Behind the Roses

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By Pindar Van Arman

Most SuperRare artists don’t need an introduction to SuperRareRoses (aka Zack Yanger) because he often introduces himself to them first.

I remember getting to know him late in 2018 when he reached out to me after buying one of my artworks on SuperRare. I went on to buy one of his early roses and we’ve been friends and confidants ever since. 

In the years we have known each other, I have watched his Rose series grow, and though I know that Zack would be embarrassed for me mentioning the following, I have no issue saying that I believe it is the most iconic collection on SuperRare. If you do not agree with me, just look at the artists, collectors, and collaborators attached to the pieces below. It is a who’s who of the CryptoArt world. For this and many other reasons, I’m honored to join the amazing list of artists that have collaborated with his Rose project so far.

Anyone who has seen his work knows he likes making NFTs with roses in them. For more than two years I thought that he was just into roses, that it was a stylistic choice. It wasn’t until earlier this year I noticed the story behind his series when I was moved by a piece he made with @tenjed.

It was one of those pieces I just bought immediately without thinking about it and in the description I noticed “In Loving Memory R.E.Y.” This inscription and a tweet I saw shortly after led me to an article which described the reasons why he featured roses in his artwork. In his words…

“In 2016 I lost my youngest sister Rose very suddenly and ever since I’ve been searching for ways to honor and remember the amazing, creative and beautiful person she was.”

This quote was taken from a detailed write up made when he had completed 30 artworks and can be found here: Honoring My Sister on the Ethereum Blockchain

As well as this article explains his series, I will repeat that he had completed just 30 pieces at the time he wrote it. With his latest minting he is on his 126th of 150 that will ever be created, including collaborations with an amazing lineup of artists TwistedVacancy – Hackatao – MattiaC – CarlosMarcialt – FEWOCIOUS – Tom Erik Smith – artonymousartifakt – ReinhardScmid – BrandiKyle – TheGaloisCxn – Ghostshoes – ilan_katin – Tenjed and myself Vanarman.

Since he has completed almost 100 NFTs in the interim since his first article I thought I would ask him a couple of questions to get caught up with everything that has happened since. The following are some questions I had for him, and the answers he was kind enough to provide…

Pindar: In case anyone is not paying attention… Why Roses?

SuperRareRoses: When I joined SR I started making rose inspired art mainly as a way to learn the platform from the artist perspective. What started as an experiment quickly grew into something so much more for me. It’s more than therapeutic. My CryptoArt is about spreading beauty and love in honor of my sister Rose. Many of them are based off my original photography. Photos from my travels, my favorite concerts, my fathers garden — each has its own story and memory very dear to me. Never before has it been possible to honor and remember someone in such an amazing and permanent way. At any time I can always go back and see the history and provenance of each of my roses, each of my memories, as they move from collection to collection to be enjoyed. That’s a really nice thought for me.

Pindar: Why did you only start numbering your series around 109/150?

SuperRareRoses: As many people know, I’m a big advocate of scarcity in the ongoing Scarcity Vs Abundance debate. My views on the topic have evolved over time as the market has changed and matured. When I originally started making CryptoArt I definitely wasn’t thinking about scarcity vs abundance and was more just experimenting and learning how to use the platform. There were very few collectors in the space at the time and the topic had not yet been identified in my mind as something important to consider. As my views on the topic evolved (sometime around token 109) I decided I wanted my Rose project to have a set total supply and live on forever as a limited set of 150 artworks inspired by my sister.

Pindar: …and why did you decide on 150?

SuperRareRoses: Honestly the decision was fairly random. I made the decision around token 109 and for some reason 150 felt like the right number. Knowing I only have 24 left makes me really think hard about each one and how it will add to the overall story of the 150 works.

Pindar: I know it is annoying to be asked about favorites, so not asking for favorites even though I suspect it’s FEWOCIOUS, but do any of the collaborations stick out to you as significant points in the development of CryptoArt?

SuperRareRoses: I truly love and appreciate all of the collaborations that I’ve done with SuperRare artists. They all hold a very special place in my heart and always will. The first ever collaboration I did was with Hackatao (Rosa Per Rose, tokenized 698 days ago) which really inspired me to focus more on doing collaborations with other artists. Making art about my sister is very special to me, but making collaborations with other artists and letting them better understand who she was is far more special to me. These collaborations have resulted in friendships that will last a lifetime. I’m planning to make all of the final 24 works be collaborations.

Pindar: Are there any new collabs in the works that you can talk about?

SuperRareRoses: I’m in conversations with a few artists for my next few collaborations. Don’t want to spoil any surprises just yet but can’t wait for everyone to see them 🙂

Pindar: Well thanks for the update on your series.

Let me say that if you are lucky enough to be one of the artists in conversation with Zack, I can highly recommend the experience. We have been working on our collab for months and it was amazing to see how much heart and work went into it. I imagine that each of his many collaborations are similar.

And if you are a collector, I would suggest you get into his creations like so many other collectors already have. I personally believe that the Roses Series is the most iconic art series in CryptoArt. I am sitting here and trying to think of one with more broad widespread appeal, and I can’t. So happy to now be a part of it.

Will close with the following time lapse of the making of the painting that SuperRareRoses then turned into the NFT. Both can be seen below…