Since the concept of art, many paintings, photographs and sculptures have existed in our culture. With the advancement of human technological civilization, the way of making and experiencing art is also constantly improving. More and more artists are working digitally, and many of their works exist purely as pixels on various screens.
However, just because we can't hold these works of art in our hands doesn't mean they're less or more valuable. The only thing that is certain is that digital art is fast becoming one of the most topical art forms of our time.
As NFTs (non-homogeneous proofs of stake) become known, the art world is undergoing a transformation. Especially in 2021, digital art sales have surged, some otherwise unknown digital artists have suddenly become rich and achieved extremely high visibility, and many already high-profile artists and brands are also exploring the sale of works and marketing through NFTs and related blockchain technologies.
Before figuring out how NFTs are starting a new wave of digital art, let's introduce digital art.
Digital art is essentially a work of art or practice. Creators use digital technology as part of the creative or presentation process.
Lao Xing recently read the book Digital Art by Christina Paul, which defines that digital art can be purely computer-generated (such as 3D graphic modeling and algorithm-based drawing), or it can come from other sources, such as using scanned photos or using a mouse (or electronic drawing board) to create through graphics software.
It is written that digital art is usually not digitized raw text data and raw audio/video data per se, but when these raw materials are designed into a larger digital work through computer technology and information art and become part of this larger work, we can call it digital art.
We can also distinguish between output methods, because digital art is often images, videos, or all other forms of art produced through digital output.
Digital art is characterized by diversity and flexibility. For example, a video set composed of NBA stars shooting can be a valuable work of art; someone has made a new design based on the photos taken; someone has made some simple GIFs and memes that can also be broadly called digital art; and even some people can draw some graphics through EXCEL software as some form of art.
Of course, this flexibility and diversity does not mean that any digital content is digital art, and the real value of digital art must come from talented and hard-working artists. One of the more representative is Beeple.
Beeple, whose real name is Michael Winkelmann, is 41 and was born in the United States. He is a polytechnic man who graduated from the Department of Software Engineering. After graduation, he did not take the usual path to become a programmer, but developed a strong interest in digital art. He is very good at creating with software like Cinema 4D. Because of his outstanding pioneering role in the history of NFT digital art, he will be mentioned below.
Digital art, the "rising star" relative to traditional art, has attracted more and more attention, and the number of various digital art exhibitions held at home and abroad has increased year by year, and various well-known academic institutions (Harvard, MIT, etc.) have successively established new art and media research centers based on digital science. However, there are still some "systemic" deficiencies in digital art, making it always seem more niche. These deficiencies are manifested in the following three points:
1. Copyright protection is not easy. Due to the convenience of the Network and various terminals, copyright protection for digital products is much more difficult than that of ordinary works of art. This is not only reflected in the fact that pirates can simply copy/paste and copy artwork, but also in the fact that it is easier to steal creative ideas and make works based on the same idea. For example, a certain Wang Jiaer technology fan used Cinema 4D to create a 3D cute little picture of Wang Jiaer and posted it on the Little Red Book, which was sought after by netizens. But another Fan of Wang Yibo saw it, intentionally or unintentionally downloaded the picture, and simply used Meitu Xiuxiu to erase Wang Jiaer's symbol and replace it with Wang Yibo's. This type of piracy is even more difficult to prevent.
2. Limited display channels. Compared with traditional art works with traditional display channels (such as galleries, exhibition halls, museums, and even street gardens, sidewalks), digital artworks can only be displayed to the public through two mainstream ways before 2020, the first is through digital art special exhibitions, and the second is through the adoption of advertising agencies, television media, Internet new media, etc. The disadvantages of these two methods are obvious, the former is much less numerous than traditional art exhibitions; the latter is a thousand armies crossing a single wooden bridge, and the creation of digital artists is easily limited by the "brainless" command of "Party A".
3. Insufficient liquidity. Traditional art has been traded for hundreds of years, such as Christie's, Sotheby's, and auction houses such as Shanghai City God Temple, antique streets can become qualified and reliable trading places. Coupled with various exhibitions and e-commerce platforms of all sizes as a supplement, it can also build a smooth communication and transaction channel for artists and collectors. In contrast, the sales channels of digital art are relatively small, and it is difficult to imagine that a cute but not so delicate pixel avatar made by a digital artist using computer graphics software can be allowed to be publicly auctioned by auction houses such as Christie's. However, cryptoPunks pixel avatars sold based on NFTs can be extremely popular.
NFTs, which suddenly began to take off in 2020, have helped digital artists overcome these shortcomings, truly reinvigorate digital art and usher in explosive growth.
So, how does NFT do it?
The NFT era of digital art
The tide cannot be said without mentioning Beeple's Everydays: The first 5000 Days. Christie's in 2021 started at $100 and ended up selling for nearly $70 million after several rounds of intense price increases.
The buyer who did not get the auction estimated that the loss was great this time, because this work not only condensed the author's amazing efforts for more than ten years, but also had the significance of an NFT art milestone. It was synthesized from Beeple 5000 works. As mentioned earlier, Beeple is very good at using computer software to create, and he is also exceptionally diligent and tenacious, regardless of whether there is other work, and still insists on completing a work in Cinema 4D every day.
The work is a collection of 5,000 works from his first 5,000 days, so the name is also called "The First 5,000 Days". And that's not all, at the end of 2021, his other dynamic NFT "video column" work "Human One" was auctioned at Christie's for nearly $29 million.
