By Karen Jones, Citywealth
I have spent
my life working in the media including News Corporation, working in management,
and advertising roles. I have also spent a portion of my time with the LegalTech
industry in the USA and have studied fintech at Oxford University Said Business
School and multiple online coding, data and fintech courses.
I also have
a personal passion for art history, which I have studied for ten years at the
Courtauld Institute for art in London. Why is this relevant? The media are at
the cusp of new developments and see things before others do. I have also seen
how art is affected by the events of history.
Think of
Chairman Mao in 1950. He burned all art and antiques because they were bougie
and did not fit with his communist vision. The reaction from Chinese artists
was to develop political pop and activist art as a response.
Now think
of covid. I think Covid spring loaded crypto because all of us were stuck in
our homes in a unique moment in history. People had to find things to do and
crypto benefited from this. It was like the digital version of banking banana
bread.
To explain
NFT’s (Non Fungible tokens) they are digital files converted into NFT’s and
stored as a unique file on the blockchain. However, don’t get too caught up in
the tech or having to understand blockchain. You don’t need to know the engineering
of a car to drive it. Like social media platforms, NFT’s will get integrated
with day-to-day tech to make the future as simple as clicking a like.
Although
there are earlier NFT’s, the most famous are crypto kitties in 2017 which were
developed to demonstrate the use case for the Ethereum blockchain. Despite their
success the real breakthrough for NFT’s came in 2021 with a collection called
the Bored Ape Yacht Club. Also, Beeple, one of the most famous NFT artists,
sold at Christies for $69million. From 2007 he made an NFT every day even on
his wedding day and then after five thousand days, he collated those into one
NFT that made worldwide headlines. He is now making a real-life art gallery in
South Carolina to display NFT’s on TV screens.
Crypto and
NFT’s are inextricably linked so in terms of price if crypto crashes so do NFT
prices. In addition, valuation has been a problem on the major NFT sites. It is
not realistic for reselling but as the software improves this is being
addressed.
A lot of
people don’t like NFT’s or believe in them, including crypto traders but as
they have grown in value it has peaked everyone’s interest. People also say you
can just take a screen shot of an NFT so there is no value in it. However, you
can also take a picture of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, it does not mean you
own it nor can resell it for millions.
I think
differently. This is art history in the making. Because art always tries to
find innovation. Being an artist is like a religious calling, you must suffer
for your beliefs. I think the keyboard has become the new paintbrush.
In terms of
innovators in art history I think of Pollock and his drip paintings. He was
driven to innovate. He didn’t use the easel he used the floor. Think also of
the impressionists like Monet with their new softer almost blurry images. They
were considered vulgar and slapdash but now both artists sell for tens of
millions.
There are
also NFT’s in beauty, fashion, and retail. One retail company sells bottles of
alcohol with physical storage and a digital NFT certificate. This brings a new
crypto native customer and a new way to sell alcohol.
A high
fashion dress company sold digital versions of their dresses and nine sold for
c$5million. A beauty company included an NFT artist and a free NFT with each
purchase. These are all new ways to market to customers, to be relevant in the digital
world and to get growth. However, I issue a warning to real world companies who
are chasing a quick buck.
Always
remember it is a tech industry and the most successful NFT’s now are from the
crypto industry like the Apes (which means apeing into a trade in crypto). So,
thinking about the crypto world before the commercial world is a good mindset
to have. The crypto world language is memes mainly featuring animals – look up
the vibing cat.
Real life
artists are getting involved – Damien Hirst just made a joint real-life print
and NFT collection called The Currency. For $2k you bought the art then chose
to burn (destroy) the real print or the NFT. He did a live show in a silver
outfit burning his work to create rarity (a massive thing in crypto). It was a
concept never seen before. It was art and innovation. It was art history in the
making.
So, it is
all art, no. Is all the art good? No. Have the art and creative industry found
a new outlet for their creativity? Yes. NFT’s create a world for artists or
content creators to go straight to market. Royalties were one question raised
by the artists but this has now been addressed and platforms market that they
do or don’t provide this option (traders like it less as adds to costs of
sales).
I believe
NFT’s are art history in the making and also that the keyboard has become the
new paintbrush.
One of the
highest selling NFT’s
Pak’s The Merge
https://www.barrons.com/articles/paks-nft-artwork-the-merge-sells-for-91-8-million-01638918205
NFT Collections Listed By Sales Volume https://coinmarketcap.com/nft/collections/
Here is my
opensea gallery https://opensea.io/wwjonesy
Beeples first
5000 days https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/beeple-first-5000-days/beeple-b-1981-1/112924
Beeple on X
https://twitter.com/beeple
Jackson
Pollock drip paintings https://www.moma.org/artists/4675
Blockbar marketplace
https://blockbar.com/marketplace
NFT artist https://www.carlachan.com/
10 Hours
- Cat Vibing To Ievan Polkka (Official Video HD) Cat Vibing To Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nQU_8Nm0Yk
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