In previous blog posts, we have established that NFT art is not only for visual artists. We have noticed how NFTs can include voice talents for AI conversational bots, for example. Still in the realm of audio, it can be a way to tokenize music. Non-Fungible Tokens can also be used for animation and visual effects. And it is expected for them to find applications for the film industry. Finally, we’ve also mentioned how the smart contract can also be used to as artistic expression, to change the behavior of the NFT in a way that enhances the art. So, as you can see, NFT art can be a wide array of expressions.
Because NFT art can encompass such wide variety of artistic expressions, then perhaps artists should start to explore merging them to create something truly unique. Think of when the camera first appeared and how it changed painting. How artists became aware that painting should not be overly obsessed with being a realistic depiction of reality. In the same way, NFTs should be looking for ways to being unique and differentiated from the traditional art that they have evolved from.
Several artists are starting to harness the potential of this technology to create something different. For example, Dmitri Cherniak created Ringers, a generative art NFT collection. This means that what he did was develop an algorithm and wrote a JavaScript code that would automate the creation of 1,000 NFTs. They are generated from a unique transaction hash. Meaning that, in the end, every NFT will be unique and that uniqueness will be based on the transaction hash. Today, this collection has a floor price of 80 ETH. It hasn’t done so bad for itself.
The reason for this is that Cherniak was able to make a code that was able to produce output that was not limited by the usual restraints of generative art. So, he was able to produce colors. And wrap strings around pegs in a way that is not so strictly geometrical. Chermiak’s work was able to move away from generative art’s comfort zone, which is straight lines and geometric forms.
In an interview about Ringers, Dmitri Cherniak said that “automation is his art form”. Another example of how NFT art is, quite literally, a new way of understanding art. In this case, it is the way that Cherniak can enable this automation so that his art is profitable, but still art. And the smart contract aspect is what allows the algorithm to start working, as the transaction hash information is a necessary input for the algorithm to create the new artwork.
In this same interview for the Bankless newsletter, he adds that, in art, bugs in the code are very interesting. When in the financial world a bug can mean economic ruin, in art a bug can have beauty and be worth exploring. So making the technology more artistic can be a new way of thinking of technology. Bugs might be desirable. So not only is technology changing art. Art is changing technology and how we think of it.
Blake Kathryn’s mesmerizing Seasons is another example of the richness that NFT art can provide. This GIF that portrays rooms inspired by the four seasons can basically could also work as an interior design plan. Just like a painting doesn’t have to describe and portray reality as it is, the metaverse does not has to conform to depicting reality as it is. And that’s revealing of the full potential of what NFT can be. The art can have utilitarian aspect to it.
What does this mean for old-fashioned art?
All of this does not have to mean the end of the more traditional, crafty way of making art. For example, one of the most important NFT artists out there, Beeple, is still finding a way to make traditional art still relevant. His piece called Human One is comprised of two items, so to speak. One is an NFT, and one is a physical sculpture.
SOPRG, a NFT art gallery based in Prague, is doing just this. They are looking to bring artists into this new frontier that is blockchain and Web3. Artists can create their artwork in the way that they have always done so —physically, if that is the case— and then have it scanned with top-tier technology that SOPRG has already invested in. This way, people can buy a NFT and its matching physical artwork.
One example of technique combination – an essential part of Aleš Ogoun’s paintings is the reflection of light in a metal plated and brushed surface. When the work is illuminated, lines of light are created, giving the visual artwork movement and space. The artist calls this his technique LIGHTPAINTING. Bringing light into images with a predominantly confrontational content of interpersonal relationships is meant to give them an element of optimism – “light at the end of the tunnel”, as well as a sense of playfulness as a natural human characteristic.
In a nutshell; the Web3, the metaverse and blockchain are not here to displace traditional art, nor the various forms of crafts art can be. This is not that kind of event. Let’s go back again to the time when the camera first appeared. It was an event that forced artists to think about what painting really allows to express. Why conform with reproducing reality? That can be left for the camera. And still, the camera can still be a means for artistic expression if used correctly, and not merely a means for describing and reproducing the world. In the end, the camera has a point of view, that will express in one way or another a form of subjectivity. So NFT art should really go ahead and explore the vast possibilities that are allowed in the space.
NFT art will surely allow for the expression of subjectivity, even enhance it. Whether that is through the algorithm to create generative art, the inclusion of other forms of media like audio, animation and film, the use of smart contracts, or being able to create a physical and a NFT version of the same artwork. Art still goes on.