The ampersand - and per se and - is a special kind of logogram, a bundle of other letters, a conjunction whose substance in language is connective tissue. A corruption of the phrase “& by itself (is the word) and”, an ampersand simultaneously represents the latinate et, this composite glyph once resided inside of the English alphabet, a misfit word / shape / sound whose only relatives were other letters that also occasionally serve as words - I, O, Y, B, Q, C, U, X - especially in the contemporary era where phonetics, codes and acronyms have replaced longhand writing.

The NFT “Sweet Sweet Cherry Pink”, Janitz’s genesis piece, employs the same structure, an inverted ampersand that has come loose of its girdings and floats in virtual space - and further unravels the morpheme, allowing exploration of all perceptible angles.

Janitz’s painting practice has long explored notions of tensegrity - brushstrokes arranged and presented a priori to suggest a kind of taut elasticity - while his new series of works explores the ductility of language and sound. It stands to reason that the ampersand is presented as if seen from behind: Janitz’s paintings have often given the impression of a view from behind the underpainting and support of a picture, and “Sweet Sweet Cherry Pink” expands this notion into the virtual realm proposing a shape per se in the most logically intensive sense.

Verisart Certified: https://verisart.com/works/d6db7bf4-a526-49c8-aac9-ed3277cc870c