Filmed under lower light to better show the symbol’s luminosity.
Archive: DHPW-2026-034 Artist: Dave Holt
Year: 2026
Medium: Acrylic on raw petrified wood
Dimensions: approx. 4⅛ × 4 × 2¼ in. (10.5 × 10.2 × 5.7 cm)
Weight: 3.6 lb (1.63 kg)
Origin: Northern Arizona
Geological age: Late Triassic, approximately 200+ million years old
About the Work
This piece uses the lighter, banded face of the petrified wood as an unusually open field for the symbol. A central circular structure anchors the composition while triangular projections, branching black lines, repeated dots, smaller circles, and clusters of mark-like forms extend outward across the surface. Gold, copper, turquoise, blue, white, orange, and the isolated red point punctuate the pale mineral ground. The composition is expansive but leaves substantial areas of the wood exposed, allowing the preserved grain, horizontal bands, fractures, and changes in mineral color to remain visible within and around the painted structure.
The symbol has no assigned translation or fixed meaning. Its arrangement suggests a system with relationships between individual elements, yet the work provides no key for decoding them. This tension becomes particularly apparent when the object is turned. The painted face gives way to darker, rougher surfaces where preserved wood structure, fractures, layered mineralization, and irregular edges dominate completely. The contemporary marks occupy only one moment in the object’s much longer physical history, bringing human structure into contact with geological structure while allowing both to remain distinct and unresolved.
Available for Purchase
$850
This original artwork includes a Verisart Certificate of Authenticity with blockchain-backed provenance.
Purchase on Verisart
Authenticity & Provenance
Secure purchase through Verisart. The artwork’s certificate will be transferred to the buyer following purchase.
