You've heard of digital art and you've heard of crypto currency. Put them togther, and what do you get? The world's first crypto art fair, set to take place under the grand ceilings of Paddington Town Hall between January 15-17.
Wondering what in the world crypto art is? You wouldn't be alone. Sats Moon, a crypto art connoisseur and curator of Future Art – an innovative art fair showcasing crypto art – has some thoughts. "The thing about digital art is that it inverts the traditional idea of art. Anyone in the world can see it – but ony one person can own it."
Many artists who began their careers working in the digital world have begun to create works, the ownership of which is determined using blockchain-powered NFTs (non-fungible tokens). These NFTs add unique value and scarcity to a work, which makes it irreplicable.
If this sounds counterintuitive when compared to the traditional idea of artwork and ownership, just consider the fact that almost everyone has seen a replica or print of Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' – but these prints are worth marginal fractions of the original, which is priceless. "This is a really emerging scene. It's exploded in the last 12 months, really. We were able to reach out to 30 of the top crypto artists in the world at the moment – the ones selling massively on these online platforms."
It is also an inherently more democratic way of accessing and presenting art. "It's allowing [artists] a decentralised platform, a way to present their art to collectors at almost no cost, to a global market, with little barrier to entry," says Moon. "One of the artists I'm most excited about is Fewocious – [he's] a 17-year-old from the Western suburbs of Las Vegas, and [he] comes from a working class family, [he]'s a little bit of an outsider... [he]'s incredible. [He]'s been creating drawings on [his] iPad, using very simple software... and [he]'s been able to secure a customer base of collectors who just adore [his] art, and sell couple of hundreds of thousands of dollars of art while [he]'s still at school. It's very cool."
Future Art will showcase a huge range of local and global crypto artists, including Fewocious, and other up-and-comers like Twisted Vacancy (Indonesia), X-Copy (England) and Wrong Bedroom (Australia). Marketplaces such as SuperRare, Rarible and Nifty Gateway are facilitators of the format, and digital galleries are more popular than ever.
In December, the artist Beeple raised USD $3.5 million in an NFT (non-fungible token) art auction for a collection of his works on Nifty Gateway. Another problem that crypto art solves? That of getting artists paid, especially those who work internationally. "With this new technology, with blockchain, with this new platform, the artist gets paid instantaneously," says Moon. "There's this clear ledger, for everyone to look at, to see who bought it, when they bought, how much they bought it for – immutably, forever. It's really exciting... in what it does for artists."
Get your tickets to Future Art here – it's on from Friday, January 15 to Sunday, January 17. Be surrounded by the shiniest stars in the crypto art sphere at Friday night's launch party, attend keynote talks on Saturday afternoon with live music performances, or just wander through the works at your leisure at morning or afternoon sessions on Sunday.