The current pandemic has meant little to no foot traffic for art galleries. Some have pivoted successfully to digital like Gagosian, who closed a multi-million dollar deal thanks to their “Artist Spotlight” online viewing room series. Christie’s is not doing that bad, either.
But what about artists that are not represented by blue-chip galleries? A robust ecosystem of digital marketplaces makes it possible to sell limited digital art editions (or are they multiples?) to a new kind of collector, thanks to blockchain.
The idea is simple: artists post their digital art editions (video, animation, illustration, photography, or painting) on a marketplace. They can either decide on the price or remain open to offers. It is up to them to decide how limited the edition is.
Swisscom Rolls Out Blockchain Digital Art
Collectors visit the marketplace and purchase a piece, like on any eCommerce site. These editions can be enjoyed on various screens, from casting to a TV, to a web browser, or through mobile apps.
But selling is not the only model. Sedition offers Art Stream, a Netflix-like subscription system that allows subscribers to display up to 12 artworks with no watermark, and without owning them. It is marketed as a
What ownership means varies from marketplace to marketplace, and you might disagree with their definition. On MakersPlace, for example, the art collectors own lives in their Ethereum wallet (if they paid in Ether) or their MakersPlace wallet if they pay by credit card. On Sedition, collectors cannot download artworks to their personal computers; they only live in their Vault.
Website Design Isometric Illustrations Photos And Premium High Res Pictures
But let’s pause for a second. Did I just mention Ethereum? What does digital art have to do with blockchain technology? A lot, actually, and that’s what fascinating.
Most marketplaces issue certificates of authenticity—something to be expected from an art dealer. Some platforms go a step further, and that’s where it gets really exciting: They leverage the blockchain to certify the authenticity of a piece of digital art.
A blockchain is “a publicly accessible online ledger, that is not owned by any central authority.” From the creation and authenticity of the edition to the sale and ownership, everything can be certified by the blockchain: All of these operations appear publicly in the ledger. For example, this is what a proof of authenticity looks like on MakersPlace:
Elon University / Imagining The Internet / Credited Responses: Democracy And Social Media 2035
An artist doesn’t have to sell through a marketplace to leverage blockchain proof of authenticity, though. Verisart offers this service independently, and their free plan would work well for an individual artist, for instance.
Buying or selling on these platforms usually requires a membership. If they leverage blockchain technology, having a digital wallet is helpful, but you could also pay or get money from sales through PayPal, for example.
Sedition sells a $400 frame where you can slide your iPad or Samsung tablet, to come a bit closer to the traditional way of displaying art.
How To Create Concept Art In Photoshop
A digital canvas like the Meural Canvas II (powered by Netgear) is another way to put digital art on your walls. It beats a TV but powering it could require some drywall and electric work to hide the power source as much as possible.
The aspect ratio is fixed, and you’d have to be comfortable with the cropping applied to your art by the embedded software (as a commenter noted on a TechCrunch review of the Meural: “I’m pretty sure Monet didn’t paint in 16:9.”) Experiment with platforms and screen sizes to see what works for you.
This new ecosystem of platforms is very exciting, and something you should consider if you’re building your online presence as an artist.
Virtual Ways To Show Your Collection
But the moment there is an opportunity for speculation, there is also a risk for the artist. Read the terms of service carefully to learn about how they handle intellectual property, fees, refunds, etc.
Let me know in the comments if you already sell your work through one of these sites, or if you’re considering it. I’d love to visit your page. If you’ve enjoyed this article, I send a newsletter about creativity twice a month 👋
Thomas is a creativity coach and mindfulness meditation teacher. Originally from France, he lives in Upstate, NY, with his family and a couple of bagpipes.Following its inception, blockchain technology quickly found an application in the art sector, making art objects more accessible while changing methods and approaches to their creation and perception. This gave new opportunities for collectors, art galleries, museums, art brokers and artists.
Digital Art, Nfts, & The Metaverse
Projects such as CryptoKitties and CryptoPunks were among the first examples of visual blockchain art. The combination of blockchain technology and art is used not only for registering and collecting data about pieces of art but could also constitute a hub for creative artists around the world.
