Christopher Banks Debuts ‘Court of Tenacity’: A New Asset Class in Post-Luxury Functional Art

A silk scarf laid flat, its centre panel carrying a red and gold crest with two lions supporting a shield, framed by a green ground and a navy border with small motifs.
The object at the centre of the announcement. One scarf, one signed contract, and a covenant that travels with it.

Preserved as issued in March 2026: the institution's press release for its first commissioned object. Syndication references and engagement descriptions reflect that date.

Hand-illustrated silk artifact commissioned by Newfields Board Chair Madison Hromadka, governed by an anti-speculative covenant, establishing a new asset class.

Paris, France - March 7th, 2026

The Objects of Affection Collection (OAC) today announced the public debut of The Court of Tenacity, a one-of-a-kind hand-illustrated silk artifact representing the fullest expression to date of founder Christopher Banks’ “Post-Luxury Conceptual Functional Art” (PLCFA) framework. Commissioned by Madison Hromadka, Chair of the Board of Governors at Newfields Indianapolis, the work required 288 hours of manual illustration and is governed by a Custodian’s Contract that mandates a five-year anti-sale covenant.

The Court of Tenacity embodies what Banks terms “Material Singularity”: an object whose value is generated not through market liquidity but through the patron’s Burden of Preservation; the contractual and ethical commitment to steward the work across time. Where conventional luxury trades on brand heritage and industrial scale, PLCFA establishes value through what the collector preserves, not merely what they acquire.

The piece was photographed in the Newfields media room by Eric Lubrick, Senior Staff Photographer at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, whose work has been featured in publications including National Geographic and Sotheby’s.

The launch follows Banks’ appearance as a featured presenter at the American Phygital Association (APA) Congress in Paris (February 26-27, 2026), where his work served as a primary case study in the fusion of physical craft and digital provenance ecosystems. The OAC’s “Zero-Sum Pivot” business model is the subject of a teaching case study in development with Dr Wided Batat, intended for submission to Ivey Publishing.

“The greatest luxury is not the freedom to sell; it is the commitment to keep,” said Christopher Banks. “The Court of Tenacity is proof that functional art, developed with intellectual rigor and contractual permanence, constitutes a legitimate and quantifiable asset class. Value is not what you consume. It is what you preserve.”

Full portfolio documentation, high-fidelity visuals, and all 70+ published OAC studies are available for editorial review and acquisition inquiries at https://objectsofaffectioncollection.com.

Media Contact Christopher Banks Anthropologist of Luxury | Critical Theorist [email protected] https://objectsofaffectioncollection.com

About Objects of Affection Collection

The Objects of Affection Collection (OAC), a private research institute, cognitive software platform, and design house founded by Anthropologist of Luxury and Critical Theorist, Christopher Banks. Contact: 469 Fashion Avenue, 12th Floor, New York. The OAC pioneers Post-Luxury Conceptual Functional Art (PLCFA). Operating through a closed-loop infrastructure powered by a dedicated data lake, the institution archives and commissions singular, handcrafted masterpieces governed by the Custodian's Contract. This proprietary instrument establishes custodial responsibility, narrative permanence, and the Burden of Preservation as quantifiable metrics for a new, anti-speculative asset class.

objectsofaffectioncollection.com

The Court of Tenacity scarf laid flat, a red and gold lion crest at the centre on cream, framed by a green tennis court ground and a navy border.
The scarf laid flat and complete. Everything the contract governs is present in this single surface.
The boxed Court of Tenacity set fanned out, a cloth bound book and cards printed with the lion crest beside a sheet showing crossed tennis rackets.
The set as delivered. The book, the cards and the certificate are part of the object rather than packaging for it.
A detail of the scarf, crossed tennis rackets and a ball inside a navy roundel on a green court ground, with the words is the enemy of great along the border.
The court motif at close range. The game is the subject and the printing is where the hours are.
The Court of Tenacity book resting on the folded scarf, the crest on its cover echoing the printed silk beneath it.
Book and scarf together, as the custodian receives them. Neither is complete as an object without the other.
The cover of The Court of Tenacity by Christopher Banks, a red and gold lion crest framed in gold on dark green, lying on the printed scarf.
The cover, carrying the same crest as the silk. The book is the instrument that makes the obligation legible.
A detail of the scarf showing crossed tennis rackets and a ball in a navy roundel, bordered in red and white against the green court pattern.
Another corner of the same field. Repetition across the surface is how a printed motif becomes a heraldic one.
A detail of the scarf's central crest, a red shield with gold and red mantling and a crowned lion, printed on cream against the green court ground.
The crest at the centre of the composition. Every other element on the scarf is positioned against it.
A close view of the printed crest, a crowned lion above a helm with red and gold mantling scrolling to either side of a red shield.
The lion, the helm and the mantling. Borrowed heraldic grammar, used to state an obligation rather than a lineage.
A corner of the scarf showing crossed tennis rackets and balls in a navy roundel over the green court, with the motto good is the enemy of great along the border.
The motto along the border. The words are part of the object rather than a label attached to it.
The presentation set seen from above, a small green book beside a mounted crest on dark green board, laid on paper patterned with repeating crests.
The set from above. What is being transferred is a record as much as a thing.
A slim certificate booklet opened flat, a QR code printed on the left page and the lion crest on the right.
The certificate opened. A code on one page and a crest on the other, which is provenance made checkable.
The certificate booklet standing open on a white surface, showing the QR code on one page and the crest on the other.
The same booklet standing. The document has to survive the object's whole life, so it is built to be kept.

Wire distribution

Distributed via PR Newswire and PRUnderground

The debut of The Court of Tenacity was distributed by wire and syndicated across multiple carriers in the first five days of release. Engagement was recorded across Metropolitan France, Norway, and the United States, with organic search traffic driving secondary discovery of the PLCFA framework. The release can be accessed via the following syndication carriers:

Yahoo Finance: Asset Class Market Disclosure

MarketWatch: Financial News Indexation

Benzinga: Market Intelligence & Analytics

Digital Journal: Global General News Archive

StreetInsider: Institutional Press Wire

Archival Credits & Documentation

Principal Photography: Eric Lubrick, Senior Staff Photographer at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields. (Work featured in: National Geographic, Sotheby’s).

Archival Context: Photographed within the Newfields Media Room, Indianapolis, IN.

Disclosure: the right to name Madison Hromadka in OAC's published work was agreed as part of the commission terms and reflected in the price.

Case Study Status: Teaching case study in development with Dr Wided Batat, intended for submission to Ivey Publishing.

Inquiry & Stewardship

Request Technical Dossier: Contact the OAC Archive

Acquisition Inquiries: Participation in the OAC ecosystem is governed by the PLCFA framework and requires a formal Custodian’s Contract. For inquiries regarding future commissions, please visit objectsofaffectioncollection.com.