What is a 1/1 NFT? What should we known about them as art investments merge with Web3?
Not only have NFTs revolutionized the concept of property. They have also brought with them a whole array of terms that refer to things we know from real life, except they are now on Web3. One of such terms is the 1/1 NFT. A term that is crucial to understanding the visual arts landscape that is to come. A 1/1 NFT is an NFT whose content is unique to any other NFT, which makes it very scarce. See, Non-Fungible Tokens are all technically unique in terms of their Token ID or serial number. But they can also be sold for different prices, as owners can have different values and objectives in mind.
So an artist can create an NFT and decide make editions that are identical. This of course, means that there are more people that can support the artist. But the downside is that there is less scarcity, which is what NFTs are supposedly about. Now within collections, you can still find NFTs that are technically unique, have varying degrees of rarity. That is due to the fact that these collections get attributes (say, a PFP with skin color, type of character, head accessory, earrings, and type of eyes or eyewear). Now there are limited varieties of each attribute, and each variety can be more scarce than others. You could even have it so that having five attributes is common, having six is rare, and 8 is the ultimate rarity. This are fairly common, and are known as Profile Pictures (PFP) collections. Think of Bored Ape Yatch Club or Crypto Punks.
But what interests most is when an artist releases an entire collection comprised entirely of 1/1 NFTs. And this is usually what art investments tend to go for. The art for the sake of expression is the perfect example of what a 1/1 NFT means. So if you are looking to invest in digital art, you need to understand some of the lexicon. And 1/1 NFT is absolutely a must-know.
So basically, a 1/1 NFT is a piece of digital visual artwork. Plain and simple, but might throw off the novice that is looking for art and only sees the concept of 1/1 NFT.
What kind of art can one produce through 1/1 NFTs?
Sometimes an artist uses traditional means to create a painting. That painting gets scanned (with top-tier technology and not any scanner) and transformed into an NFT. But then again, some people choose to use only digital means to create new art. It is in this way how generative art came about. This is the creation of art by an autonomous system, usually non-human. An artist can claim that an autonomous system represents their own ideas so they can also claim authorship of the artwork produced. Take into consideration this concept, as many 1/1 NFTs that you will find out there are generative art.
What is the actual use of all of this for the arts? Well, think of when the camera was invented. That spawned in and of itself new forms of art. In painting, people started to become less concerned with a realistic depiction of reality. Photography became an art form as well.
When it comes to 1/1 NFT, you could encounter new forms or the traditional way of doing art. The technology behind NFTs allows for many things to happen within the space.
Why is it good to know the term 1/1 NFT?
If you are an art collector, without too much knowledge of Web3, NFTs, and cryptocurrencies, you probably will never have heard of 1/1 NFTs. And that, as of today, could be a costly mistake. It is within the 1/1 NFT space that art for the sake of art occurs, at least in Web3. Looking for art without taking this term into account could make you buy an NFT because you like the art, but in reality holds no investment value in and of itself.
Of course, if what you are looking for is true art in the NFT realm, you should look for an Art Gallery that has some sort of footing in this world. A good example is Somnium Prucha Gallery (SOPRG), where the art is not part of an edition. Even if it is part of a collection, there is no two of them alike. You will find art that is unique not because of a serial number, but because of its content.
You can also look for 1/1 NFTs in specialized platforms. Foundation.app, KnownOrigin, or NiftyGateway are some of the options that people looking to buy NFT art have. SOPRG is currently still running on the Opensea.io portal, as it is the most well-known for the NFT area.
What else to do to make sure that you are buying a unique, scarce asset?
As the NFT Community usually says: DYOR (Do your own research). You can look into an artist’s collection and see how his works compare to one another. Once you have verified across marketplaces that the artist produces unique artwork, and if you like the artwork, then you can go ahead and buy your very own digital artwork.