Digital Alchemy
2021 was the first year I really started to publish & 'mint' NFTs. My first official NFT was a piece on Known Origin called 'Rebis'. This was inspired by an ancient alchemical woodcut (also named 'The Rebis') which featured an image of a two headed humanoid, within a winged egg along with many other symbolic references. The male head represents the Sun; the female, the Moon. These two archetypes can expand to light & dark; order and chaos. This image encapsulates a multitude of things within its egg container just as an unhatched chick is a collection of complex biological parts within a single container.
The Rebis, 2021
The sheer amount of symbolic references encoded within alchemical images is something that has attracted me for a while. If one were to trace the route meaning of each figure within such images, you would be taken on a journey into the human experience, philosophy, science & the search for divinity.
Original depiction of the Rebis - Theoria Philosophiae Hermeticae (1617) by Heinrich Nollius
What is Alchemy?
Alchemy can be seen as the practice that eventually became Science. It encumbered philosophical & spiritual elements within its observational understanding of the natural world. Science eventually shaved off these 'immaterial' elements to a more logical & material focus, from which society has benefitted greatly. Perhaps the most famous trope within Alchemy is that of the transmutation of base metals (such as lead) into gold; another being the search for the Philosophers Stone, being the apparent key to eternal life & rejuvination. On a broader conceptual level, Alchemy represents our search for the great hidden answers in life & how we may transmutate ideas into reality.
The Alchemist Discovering Phosphorus, Joseph Wright of Derby (1771)
Digital Alchemy
The idea for having a collection of works entitled 'Digital Alchemy' came from this original Rebis work that was made. Modern day 3D software enables us to 'transmutate' these old alchemical scenes into surreal spectacles, rendered with physically-based rendering engines. The digitised scene represents a shift of old timeless ideas being re-presented in a contemporary medium.
But what alchemical scenes would be used to present these ideas in this new digital realm? The most obvious collection of alchemical scenarios that have been engraved into human culture is that of the tarot. The tarot deck is a set of cards that each represent different archetypal situations/figures within the human psyche; 'the Fool' card, for example, represents the archetype of the beginner who fails fast, willing to learn new things and make mistakes in the process. The tarot, therefore seems like a great starting place in producing the collection of 'Digital Alchemy'.
‘The Fool’ tarot card.
What’s next?
I have compiled a list of different cards that I aim to start with in making this collection. I own the Aleister Crowley Tarot Deck so aim to approach most of my designs from this.
Here is the list of cards I aim to start with:
0 - The Fool
1 - The Magician
2 - The High Priestess
3 - The Empress
4 - The Emperor
5 - The Hierophant
6 - The Lovers
7 - The Chariot
8 - Justice †
9 - The Hermit
10 - Wheel of Fortune
11 - Strength †
12 - The Hanged Man
13 - Death
14 - Temperance
15 - The Devil
16 - The Tower
17 - The Star
18 - The Moon
19 - The Sun
20 - Judgement
21 - The World
I hope to mint these on either Known Origin or OpenSea. Make sure to subscribe to my newsletter to stay updated on this & other projects.
You can check out my current NFTs in the Digital Alchemy collection here.
Detail from ‘As Above, So Below’, 1/1 NFT, 2021