Contempt
Cold Regard
Downward evaluation. The asymmetric withdrawal of regard, in which the other is placed below, never opposed. Anger engages its object. Contempt has finished with it.
The word
Latin contemnere, to scorn: an intensifier fixed to temnere, to slight. The word has always meant regarding from above. Darwin noted its facial signature, and later researchers described it as the one expression that shows on a single side of the face: half the mouth, engaged in dismissing.
The feeling
Cold, and strangely comfortable. The other person gets filed: placed below, at a distance where their actions no longer require a response. Time is unhurried, the pulse stays level, and there is a small warmth of self-elevation folded in, which is what makes the state hard to give up. It is anger with the engagement removed.
Against its neighbours
Anger still takes its object seriously enough to push against it; contempt has finished taking it seriously. Disgust recoils from contamination; contempt does not bother to recoil, it looks down and files.
In the work
The subject is present and not centred. The gaze inside the piece is directed past it, and the framing agrees.
No work carries Contempt yet. The element is named and the table is not finished.
These prints carry its family.
How big, actually.
Drawn to scale against a person of average height. Every size is a 4:5 rectangle, the same proportion as the work itself, so nothing is cropped to fit.
Sizes are the printed image. Framed works add the moulding around that. Standard US shipping is free at every size.
Paper, or canvas.
Same image, same inks. What changes is the surface it is printed on. Tap either one.
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PRINT
Hahnemühle Photo Rag
The paper itself. A heavy 100% cotton matte sheet with a smooth surface, printed edge to edge with no border. Ships flat, or rolled in a tube at large sizes.
- Every size, up to 40 × 50
- You pick the frame
- Just paper and ink
- Needs framing to hang
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CANVAS
Satin poly-cotton, gallery wrap
Printed on canvas, then stretched by hand over solid wood. The image continues around the sides, so there is no border and no glass.
- Hang it the day it lands
- No glass, no glazing
- Real depth off the wall
- Up to 36 × 45
Series 001 numbers are shared across every size and material, and the certificate records exactly which object you own. Open editions carry no number and no certificate.
Framed, or not.
One frame, satin black, solid wood. We pick the moulding that suits the size and the material, so it arrives ready to hang. Tap either one.
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NONE
The work, as it is
A paper print ships flat or rolled and you frame it your way. A canvas needs nothing: it is stretched, wired and ready for the wall the day it lands.
- The lightest to ship
- Your framer, your call
- Canvas hangs as it is
- Every size
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BLACK
Solid wood, chosen for the size
Sealed, hung with hardware fitted, nothing left to arrange. Paper sits behind acrylic; canvas floats inside the moulding with no glass at all.
- STANDARD BLACK ⅞ in face · ¾ in deep · behind acrylic Paper, 8 × 12 and 12 × 18
- ALTO BLACK THIN 1⅜ in face · ⁹⁄₁₆ in deep · behind acrylic Paper, 16 × 24 and up
- BLACK 2 FLOAT ⅜ in face · 2 in deep · ¼ in reveal · no glass Canvas, every framed size
Framed work ships boxed with the hardware fitted. The largest sizes are sold unframed, because a frame that size can only travel by freight.
The list hears first.
Also in Corrosive
Where Contempt sits Wc · CORROSIVE FAMILY
OPEN THE TABLECORROSIVE FAMILY75 NAMED · 5 UNDISCOVEREDTAP ANY CELL TO OPEN ITS PAGE
