Every stone work begins with something that cannot be duplicated: the stone itself.
Each work is created on a unique geological object, raw petrified wood, ancient mineral stone, or desert stone, that I find within the city of Phoenix, AZ and surrounding areas. Some of these materials were formed more than 200 million years ago; others are measured in billions of years.
Each stone carries its own shape, mineral structure, fractures, texture, coloration, and geological history. Another work may share aspects of the visual language, but the physical object itself cannot be reproduced.
I treat that individuality as part of the artwork.
A Permanent Record
Each selected work is assigned a unique Dave Holt Art archive number and registered with Verisart, an independent platform for art authentication and provenance.
The resulting digital Certificate of Authenticity documents the physical artwork and connects it to its identifying information, including the artist, title or archive number, medium, dimensions, imagery and other relevant details. The certificate’s history is timestamped using the Bitcoin blockchain, creating a durable record associated with the work.
This is not an NFT and the artwork is not digital. The collector receives the original physical work.
The blockchain record exists to document the object.
Why Provenance Matters
Provenance is the documented history of an artwork, what it is, who created it, and how its ownership develops over time.
For these works, provenance begins in my studio.
When a work is acquired, the physical artwork is accompanied by its digital provenance record, including its Certificate of Authenticity, archive information, documentation, and available photographic records. Where applicable, the Verisart digital certificate is transferred to the new owner, preserving the work’s blockchain-timestamped provenance alongside the physical object.
This becomes increasingly significant as a work changes hands over time.
One Object. One Work.
Petrified wood and ancient stone make this body of work particularly suited to this form of documentation.
The symbol is mine, but nature created the object beneath it millions and in some cases billions of years before I encountered it.
No two stones have precisely the same form, mineral structure, surface, fractures, coloration, or geological history. Even if I repeated a symbol, which I do not do as a reproduction, the resulting object could never be the same artwork.
Each is inherently one of one.
Purchasing a Work
Available works displayed on daveholt.art link to their corresponding Verisart listings. The purchase transaction is completed through Verisart rather than directly through this website.
Following the sale, the physical artwork is shipped to the collector and its registered Certificate of Authenticity is transferred to the new owner through Verisart.
The collector therefore receives two connected things: the physical artwork itself and its documented provenance.
The stone is the artwork.
The digital record preserves the artwork’s provenance and provides a permanent record of its authenticity.