Art Basel Miami was a huge art week series of events that just happened last week, December 2-4, 2021. The hype in the big money art world, and in the business media going into the week, was all about NFT's, Non Fungible Tokens.
NFT's, Non Fungible Tokens, became the new hot thing in the big time art world last Spring, with Beeple's $69 million sale at Christie's auction house turning everyone's head. Wait, a digital file, authenticated by a blockchain transaction, that doesn't exist in the physical world, just sold for HOW MUCH?!?!?! And what the fuck is an NFT, exactly?
That's what I've spent the last two weeks learning about. As an artist who got good at selling things that take a long time to make, but didn't sell for enough to pay rent, these NFT things intrigued me. Basically, an NFT is a transaction on a blockchain, usually Ethereum, that authenticates a digital file. So "There's only one official NFT of this digital piece of art (photo, song, video clip, etc.)," and that makes it rare. Somewhat like the Mona Lisa, everyone can look at a photo of it online, or buy a poster, but there's only one real Mona Lisa painting. Now blockchain technology can make a digital file "the only one." Or one of a limited series. That makes it scarce, and scarcity can make these things potentially valuable.
NFT's came out of the crypto world, they are a blockchain technology, a smart contract, but different from crypto currency like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Digital and crypto artists were naturally the first to use them. Now digital art and collectibles, like Crypto Kitties, Crypto Punks, the Bored Ape Yacht Club characters, are "old school" NFT's, and though they don't exist in the real world, they sell for hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars. The whole NFT phenomenon is only about 4-5 years old, and it really caught the art world's attention last Spring (2021). So Art Basel Miami last week was the first huge art event since NFT's rose to major attention in the mainstream art world. The video above shows a bit of what happened with NFT's there.
Like I said, I've been diving deep into learning about these things for a couple of weeks now, and I definitely think NFT technology will be around for a long time to come. The cool thing for artists at all levels, is that once you learn the basics of blockchain and Ethereum, you can make NFT's tied to your artwork. You can do this yourself, or work with a gallery crew who are working with NFT's. There's a ridiculous amount of money from the crypto world behind these things, and a whole new group of crypto art/collectible investors who are looking for new "drops" of NFT's, and emerging artists to invest in and collect. So even though art is "not about money," artists flock when there's big money to be had, myself included this time.
The bad thing about NFT's is... that everyone can make them, so there are dozens of projects and hundreds of artists dropping NFT's already. It's still clunky to buy them, gas fees on Ethereum cost $30-$200, and you still have to promote the heck out of your art to get noticed in the crowd. Most of those being made now are NOT selling, or not selling for large amounts of money. But if the crypto collector crowd likes your stuff, prices can go from $150 to $15,000 in a week. I'm not kidding. But the technology is still so new, and opens up so many possibilities, and is so fast moving, that pretty much anything is possible. No one is sure how many different uses there are for NFT technology, new ideas are popping up daily.
While the hype going into Art Basel Miami 2021 was mostly about NFT's, the vast majority of art sales are still traditional paintings, sculptures, and the like. But it appears the mainstream art world thinks NFT art will be a part of the scene for quite a while, and a lot more people got exposed to the idea of collecting digital art and collectibles, last week in Miami.
NFT's are definitely changing the game in the mainstream art world, and a new group of art collectors, NFT collectors, is emerging. So if you're an artist, or collector, NFT's are definitely something to keep your eye on.
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