NFT artists who make millions say traditional galleries will have to spin

• NFTs have rocked the art world, and traditionalists like Christie’s have already come out on top.
• NFT artist Trevor Jones says that traditional art markets may become obsolete in the face of NFTs.
• Beeple’s Mike Winkelmann says the galleries will eventually turn to serve this emerging market.
• Visit the Business section of the Insider for more stories.

NFT art has suddenly dominated headlines around the world, and its impact on the “traditional” art scene may be here to stay.

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are simpler than they look. Basically, an NFT provides blockchain-backed “proof of ownership” on an item to which the token is attached. This could be anything from the Nyan Cat meme to the NBA’s virtual “moments” and an upcoming Kings of Leon album.

Mainstream players like Grimes and Mark Cuban are also entering the NFT scene.

“I have a feeling it will only get much bigger!” Trevor Jones, an artist trained in fine arts with a focus on drawing and painting, told Insider in an interview. “Catch that cryptographic wave!

Jones, who has been a full-time artist since 2015, considers himself a “traditional painter”, but has been interested in the intersection of art and technology for the past decade, including exploring the NFT art space since 2019.

In honor of his training, all of Jones’ NFT’s work still begins as a traditional “physical” painting. And so far, this formula has found great success for him: his art has been selling for between $ 40,000 to $ 180,000 each, Jones told Insider.

And last month, he sold 4,157 pieces of his “open edition Bitcoin Angel” in seven minutes for $ 777 each, totaling $ 3.2 million.

Despite his background in “traditional” art, Jones predicts that this wave of NFT artists could extinguish the long-standing art market.

“This digital art market is just heating up and can easily take over the $ 67 billion (physical) art market in the not too distant future,” Jones told Insider in an email interview. “Traditional art markets, galleries and auction houses that don’t see this and don’t prepare themselves will be obsolete in 10 to 15 years.”

Beeple

Mike Winkelmann – also known as Beeple, a hugely successful NFT digital artist with millions of dollars worth of sales and resale – thinks the galleries will indeed serve this emerging market.

As Winkelmann explains, entities such as museums and auction houses are “gatekeepers” and curators in the art world. And as the NFT world grows, so does the “noise” that comes with the ability to produce art “cheaply or easily”.

“I still think you’re going to want other people to cut the noise and show them cool things,” Winkelmann told Insider. “I really don’t think this is going to be the end of the galleries or any level of curation.”

For traditional galleries, this pivot could replace framed art with suspended video screens that will showcase these new digital works, an idea that Winkelmann is already exploring.

Sergio Scalet, from Hackatao, an NFT art pop duo based in Italy, also believes that curators and art experts will be essential in this emerging scene to tell the stories of the works. Scalet believes that this could create a meeting point between the NFT and the world of traditional art.

“Probably at the beginning, the world of traditional art will be in defense, but as we can see from the creation of many new technologies and applications, the bridge [between the two] is happening, “Scalet told Insider.” Perhaps these older entities [like galleries] must adapt and find a way to exist in this new space. “

And it seems that the world of traditional art is already spinning fast. Previously, these (often digital) works of art probably would have been rejected by ancient and permanent art spaces. Now, traditionalists are struggling to get a piece of the NFT art pie.

For example, in February, Christie’s listed “Everyday: the first 5,000 days” by Winkelmann. This will be the first sale of digital art by the famous auction house and its first auction to accept cryptocurrencies, specifically Ether.

The piece was priced at $ 3.5 million on March 5, and the auction is set to end on March 11.

Christies

The growing receptivity of the art world in general to digital art – and NFT – is now being noticed by people who have been part of the community for much longer.

“No shade, but there are a lot of people [in the traditional art world] who would never have worked with us before we were in the NFT space, “said Mark Sabb, founder of artist collective Felt Zine, in an interview with Insider.” They are like gallery owners and people we admire and understand that they would never want to work with us, represent us or really communicate with us deeply, whoever [are now doing so]. “

Felt Zine was founded about a decade ago to “give voice” to art that would probably not be adopted by traditional galleries or museums.

Felt, which has always been deeply integrated into the digital art scene, was initially approached by artists who wanted the collective to enter the NFT space. These artists – who Sabb calls “the first to adopt the NFT” – started asking Felt for sales representation and “cryptographic art exhibitions”.

Now, the collective is directly seeing success in this recent NFT art boom: its month-to-month sales volume has skyrocketed 500% since mid-December 2020, Sabb told Insider.

Felt is also taking the idea of ​​traditional art galleries and applying it to the online community, creating digital galleries and museums to showcase the work of his artists.

It is a “new way to experience this art,” says Sabb.

Felt Zine

However, Sabb does not expect the galleries to become extinct if they do not revolve around this NFT boom due to the inherent differences in business models. In addition, many collectors still collect traditional art and NFT, a trend that Sabb says will continue to grow.

“I think artists who feel empowered can change the relationship they have with some gallery owners, similar to how streaming has impacted the music industry, for better or worse,” said Sabb. “But at the end of the day, we are probably looking at a reality where we have a thriving NFT space while traditional art galleries continue to sell art the way they always have.”

Sabb also notes that some works of art are best viewed in a typical gallery, while others do better in a digital gallery space. However, he still has his concerns.

“I think there is a reality in which the NFT space can create more pressure for galleries to increasingly control the artists they represent, if we are not careful,” said Sabb. “So, yes, it can be liberating, but we have to work on it purposefully.”