Meet chiral
Art was present from an early age, with fragments placed across many different networks before moving to Bitcoin. Chiral Day began inscribing in February 2023, with the two primordial inscriptions being 43,117 and 46,467.
Digital Life
The work navigates “the incongruity of raw human experience with the sanitization of digital life through ‘eyebleach,’ or chaotic schematized disentanglement with unreality, or an approach to the viewing of the kaleidoscope mirage.”
Every ordinal inscription is intended as a stand-alone object with aesthetic appeal for collecting. Yet within that independence lies a polarity: “the saccharine and grim through a surreal horror.” Authenticity comes not from an imposed meaning, but from the act of carving away at pixels until only a final signal remains.
A Superior Medium
Chiral inscriptions began once the artist realized Ordinals offered a superior medium for permanence. “The main reason was to place elements of soul on the internet with minimal contingencies.”
Working within Bitcoin changed the nature of the work itself. Larger, more extravagant creations gave way to pieces carved with elegance. The community also shaped the experience,“rather welcoming and unique,” and the medium revealed surprising depth, with the ability to weave multiple inscriptions together in esoteric ways.
Meaningful Works
Among the earliest, 46,467 stands out as the first excerpt in the book Races with Indigo, and one of the first inscriptions to demonstrate pre-recursive references. Another notable piece is 163026, described as a ‘gem’ with aesthetic appeal and the only inscription containing a reference to Bitcoin itself.
Perhaps most significant is a series of seven inscriptions on named sats, forming an unbound metadata signature that gathers all work into one. One of those names, for the curious, is Abyssherald.
Traditional Roots?
“All of this is speculation.” Works under the same artist name have appeared in pen and ink, oil painting, wood carving, sculpture, and writing. Whether or not they connect to Chiral Day’s inscriptions remains unknown.
Intent and Object
“There are two elements to art; intent and object. Intent is the reason for the creation of a work of art. Object is the form that the intent results in. The main lesson an artist can learn is to make more, more, MORE.”
Influences Digested
Influence is inevitable: “We digest our influences. Known or unknown.” Copying can build skills, but “can also make you a part of someone else’s tomb.”
Among noted figures are Beksiński, Doré, Hieronymus Bosch, Gene Wolfe, and Shakespeare.
Person is Growth
“If there is a person, there is growth, if there is not, there is none. An artist is dead to the work. The audience is what grows, or the art dies.”
A Look Ahead
Two projects are in motion, falling under the Seven Centaurs. One will be a collection of larger supply, while another will focus on smaller supply and re-inscriptions, becoming the first to incorporate early ordinals with parent-child structures.
Beyond these, a few 1/1s may follow, along with more text inscriptions.
Why?
For those curious about merging art with crypto, Chiral Day poses a question first: why? “Is it to earn income from producing digital art? Make a business plan, treat it like any other medium. We’re all emerging, there is little advice other than that which can be offered. If you want to understand the medium, learn about it, if not, don’t.”