The madness of the 2021 NFT digital art revolution can be starkly demonstrated from these prices. In an interview with foreign media, Beeple once said that his work did not receive so much attention before making a lot of money using NFTs. He never sat in first class on business trips, and for a long time his total personal savings were under $600. Today, he is flying his private jet to exhibit in various places, and tens of millions of dollars in cash are lying on the account.
Another milestone in this work is that it is the first NFT digital artwork in the history of Christie's auction house. The iconic traditional art market officially accepted the NFT digital art into the room.
There is no shortage of optimists in the field of traditional art for the future of NFT digital art, and in a 2021 interview, Hans Ulrich Obrist, former director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the City of Paris, said that whether or not the proliferation of NFT art can continue, it has profoundly changed the entire art world.
According to the Financial Times, as of December 15, 2021, the total amount of NFT transactions in the world in the past year is about $40 billion (NFT digital art is the most important of them), and for comparison, according to UBS Research, the total amount of the world art market in 2020 is about $50 billion. Between February and November 2021, about 360,000 people owned about 2.7 million NFT items.
So how do you define NFT digital art?
At the level of digital art, NFTs simply refer to unique, non-fungible units of data stored on a secure digital ledger (blockchain). Essentially, since each NFT has its own encryption code that cannot be hacked, it is again a certificate of authenticity. The NFT tracks the creators of digital artworks and their ownership, which ensures the copyright certification of NFT digital artworks, and to speak the vernacular is to automatically help collectors verify the authenticity of their collections in real time.
In essence, NFTs give digital art the following three aspects of vitality.
1. Copyright. In short, everyone can download and share NFT artwork, but the owner does not have to worry about being stolen. Because each NFT work is traceable on the blockchain, and only a unique blockchain code can be queried by everyone, counterfeiting and piracy are eliminated.
2. Creativity. NFTs can be forged from almost any form of digital art, or they can be converted from older works. Artists don't have to worry about whether they need to use new creative tools. Creatively speaking, NFTs can be cast from a part of any work and thus become a new work, for example, in Mona Lisa, artists can cut off Mona Lisa's hair and digitally edit it to become a new NFT artwork. By the same token, artists can easily stitch and combine materials to obtain new NFT works.
3. Transactionality. NFT artworks are traded through blockchain contracts, and there will be no scams on the transaction. This makes the transaction and circulation of digital artworks more convenient and reliable than ever. The title of NFT works can also be auctioned off in fragments, making the purchase of each "fragment" like investing in an asset securitization product.
With these advantages, the field of digital art is hotter than ever. This can be seen in two ways.
First of all, visual content providers in advertising, media, film and television, games and other industries have a channel to transform NFT digital artists. Inspired by the high-priced auction news, many content exporters began to get rid of the endless entanglements of Party A's customers and use their design talents and accumulated technical capabilities in the field of NFT digital art.
If you were a veteran visual creative in the advertising industry and skilled in PS and other design software, would you find it difficult to produce an NFT visual artwork? Do you have the courage to leave as an NFT artist if you have the opportunity?
Secondly, the traditional manufacturers in the consumer field are actively following up the application of NFT digital art and opening up the layout from the perspective of product and marketing.
Both Coca-Cola and Nike have partnered with game companies to implant well-made NFT props or game equipment into the game, allowing players to experience the products of both companies in the game.
Nike also acquired Rtfkt, a startup focused on creating NFT sneakers, last November.
According to media reports, Jay Chou's brand sold NFT products (phantom bears), sold out 10,000 in 40 minutes, and harvested 62 million.
More artistic examples include givenchy beauty artists co-artists to launch NFT digital paintings; Nissan motor vehicles to launch a very artistic NFT GT-R supercar painting.
Is NFT digital art really perfect?
If you let NFT art collector Pranksy answer it is certainly perfect, he opened the NFT art investment of $600 in 2017 and is worth nearly $20 million today.
However, there are also many voices in the market that hold reservations.
First, the NFT art market exhibits the characteristics of a "minority oligarchy" holding the vast majority of truly valuable NFT artworks.
According to a report by Chainalysis, an NFT research institute, 75% of NFT art transactions will be less than $10,000 throughout 2021, and those who hold 80% of the value of the NFT art market account for only 9% of all holders. In other words, only a few people like Pranksy hold really valuable NFT artworks, most people hold NFT artworks that are not valuable, and the vast majority of transactions are "small fights", and we should not be obscured by a few news of high-priced lots in the NFT art market.
Second, the duration of holding NFT artwork is very relevant to whether or not you lose money. NFT artworks, like all other artworks, are at risk of depreciation.
According to a recent research report by blockchain research institute Nansen, as of November 2021, buyers who hold NFT artworks within one year are losing money, and buyers with more than one year are making money, and the higher the holding period, the more they increase in value. Most of those who have held for more than a year are the above-mentioned "minority oligarchs".
Finally, some traditional artists have also expressed their concerns. The main problems focus on the value appraisal of NFT artworks. The decentralized technology model is ultimately accompanied by decentralized transactions, so who will judge the value of the artwork? What criteria do you use to certify the artistic value of an NFT product?
epilogue
People's spiritual needs can often be met through works of art, and digital art is more scientific and innovative than traditional art, and may be closer to the lives of young people. However, we cannot ignore the risks, China's laws prohibit virtual currencies, and there is currently no clear legal provision for related derivatives.
In the face of the new wave of digital art, do we stand on the cusp of the times or curl up on the beach after the tide recedes?
This article originated from the financial breakfast
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