One such example is the Scarab project. The Scarab Experiment is an association of artists whose focus is on combining different art technologies. Created in 2014, Scarab is a multiuser avatar that uses image processing enabled by artificial intelligence in order to create a single work of art out of thousands of submitted images. To become a participant, one needs to register and submit a piece of art, after which they will receive Scarab tokens in return. The token grants membership in the Scarab community and allows users to vote for objects that will be part of the final work.
In recent years, platforms that offer galleries certification and registration services for collectors and artists have been actively developed. When a work of art is registered on a blockchain platform, its details — such as history and physical characteristics — are recorded and stored on a digital ledger, marked accordingly by time. This way, the art’s data becomes more accessible for verification and detection and cannot be replaced in the future.
Painting A Different Picture: How Digital Artists Use Blockchain
Such blockchain platforms for art ensures that both artists and art buyers can benefit. The artist is legally associated with the purchase of works of art and receives the corresponding income.
Another example is Maecenas, an open blockchain platform that democratizes access to fine art and allows investors to purchase pieces of art. The commission is 2%, as opposed to the 20% that is usually charged by auction organizers.
The AllPublicArt platform was launched in 2015 and aims to expand online art sales, as “the online art market is growing at an annual rate of 24% and is expected to reach $9.58 billion by 2020, ” according to the insurance company Hiscox Ltd. After registration, each author can publish their works in exchange for APA tokens and independently represent their interests on the market.
Convert Your Digital Arts Into Nfts & Trade Them
In November 2018, The British auction house Christie’s made history with the pilot launch of a blockchain-based encryption and registration service for pieces of art. This was done in New York during the auction of the Barney Ebsworth collection. The auction house partnered with art registration service Artory to prepare a digital certificate for the sale of $300 million worth of art. This art sale included works by Georgia O’Keeffe and Edward Hopper.
The Foundation for Art and Blockchain was created to disseminate information about art and blockchain technology. Its mission is to support artists who respond to one of the most monumental technologies of the century — blockchain. The foundation was launched in May 2018 by Codex Protocol and Rare Art Labs, in conjunction with Ethereal Summit, and was the auction that sold the world’s most expensive CryptoKitties and other works of blockchain-based art.
The first project supported by the foundation was the Dogethereum Bridge, a public art initiative that promotes collaboration between communities and technology.
Businesslife Magazine, Issue 79, August/september 2022 By Bl Magazine
In 2019, the world’s first work of digital haute couture, “Iridescence, ” went up for auction for a charity and was sold on a blockchain for $9, 500 in support of the Foundation for Art and Blockchain.
The virtual dress was developed by The Fabricant, a Dutch startup digital fashion house. The startup specializes in photorealistic 3D clothing design and animation. The “Iridescence” dress was created from a 2D computer template and then turned into a 3D model using the Techgnosis filter.
Earlier this year, French cryptographer and graffiti artist Pascal Boyart painted a mural and hid $1, 000 worth of Bitcoin in it. A month later, local authorities censored the work of art, covering it with gray paint.
How Real Is Digital Art? By Dailycoin
The painting depicts the French protest group Le mouvement des Gilets jaunes in a reinterpretation of Eugene Delacroix’s work, “La Liberté guidant le peuple” (Freedom leading the people). It was definitely a political statement. But one cryptocurrency enthusiast and artist strongly against its censorship: Museum of Crypto Art founder and curator Bnoiit.C uses blockchain technology to make crypto art immutable and virtually impossible to censors. Within the span of a week, Bnoiit.C recreated the Parisian Boyart mural in the virtual world of Cryptovoxels, based on Ethereum, and users can even own part of it.
Cryptovoxels is a rather simple idea. It’s a virtual, predominantly blocky world like Minecraft, in which land ownership is tracked and traded using the Ethereum blockchain. Users can buy land, build on it, and then sell it. Each asset in Cryptovoxels can also be sold as an non-fungible token, a unique “digital asset that cannot be duplicated and is registered on the blockchain, ” Bnoiit.C told
0 comments
Post a Comment