Block Chain from the collection of TAG Gallery

Block Chain

3D-printed polymer, hand-finished with aerosol enamel spray paint

15 x 12 x 8 in (38.1 x 30.48 x 20.32 cm)

$2,500

Available

Block Chain is a golden sculpture of an ouroboros, the ancient serpent consuming its own tail, reimagined as a closed loop of perpetual exchange. Suspended within the ring is an anatomical human heart, stark and corporeal against the polished seduction of gold. The ouroboros becomes both halo and shackle, implying a system that promises continuity while trapping the body inside its logic.

A dollar sign is cut out of the heart, turning currency into a literal absence, as if value has been extracted from the organ’s center. The void reads as transaction carved into flesh: what is most intimate rendered legible through a symbol of price. The heart becomes collateral, and the gold ring becomes infrastructure, framing the human as the asset within the circuit.

The title sharpens the metaphor by invoking modern financial systems and the rhetoric of innovation. In Block Chain, “chain” is not only a reference to networks and ledgers, but to restraint and dependency. The work asks what forms of life are being “secured” by systems that endlessly replicate themselves, and what it costs to be the beating center of a cycle designed to never end.

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From TAG Gallery

Katy Bishop

STUDY IN GOLD

alcohol ink

12 x 12 x 1 in (30.48 x 30.48 x 2.54 cm)

$500
Eric Renard

XOXO LA

Archival Pigment Print

$975
Robert Zent Chew

Wooded Creek, After Sorolla

Oil on Canvas

20 x 16 x 1 in (50.8 x 40.64 x 2.54 cm)

$650
Kathryn Pitt

Signor e Signora

Graphite and charcoal on watercolor paper

9 x 12 x 0.01 in (22.86 x 30.48 x 0.03 cm)

$100
Jane Peterson

Fugitive #2 B& W

Archival Pigment Print on Cotton Fiber ed.3

12 x 8.5 in (30.48 x 21.59 cm)

$500
Diane Lamboley

Peaceful Surrender

Photography on aluminum

16 x 20 x 1 in (40.64 x 50.8 x 2.54 cm)

$440
Stephanie Vaughan

Layers of Me

Sculpture

5 x 12 x 12 in (12.7 x 30.48 x 30.48 cm)

$900
Elyse Wyman

Flower Power

Acrylic, charcoal, ink on paper

28 x 22 in (71.12 x 55.88 cm)

$550

View All Artworks

About the artist

Austin Lubetkin

b. 1996

Austin Lubetkin is a visual artist and software engineer whose work is shaped by his experiences of autism and synesthesia. He sees language, sound, and emotion as colors and patterns, and translates this sensory crossover into bold, graphic compositions. Using the visual language of advertising, social media, and luxury branding, his work explores how identity, beauty, and neurodivergence are packaged, judged, and sold. Lubetkin is a member of the international artists association. Lubetkin's work has been exhibited at galleries and museums across the United States including recent exhibits at the Sasse Museum and Awita Gallery and in international exhibitions at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art and Red Dot in Basel, Switzerland. He has also served as both curator and featured artist for an exhibition at the Orlando Science Center, focusing on the intersection of technology and perception. In May 2026, Lubetkin will be curating a group show exploring the experiences of artists with autism at TAG Gallery

Additional Details

Additional Artworks

STUDY IN GOLD

XOXO LA

Wooded Creek, After Sorolla

Signor e Signora

Fugitive #2 B& W

Peaceful Surrender

Layers of Me

Flower Power

About the artist

Austin Lubetkin