

Lucas Samaras, XYZ 0819 (Chinoiserie), 2012/2021, still image delivered as a non-fungible token, accompanied by an archival pigment print 8-1/2" × 14" (21.6 cm × 35.6 cm), sheet 7" × 12-1/2" (17.8 cm × 31.8 cm), image 9-1/4" × 14-3/4" × 1-1/2" (23.5 cm × 37.5 cm × 3.8 cm), framed

Lucas Samaras, XYZ 0822 (Chinoiserie), 2012/2021, still image delivered as a non-fungible token, accompanied by an archival pigment print 8-1/2" × 14" (21.6 cm × 35.6 cm), sheet 7" × 12-1/2" (17.8 cm × 31.8 cm), image 9-1/4" × 14-3/4" × 1-1/2" (23.5 cm × 37.5 cm × 3.8 cm), framed

Lucas Samaras, XYZ 0859 (Chinoiserie), 2012/2021, still image delivered as a non-fungible token, accompanied by an archival pigment print 8-1/2" × 14" (21.6 cm × 35.6 cm), sheet 7" × 12-1/2" (17.8 cm × 31.8 cm), image 9-1/4" × 14-3/4" × 1-1/2" (23.5 cm × 37.5 cm × 3.8 cm), framed

Lucas Samaras, XYZ 0860 (Chinoiserie), 2012/2021, still image delivered as a non-fungible token, accompanied by an archival pigment print 8-1/2" × 14" (21.6 cm × 35.6 cm), sheet 7" × 12-1/2" (17.8 cm × 31.8 cm), image 9-1/4" × 14-3/4" × 1-1/2" (23.5 cm × 37.5 cm × 3.8 cm), framed

Lucas Samaras, XYZ 0861 (Chinoiserie), 2012/2021, still image delivered as a non-fungible token, accompanied by an archival pigment print 8-1/2" × 14" (21.6 cm × 35.6 cm), sheet 7" × 12-1/2" (17.8 cm × 31.8 cm), image 9-1/4" × 14-3/4" × 1-1/2" (23.5 cm × 37.5 cm × 3.8 cm), framed

XYZ 0862 (Chinoiserie) by Lucas Samaras — Lucas Samaras, *XYZ 0862 (Chinoiserie)*, 2012/2021, still image delivered as a non-fungible token, accompanied by an archival pigment print 8-1/2" × 14" (21.6 cm × 35.6 cm), sheet 7" × 12-1/2" (17.8 cm × 31.8 cm), image 9-1/4" × 14-3/4" × 1-1/2" (23.5 cm × 37.5 cm × 3.8 cm), framed

Lucas Samaras, XYZ 0868 (Chinoiserie), 2012/2021, still image delivered as a non-fungible token, accompanied by an archival pigment print 8-1/2" × 14" (21.6 cm × 35.6 cm), sheet 7" × 12-1/2" (17.8 cm × 31.8 cm), image 9-1/4" × 14-3/4" × 1-1/2" (23.5 cm × 37.5 cm × 3.8 cm), framed

XYZ 0879 (Chinoiserie) by Lucas Samaras — Lucas Samaras, *XYZ 0879 (Chinoiserie)*, 2012/2021, non-fungible token (NFT); physical component: 11" x 17," print with exclusive QR code watermark, Edition 1 of 1

Lucas Samaras, XYZ 0887 (Chinoiserie), 2012/2021, still image delivered as a non-fungible token, accompanied by an archival pigment print 8-1/2" × 14" (21.6 cm × 35.6 cm), sheet 7" × 12-1/2" (17.8 cm × 31.8 cm), image 9-1/4" × 14-3/4" × 1-1/2" (23.5 cm × 37.5 cm × 3.8 cm), framed

About the Artist

Eluding historical categorization, Lucas Samaras’s oeuvre is united through its consistent focus on the body and psyche, often emphasizing autobiography. The theme of self-depiction and identity has been a driving force behind his practice, which, at its onset in the early 1960s, advanced the Surrealist idiom yet proposed a radical departure from the presiding themes of Abstract Expressionism and Pop art.

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