A lot has been said about the potential of NFT art to empower artists and allow them to be less dependent on a set of powerful institutions. There is still a role to be played by NFT art galleries. What has been true in decades and centuries past remains today. Galleries have played a role in the taste- making of what is considered beautiful. They have also usually been involved in artist discovery because, for collectors, it can be an arduous job of looking out for talented creators. After all, they do have a life with jobs with families, and they can leave that for people that run an NFT art gallery professionally as an actual job.
It’s not like the inception of NFT art will create an art market without galleries. Instead, NFT art galleries and artists have incentives to collaborate rather than look to dominate and take everything for themselves. That is because people in the Internet age tend to look for real people to connect with on social media who, in this case, are artists. But discovery is usually permitted through those that curate and display art, at least partly. A solid social media game can provide a real audience of enough size. Still, it’s not all on the artists’ front that NFT art galleries provide value. Let’s review some roles NFT art galleries play in the art sector.
Curating and promoting aesthetics that reflect the values of the NFT art gallery
Some NFT art galleries specialize in concrete artistic movements, techniques, or values. This is valuable, on one hand, to collectors because they will know that they can constantly go to a place where art that they subjectively value is being shown. Secondly, this is good for artists also because if the gallery coincides with their aesthetics, they have a place where an audience will certainly be interested in their art. This role allows these places to become a sort of record of what a historical period’s particular taste in art is or was, as well as its values and the critiques it was able to produce.
For example, SOPRG is specialized in NFT art that is created the old-fashioned way, with the artist using paint, brush, and a canvas and later scanning that painting professionally to produce the NFT. This gallery helps the artist throughout that process. Other NFT art galleries are specialized in different types of procedures and techniques, like generative art.
Building community and gaining the trust of collectors
More than just a utilitarian practice that people do to buy or sell artwork, going to or interacting with an NFT art gallery can be something pleasurable that people do for the sake of itself. For this reason, they can create a loyal following where people are not only following the gallery, but members are creating meaningful bonds with each other. Becoming a place for hanging out is already valuable in and of itself for those who are doing it. But, becoming such a tight-knit place can be a valuable proposition for artists that can get invited through a community member recommendation. Or the NFT art gallery, having such trust within its community, allows new artists to constantly emerge and monetize their works.
NFT art galleries are a platform for artists to showcase and monetize their creations
When starting out as an artist going alone might not yield immediate results. However, partnering with an NFT art gallery is a way of making a name for yourself as an artist with exhibitions to your name and an opportunity to show your work to audiences and potentially get sales. Sometimes in a competitive environment like the Internet, where everyone and every business has an online presence and produces content, it is difficult to stand out and get the attention of people. With the right partner, this process can be a lot easier so you, as an artist, can focus on what you like and are good at, which is making art.
NFT art galleries can educate on NFTs and push for their adoption
Sometimes it’s not enough for collectors to buy digital art for outlandish sums of money. Indeed, that has raised questions of whether the NFT art market is just a bubble and speculative. The appearance of NFT art galleries as an actor within the digital art sector proves that the movement is real. How the technology permits curation, and how people can show up to shows inside the metaverse or whichever online format the gallery chooses.
Support for artists through legal, marketing, and technical assistance
One of the things that artists have to stay on top of is the legal aspects of creating art and protecting their copyrights. And SOPRG offers counsel and support for artists in this regard because although putting your artwork in the blockchain means that there is a way of verifying that it is yours, the job is not done there. You will still need to do some work to make sure there are protections in place and avoid copycats profiting from your creativity.
Marketing is also quite important, and with the resources that an NFT art gallery has, you can push your art operation into overdrive. Because galleries are in the business of bringing people together, they can provide marketing insights to artists who might be more interested in creating great artwork. Finally, there is the question of producing the NFT, and some technical expertise is needed. An NFT art gallery can help you transform your digital art or painting into an NFT that will live in the blockchain.
Fostering innovation by incentivizing collaborations
As we have established, a key role of NFT art galleries is bringing people together to experience and sell art. This can nurture relationships that later transform into collaborations that transcend the art scene. Brands in the fashion industry or other sectors, collectors, and the artists themselves are some actors that can collaborate for these innovations.
As it is, NFT art galleries have a big role in developing the NFT art market and in the widespread use and monetization of digital art. Galleries have been, and still are, the place of confluence of different interests that share a common theme: art. With Web3, that will still be the case, with the changes that the technology requires.
Painting by Mr. Vavříček – you can buy the NFTs via our shop
