Life has changed drastically since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to hours of free time stuck indoors and the majority of jobs becoming remote, the days when we would spend our weekends strolling through galleries have now ended and we’re spending more time sitting in front of our screens than ever. In turn, a new digital art space has been established.
The art world is notoriously difficult to break into; it has always been about who you know, rather than what you know. But this new wave of cyber-art has provided an alternative way to showcase your work, at the same time as making big bucks for it. Websites like ‘Nifty Gateway’ exhibit thousands of pieces, each with several editions, and they are all selling for thousands. According to Nifty Gateway, these works are not to be referred to as digital artworks, but instead as ‘digital collectibles’, ‘nifties’ or ‘NFTs’. This means that they are digital items that are stored on the ‘blockchain’.
Blockchain is a technology system that records information in a way that makes it extremely hard to alter or hack. An example you have probably heard of is ‘bitcoin’: this new technology prevents the main problem that the art world has had with digital works in the past. In previous years, digital art has been easily copied and there is no way of knowing if what you have bought is a one-of-a-kind work that exists nowhere else, or if it is merely one copy amongst thousands of others. When a nifty is bought, the data is timestamped and validated by the blockchain system, giving it a so-called “digital signature” and assurance of its originality.
Like with the viral investment trend of Gamestop, Nokia, and AMC stocks over the past year, it is difficult not to be sceptical about this sudden digital art boom. Is it simply a short-lived fad and will buyers quickly regret their investments? As we move out of lockdown and galleries begin to open, will the enthusiasm for NFT-based artwork die down as people are able to go back to buying trusted physical pieces? But that is what is so great about this new ‘nifty’ technology: it’s easy to prove authenticity and produce digital scarcity, hence leading to a digital art piece retaining or increasing in value and leading to trust in its investment.
Christie‘s, a world-renowned, typically traditional (showcasing physical artworks) auction house certainly agrees that digital art is not just a pandemic craze but is here to stay. This past week, an NFT artwork was bought by an Indian blockchain entrepreneur and programmer Vignesh Sundaresan, for $69.3 million during a tense auction on Christies.com. The work by the artist ‘Beeple’ consists of a collage of 5000 images, named The first 5000 days. Bidding started at only $100 and swiftly increased to make the piece the most expensive digital art piece of all time. Sundaresan said that the purchase of the work showed “Indians and people of colour that they too could be patrons” of the art world. It is clear that the days of exclusivity and classism within gallery walls are coming to an end. Anyone who has access to Photoshop and the internet can become the next phenomenon overnight.
Whilst the musical artist Grimes already has a platform, she too has noticed the impact of this innovative technology. Two weeks ago, she released a 10-part series of NFT artwork on Nifty Gateway called WarNymph Collection Vol 1 by Grimes x Mac. Within twenty minutes the works were sold out and she made $5.8 million. Her highest-selling piece “Death of the Old” was an animated video with a new song she had produced, depicting a landscape with a derelict church and flying cherubs.
However, one cannot help thinking, isn’t the great thing about art that you can hang it up on your wall and admire it every day? Who wants a piece that can only be viewed on your computer? The reality is that whilst we have a hippie idealistic view of the art world, it’s a cut-throat business. The main objective of buying art is the following: not to create an eclectic wall art collage to show off when your friends come over for dinner, but instead, like stocks, to have an impressive investment portfolio. Therefore, when investment is a priority, who cares about whether it is physical or digital?