Occasions and Figures
Pieces made for a moment. The works in this room were drawn for occasions: the hundredth, two hundredth, three hundredth and five hundredth inks, a summer, a pizza day, a greeting. With them hang the few full figures and painted scenes from outside the named series. Twenty-two works, from October 2021 to December 2024.
Most of them carry words. NIFTY INK on a tee shirt, WAGMI on a bottle, a number held up like a sign, slogans written across a face. The words are drawn, not typed, and they sit in the picture like any other mark.
Watch the sun-head. It appears in May 2022 as a figure with a sun for a face, in a tee shirt, on a beach, in the dark, dancing. Two years later it comes back as a pizza.
The First Day and a Dragon
October 20, 2021, the first day of nnxyz on Nifty Ink: a figure in a cap and a river landscape. Then, in December, a dragon on the water.
nnxyz randoomdle with cap
A figure in a blue cap and a yellow shirt, drawn in orange and white hatching with the letters N N X Y Z written in pink across its face, grinning with white teeth. The ground is a dense weave of red, green and blue hatching. The first nnxyz work on Nifty Ink, drawn October 20, 2021, and the name is already on the face.
nnxyz good morning nifty randoomdle
A river runs through a green valley under a sky of pink and white cloud, with a tree at the left and a stump at the right, all painted in soft strokes and scribble. Drawn six hours after the figure in the cap, on the same first day. It is a landscape without a face in it, and with 737 recorded strokes one of the most worked drawings in the wing.
nnxyz Smaug on the Water
A dragon rises from blue water, its head at the right, its body a long curve of gold and white strokes, its tail trailing across the dark sky. The water is a mass of cyan and white scribble like foam. The sky is black. It is the most densely drawn work in the whole collection, and the only dragon.
Hundreds and Summers
January to November 2022. Four milestone drawings for the hundredth, two hundredth, three hundredth and five hundredth inks, and three summer figures with a sun for a head.
nnxyz 100 nifties
Three cartoon characters in green, blue and pink stand in a row with the letters X, Y and Z on their chests and the number 100 drawn above them in pale balloon letters. Their eyes are wide, their mouths open, and they drip at the feet into a grey floor. The milestone for the hundredth ink, made January 28, 2022.
nnxyz 200 nifties
Figures glow in a burst of light, drawn in gold and grey with a hand raised, and the words 200 NIFTY INK at the upper left.
nnxyz nifty summer ink
A figure with a sun for a head stands on blue in a white tee that says NIFTY INK, black shorts and sunglasses with X Y Z on the lenses, holding a bottle labeled WAGMI with bubbles rising from it. The sun is yellow with short rays. The arms and legs are yellow lines. The first of three summer figures, drawn May 10, 2022.
nnxyz nifty summer night ink
The same sun-headed figure at night, glowing in a ring of yellow on black, its tee grey, its arms out.
nnxyz nifty summer dance ink
The sun-headed figure dances on teal in headphones, one leg kicked out, the word WAGMI floating around it with music notes and wavy lines.
Compare with nifty summer ink, in this room
nnxyz 300 nifties
A figure in black and white line with a visor and a grin holds a line that runs up to the signature, and a small figure at its feet holds up a sign that says 300.
nnxyz 500 inks
A face in dense colored line on orange: a long nose, two glasses-like rings, dark hair falling at the sides, a small closed mouth, drawn in black, yellow, blue, white and red strokes over a painted face. It is the milestone for the five hundredth ink, drawn November 12, 2022, and it is a portrait, not a cartoon.
Figures of 2023 and 2024
Six numbered works from November 2023 to March 2024 that are figures, not masks: a dancing girl, a rabbit, a hooded figure, a crouching creature, a pair, and a creature with hearts.
nnxyz #8
A girl with orange curly hair and pink cheeks dances in a teal frame, her arms drawn in blue loops, a shower of yellow and blue dots falling at the left.
nnxyz #12
On pink, a black figure walks at the left, a red rabbit stands at the center with ringed eyes, and a dark figure with a white smile stands at the right under a yellow sun with a face. Yellow bars float behind them. The three figures are drawn in different ways, the first in black with a yellow face, the rabbit in red scribble, the third in black with a tangle of yellow line. It is the one crowd scene in the room.
nnxyz #18
A hooded figure painted in dark brown against orange and gold, its face lost in the hood, thin lines ruled across the whole square.
nnxyz #26
A black creature with a crown of spikes and a grin of teeth crouches on yellow, drawn in black and blue scribble, hatched lines at the right.
nnxyz #34
Two figures on teal, one in a cap and one with red X eyes and a red beam, drawn in dark scribble with white line over them.
nnxyz #35
A green and red creature in sunglasses with a mouth of teeth stands on purple, with three red hearts beside it, each with a small face, and a dark figure in a cap on a pole at the right. A sad sun looks down from the top. Blue raindrops fall. The hearts have faces, the sun has a face, and the creature has sunglasses: everything in the picture looks at something.
Pizza Day and After
May to December 2024. Three pizza drawings in two days, a pink head, and two masks covered in words.
pizza pizza day
A pizza slice for a head, with red glasses and a grin, under a yellow sun with a face, drawn in orange and gold hatching with yellow rays over everything. Two years after the sun-headed summer figures, the sun is back, and the figure under it has become a slice of pizza. The first of three pizza drawings, made May 19, 2024.
Compare with nifty summer ink, in this room
pizza pizza pizza day
A round head on black with pizza slices on top like a crown, blue glasses, a grin of white teeth, and a slice of pizza on its white shirt.
pizza pizza pizza pizza day
A man in red glasses and a red cape stands in blue rain holding up a sign with hearts, a pizza flying at the upper right and a small creature at his feet.
nnxyz abi ninja
A dense scribbled head on pink with a red target eye, ABI NINJA written below.
nnxyz #64
A face inside a black frame, covered in words: DIGITAL ART in pink, BLUE CHIP in blue, OG, and a line about going from dishwasher to memewasher along the top. The face has a red crossed eye, a grin of white teeth and a yellow hook of a nose. Green and blue scribble fills the rest. The words are drawn in as many hands as colors.
nnxyz #66
A mask with a pink flower for an eye and a grin of teeth, under the words NO NEED FOR A WALL in yellow and black, with memewasher, artfluencer and sold by Christies written around it in white, pink and red. Drawn the day after the framed face, December 5, 2024. It is the last work in the collection by date, and it is mostly writing.
Compare with #64, in this room
GM
scrimshaw.eth
A related item from the Scrimshaw collection: the letters G and M drawn in looping colored line on a muddy ground, a greeting by the artist Scrimshaw, dated November 2021. It hangs here with the occasion pieces because it is one.
Closing
Look again at the first figure, with the artist's name written across its face in October 2021, and then at the last, a mask under a slogan in December 2024. Three years apart, and both are faces made partly of words.