a metaphorical artwork in four layers, each one an aspect of love. within each person, love has several dimensions: the skin, the bones, the flesh, and the mind.

the skin is the first impression, the surface of an artwork. the mind is the deeper essence, the nft's core.

every layer is part of the piece: the skin (pixels) → the bones (file) → the flesh (contract) → the mind (bytes)

the skin

it's the first thing you notice in an artwork, and the first thing you see on a person. all surface, beautiful and captivating. in this hand-modeled 3d heart the surface is skin: translucent, close to the real thing, rippling like the drapes of a bed.

the flesh

what you don't see, under the skin. beneath the surface lies the first token of love: i offered an extra nft to anyone who could see past the skin and find two hidden qr codes.

the first qr code is hidden in the heart's pixels using steganography. the second was revealed at nft paris 2020 with uv-printed qr codes.

the bones

deeper than the skin lies the smart contract's logic. the bones of love are a hand-written smart contract with a custom function that lets anyone declare their love on the blockchain.

the mind

how do you represent love so deep in someone's mind that they aren't aware of it? i chose the smart contract's mind. by viewing the contract as an image, i could see its mind, and embed love inside it.

with my keyboard as a brush and bytes as paint, i painted a heart inside the nft's mind.