There have been countless paintings, drawings, and sculptures in the world since the beginning of art. Art-making and art-appreciation methods have evolved in tandem with technological advancements. Digital art is becoming more popular, and many of the creations are only pixels on a computer screen.
For example, a column which the New York Times minted as an NFT is digital asset. Foundation, one of nft marketplaces, sold the crypto art piece for more than $560,000. Although we can't hold these works of art, that doesn't make them any less valuable.
Digital art, on the other hand, is swiftly becoming one of the most expensive types of art in our day. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are swiftly revolutionizing the art world. Many high-profile artists and brands are experimenting with new ways to sell their work using blockchain technology in 2021, which has resulted in an increase in digital art sales.
Sotheby's and Christie's, two centuries-old auction houses, have recognized the worth of crypto art. Christie's auctioned a digital collage by digital artist Beeple for $69 million, making it one of the first high-profile NFT art sales. For those interested in bidding on a curated selection of new-to-the-market works of art, Sotheby's Metaverse, a new online platform, has just been created.
Since this year has been a big one for NFTs, especially in the art world, a look back is inevitable. But first, let's clarify what an NFT actually is.
What is a Non-Fungible Token (NFT)?
Non-fungible token (NFT) is the acronym for this term. Data is kept in a safe digital ledger in the form of discrete, non-transferable units called cryptographic tokens (blockchain). They are basically certificates of authenticity because they have their own encryption codes that can't be hacked. A NFT keeps track of who created the digital artwork, how much it is worth, and who owns it. In the same way that you may authenticate a traditional painting, an NFT can be authenticated using this method.
NFTs have been around since 2015, but their popularity didn't take off until 2020. The crypto art market truly took off in 2021. Look at the top NFT artists and projects of the year to come by reading on.
New Frontier Artists and Projects of 2021
Beeple
An NFT collage sold at Christie's for a record-breaking $69 million has elevated Mike Winklemann, better known as Beeple, to the position of third-highest-paid living artist (after David Hockney and Jeff Koons). All of the photos in the digital file are from Winkelmann's Everydays series, and are named Everydays: the First 5,000 Days. Every day over the past 13 years, the artist created a new piece of art and posted it online. As a prolific artist, he has worked on concert visuals for Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Childish Gambino, Nicki Minaj, Eminem and many more artists.
Vhils
Vhils, a well-known street artist, entered the NFT scene this year with a project titled The End of the Industrial Era. For the first time in his career, Vhils decided to make his method into a sequence of NFTs rather than his usual (literally) exploding work. To create a work of art that would last only a few days, he decided to employ his specialized technique on a derelict structure in Portugal. Within two seconds, the building was engulfed in flames, a portrait revealed, and then imploded. Nifty Gateway, a digital art auction platform for non-fungible tokens, began a cooperation with the auction house Sotheby's to sell off the footage of the entire event.
Alexa Meade
Artist Alexa Meade spoke with us earlier this year about NFTs and the imminent art revolution on the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. Since then, she has staged a number of successful sales. Meade has found a method to turn her body painting masterpieces into digital valuables for art enthusiasts in this new digital era of auctioning. Her work was previously only accessible as physical, limited-edition picture prints, but thanks to NFTs, fans may now possess video art pieces that can be viewed anywhere, just how the artist intended.
JOHN ORION YOUNG
One of John Orion Young's specialties is the creation of animated characters and sculptures. Virtual reality-created "Joy" characters are a part of one of his collections. Collectible NFTs come in all shapes and sizes, and each one has its own special magical ability. Persistence of Time, Young's latest NFT, features a slimy, slug-like monster "sliming through the cosmic verses on a thick, meta-melting-mucus-like lubrication."
FEWOCIOUS
Victor Fewocious (simply known as FEWoCIOUS) is an 18-year-old American transgender artist who started doing digital art to escape boredom and isolation. At the age of 17, he sold his first painting, and within a year, he had sold a series of NFTs worth over $17 million. His work is mostly concerned with capturing glimpses of his personal recollections and sentiments about growing up.
BREAKFAST
Breakfast is best known for its dynamic art pieces that combine technology and the arts in Brooklyn, New York. Visitors can participate in the art in a variety of ways thanks to its interactive displays. This new NFT aims to raise awareness about climate change while also contributing a percentage of the proceeds to Teen Cancer America, which is an organization dedicated to helping young people affected by cancer. "While it appears to be a digitally made piece of art, this NFT artwork is actually a video that was recorded at the historic climate change summit COP26," explains artist and BREAKFAST co-director Zolty. The NFT sold for $85,000 within hours of its ArtRepublic auction at Miami Art Week.
Axie Infinity
Axie Infinity is a digital pet universe inspired by Pokémon in which players employ their own charming pets called Axies in games (and earn money while doing so). More than a million people use the internet and mobile platforms on a regular basis to buy land, gear, and care for their Axies, which they can sell for cryptocurrency.
Axie Infinity has over 10 million sales and is valued at around $3.52 billion as of this writing, making it the most valuable NFT collection of all time.
HASHMASKS
Hashmasks is an Ethereum-based virtual art exhibition with 16,384 unique digital portraits created by 70 artists from across the world. For example, customers can choose from a number of options, such as character type and mask style as well as eye and skin color. "The inventors state that "all hashmasks are rare, although some are rarer than others."
CryptoPunks
Early instances of NFTs include CryptoPunks. They are a collection of 10,000 unique, pixel art characters with evidence of ownership recorded on the Ethereum blockchain, created by Larva Labs. Punk-style people predominate, but apes, zombies, and aliens are all represented. The standard interface for non-fungible tokens (called ERC-721)—also known as deeds—that today powers most of the CryptoArt movement was inspired by the CryptoPunks.
Each CryptoPunk on the Ethereum blockchain is unique, and only one person can hold one at a time. People are either bidding on or selling their CryptoPunks now that all 10,000 have been claimed.
The total amount of all CryptoPunk sales is currently 594.2k ETH ($1.69 billion), according to the Larva Labs website.
Bored Ape Yacht Club
The Bored Ape Yacht Club is an Ethereum-based community of 10,000 collectible ape figures that was live in April 2021. Using more than 170 possible qualities, each NFT is created with a distinct personality and appearance. Each character also serves as a "swamp club" membership for apes. When you buy a Bored Ape, the producers argue, you're not just purchasing an avatar or a proven work of art. "You'll be a member of group whose benefits and offerings will only improve over time. Your Bored Ape online avatar will help you gain access to new opportunities.
For $2.99 million, one of the most expensive Bored Apes was sold, and it had lasers shooting out of its eyes. Also, a gold-furred limited edition ape from Sotheby's Metaverse just sold for a record-breaking $3.4 million at auction.
NFT Art: how to make a piece of mass-produced art distinctive
NFT digital art's basic principles aren't as esoteric as the moniker might suggest. To buy and sell digital art is all that's involved. The conversion of physical art into NFTs, or the transfer of NFT based concept into the physical, is entirely up to the creator's creativity. It seemed like a ridiculous idea just a few years ago. But now, because to the non-transferable and non-reproducible property title, a digital piece of art may only be purchased by one person. Each token paid in crypto-currency (bitcoin or ether) is individually numbered, just like a dollar note. Every single one is linked to a certain piece of art. Any content, even one that has been seen or copied millions of times, can now have a unique owner who protects the original version thanks to blockchain technology. NFT art has a dual purpose in this regard. They are both a guarantee of the work's authenticity and a permit for its use. The entire rights to a work of art belong to the person who owns the NFTs that link to it. Consequently, this means that he owns all rights to the product's replication and distribution.
