Art

NFT artworks are a unique concoction of technology and creativity. The majority of NFTs in circulation today are artworks — programmable arts account for 99% of all NFTs. This is because artists were quick to capitalize on the conception of NFTs.

For obvious reasons, traditional works of art such as paintings are valuable because they truly are one of a kind – painted by hand, with a special technique, often with special paint. NFT artworks are digital art that allows you to prove ownership of a store of value.

As we are well and truly aware, digital files can easily and endlessly be copied and pasted as much as the owner wants. Not so with NFT artworks and assets. These items are bought and sold with a digital certificate, showing ownership of a unique virtual or physical asset that someone has produced.

Like everything else in our world, these digital items can only have one official owner at a time.

These are secured and protected by blockchain technology, an incorruptible database that cannot be tampered with. Blockchains are a database that cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and Ethereum utilize and, if they wish, could implement their system for NFTs.

In present times, virtual artworks including digital pics, GIFs, and short videos are being sold online as though they are physical items. And, these are the most expensive NFTs and sometimes sell for millions.

Digital marketplaces provide a platform for bidding, as well as renowned artists, to showcase their artworks for sale while collectors get exclusive access and ownership of them.

This led to the rise of some of the most popular digital artists like PAK and Beeple. PAK broke the record of ‘The First 5000 Days’ by artist Beeple which earned a staggering US$69.3 million in March 2021 in an auction by Christie’s. PAK sold 2,66,445 NFTs for a total of US$91.8 million. The sale was held through Nifty Gallery and saw a new technology whereby when a collector bought a considerable number of NFTs, the tokens merged together in their crypto wallet to give rise to new NFTs that cannot be found elsewhere.

Other noted digital artists include MATTDESL, XCOPY, HACKATAO and FEWOCIOUS who have huge Instagram and Twitter followings and NFT collections that score thousands of dollars in sales.

Additionally, the mention of artwork collections like Lava Lab’s CryptoPunks, Yuga Lab’s Bored Yacht Club (BAYC) and American generative artist Tyler Hobbses’ Fedenzas is inevitable when we talk about NFT artworks.

While CryptoPunks introduced the league of image NFTs that were used as proud display pictures by owners on their social media accounts, BAYC ushered in the whimsical concept of creating apes with unique attributes. The more unique traits they have, the higher will be their value. An offshoot of BAYC is Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), formed when a Bored Ape is exposed to mutating serums.

In September 2021, a former BAYC artist launched the Sneaky Vampires Syndicate. They had three collections, namely Sneaky Vampires, Sneaky Bats and Sneaky Vampiresses.

NFT in the digital art world has the potential to provide artists with more control over their creations. Only time can tell whether this hype and demand of NFT art will be a fad or the future. However, for now, it presents a significant improvement to both security and fervent customer following and satisfaction — which might be just the things to keep it afloat for a while longer.