HISTORY: HERITAGE IN CODE

“In my art, I explore the depth of materials and the tension between tradition and technology, delving into the timeless nature of craft and the rich tapestry of history. Each piece is a journey through texture and technique, where the tangible meets the digital, creating works that are as much about feeling and experiencing the historical depth as they are about seeing.” — Randy Kart / DEXROIX
 

Randy Kart, born in Wayne, Michigan—an industrial cradle just beyond the borders of Detroit—has spent over 25 years cultivating a practice that bridges the physical world of materials with the infinite possibilities of the digital. Grounded in a multigenerational lineage of artisans, Kart’s work breathes life into the memory of tools, textures, and techniques passed down through his family—now reframed through the lens of cutting-edge technologies like blockchain and machine learning.

Kart’s paternal grandfather was a master pinstriper for the REO Motor Car Company, where artistry met engineering in the fine precision of hand-drawn lines. From mixing paints by hand to crafting mechanical contraptions for entertainers, his grandfather exemplified craftsmanship as a form of storytelling. These ideals of precision, patience, and purposeful design find their way into every one of Kart’s hybrid objects.

From his maternal grandfather—a French chef and boxer—came the dual influence of discipline and creativity. Whether composing a meal or maneuvering in the ring, form and balance were paramount, values that echo in Kart’s aesthetic and conceptual rigor. His father, a textile designer and childhood friend of Malcolm X, taught him the importance of human connection across divides, as well as the tactile sensitivity required to transform raw fabric into something expressive and meaningful.

His mother, a Cold War-era sky watcher tasked with detecting subtle patterns in the skies, gifted him a relentless eye for detail and pattern recognition—skills that today underpin Kart’s use of machine learning and visual data analysis. Observation and interpretation became core to his creative process.

Educated at the College for Creative Studies (CCS) in Detroit, Kart’s early training as a painter and sculptor evolved into a groundbreaking practice that merges analog materials with digital computation. His approach begins with physical interaction—bending, tearing, stretching canvas or textiles—treating materials as collaborators rather than substrates. These tangible imprints serve as data inputs, eventually digitized and processed through machine learning algorithms that reveal new layers of form, pattern, and meaning.

Kart has created modern cultural artifacts that have been placed at SpaceX and integrated into the Sandbox Metaverse, serving as enduring records of contemporary narrative. Through the use of decentralized technologies like Ethereum, IPFS, and Solana, he ensures each piece is both authenticated and accessible across digital and physical domains.

At the heart of Kart’s practice is a commitment to cultural documentation through tactile computation—blending ancestral wisdom with emerging systems. His work reminds us that innovation is most powerful when it remembers where it came from.

Hybrid Object Design · Machine Learning · Data Storytelling · Blockchain for Provenance · Tangible & Digital Integration · Cultural Documentation