Since the generality of art, many oils, delimitations and puppets have been in the physical world. As technology has advanced, the means of creating and transmitting art have also evolved. More and more artists are creating digital works, and many of their works live only as pixels on a screen.
Yet just because we’re not adept at holding these works of art in our hands doesn’t make them any less valuable. In fact, digital art is fast becoming one of the most valuable art forms of our time.
The art world is changing rapidly with the preface of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. In particular, 2021 has seen an increase in digital art deals, with many high-profile artists and brands exploring new ways to process their work through blockchain technology.
What is an NFT?
NFT stands for non-fungible commemorative. These are unique and non-interchangeable data units that are stored on a secure digital account (blockchain). Basically, since they each have their own encryption law that cannot be tackled, they are instruments of authenticity. An NFT tracks the creator of the digital artwork, its demand value, and its power. This makes it possible to authenticate an NFT as one could authenticate a traditional oil.
Indeed, centuries-old trading houses similar to Sotheby’s and Christie’s see the value in crypto art. One of the first high profile NFT art offerings was auctioned off at Christie’s when artist Beeple sold a digital collage for $69 million. And Sotheby’s recently launched Sotheby’s Metaverse, an online platform designed for digital art collectors to bid on a curated selection of NFTs.
NFTs have been around since 2015, but they only became fashionable in 2020. Also in 2021, the demand for crypto art really exploded.
As an era has been huge for NFTs, especially in the art world, it’s only natural to take a look back. But before doing so, it is important to know what an NFT is.
There’s nothing like a burst of news on the blockchain to leave you allowing, “Um…what’s going on then?” That’s the feeling I got reading about Grimes receiving millions of bones for NFTs or Nyan Cat being sold as such. And just when we all kind of let us know what the deal was, the Twitter author put an autographed tweet in exchange as an NFT. Now, months after this explainer was first posted, we’re still seeing captions about people paying plutocrats for jewelry clip art — and my mom still doesn’t really understand what an NFT is.
How do NFTs work?
At a truly high position, most NFTs are part of the Ethereum blockchain. Ethereum is a cryptocurrency, like bitcoin or dogecoin, but its blockchain also supports these NFTs, which store redundant information that otherwise runs them from, say, an ETH coin. It should be noted that other blockchains may enforce their own NFT performance. (Some did in the past.)
What is worth buying at NFT Supermarket?
NFTs really can be anything digital (like boundaries, music, your brain downloaded and turned into AI), but a lot of the excitement right now is about using the tech to sell art. digital.
