{"id":7169,"date":"2021-04-02T09:44:35","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T13:44:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/?p=7169"},"modified":"2021-07-20T04:48:48","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T08:48:48","slug":"nfts-overpriced-crap-or-new-art-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/2021\/04\/02\/nfts-overpriced-crap-or-new-art-history","title":{"rendered":"NFTs: Overpriced crap or new art history?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a heady few weeks for commerce and art.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Surely a revolution is afoot and we\u2019re too mired in <\/span>the<\/span> hot mess to see it right.<\/span><\/p>\n

With that proviso, here are two notes from the front lines.<\/span><\/p>\n

NFTs are cutting-edge, digital art ain\u2019t<\/b><\/h4>\n

Some folks say the non-fungible token (NFT) that allows a digital artwork to be possessed exclusively by a purchaser <\/span>is traceable to the <\/span>creation of <\/span>Colored Coins\u2002<\/span><\/a>in 2012 \u2014 or <\/span>to<\/span> CryptoPunks<\/span><\/a> in 2017 \u2014 even though <\/span>the<\/span> this<\/span> market exploded just the other day.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"LissajouA page from <\/em><\/span>Jules Antoine Lissajous\u2019s\u2002<\/span>A Study of the Optical Representation of Sound Vibrations<\/b>, 1957<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But digital art (DA) <\/span>itself<\/span> has an older pedigree.<\/span><\/p>\n

As early as 1857, the Frenchman, <\/span>Jules Antoine Lissajous<\/span><\/a> (1822\u20131880) published images of mathematically-designed \u201cLissajous Figures\u201d by capturing lines created by sound harmonies with a camera. These figures had been identified 42 years earlier by the American, <\/span>Nathaniel Bowditch<\/span><\/a> (1773 -1838) \u2014 it\u2019s just that Bowditch didn\u2019t render them as pictures.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n\t\t\t\t
\n \n
\n
\"Fan<\/div><\/a>\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n

Fan tokens: Day trading your favorite sports team<\/a><\/h3>\n
<\/i> October 7, 2021<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>
\n\t\t\t\t
\n \n
\n
\"Icelandic<\/div><\/a>\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n

What it\u2019s like when the banks collapse: Iceland 2008 firsthand<\/a><\/h3>\n
<\/i> October 5, 2021<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>
\n\t\t\t\t
\n \n
\n
\"Crypto<\/div><\/a>\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n

Crypto City: Guide to Tokyo<\/a><\/h3>\n
<\/i> October 1, 2021<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>
\n\t\t\t\t
\n \n
\n
\"Before<\/div><\/a>\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n

Before NFTs: Surging interest in pre-CryptoPunk collectibles<\/a><\/h3>\n
<\/i> September 27, 2021<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>
\n\t\t\t\t
\n \n
\n
\"Bitcoin<\/div><\/a>\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n

Bitcoin ledger as a secret weapon in war against ransomware<\/a><\/h3>\n
<\/i> September 16, 2021<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The first art piece fully recognized as computer-made, and hence, \u201cdigital,\u201d was <\/span>Oscillon 1<\/span><\/i> made in 1950 by the American<\/span> c<\/span>omputer scientist <\/span>Ben Laposky<\/span><\/a> (1914\u20132000). He called these pieces \u201cOscillons\u201d or \u201cElectrical Compositions.\u201d They were Lissajous Figures of a complex type. A 1953 show of his work in Cherokee, Iowa designated them \u201celectronic abstractions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Laposky<\/span>Ben Laposky, <\/span>Oscillon 45,<\/b> 1952<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Laposky inspired other digital artists, producing the medium\u2019s first major show in 1965, in Stuttgart, headlined by <\/span>Frieder Nake<\/span><\/a> (b. 1938) and the first museum show, \u201c<\/span>Cybernetic Serendipity<\/span><\/a>,\u201d at <\/span>London\u2019s Institute of Contemporary Arts<\/span><\/a> three years later.<\/span><\/p>\n

DA\u2019s emphasis on geometric abstraction piggy-backed on the world\u2019s excitement for Pollock and the swarm of Abstract Expressionists roiling the cultural waters of that day. The optical gamesmanship and clean rendering of DA designs also lent momentum to early 1960s <\/span>Op Art<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Frank<\/span><\/p>\n

Op Art: Frank-Stella, <\/span>Untitled<\/b>, <\/span>1966<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DA\u2019s entrancement with crisp linearity, geometry, and images categorized by number persists to this day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Major digital art collections exist at the Whitney, MOMA, the Walker Art Center<\/span>,<\/span> and other juggernauts of the art world; and over a dozen museums dedicated to digital art now exist \u2014 from <\/span>Zurich\u2019s MuDa<\/span><\/a>, to Tokyo\u2019s <\/span>Mori Museum of Digital Art<\/span><\/a>, to the <\/span>Center for Digital Art in LA<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

NFT pics: Easy on the eyes, but not museum-ready<\/h4>\n

Beeple (Mike Winkelmann at <\/span>beeple-crap.com<\/span><\/a> \u2014 the man who created the $69 million <\/span>Everydays<\/span><\/i>) said we\u2019re witnessing \u201cThe next chapter of art history.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I differ.<\/span><\/p>\n

New chapters of art history are written <\/span>by<\/span> artists <\/span>making <\/span>new art.<\/span><\/p>\n

But this is a chapter being written by artists (and their advocates) making novel financial moves.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a new chapter in financial history.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"ManzoniPiero Manzoni, <\/em><\/span>Artist\u2019s Shit<\/b>,<\/b> 1961<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s true, Damien Hirst and others have performed financial acts as aesthetic ones. Artists have sold <\/span>air<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>shit<\/span>, and <\/span>invisibility<\/span> as conceptual advancements, but that\u2019s not what\u2019s happening this month.<\/span><\/p>\n

When this art is attached to an NFT and sold for piles of crypto, <\/span>it\u2019s not<\/span> showcase<\/span>d<\/span>\u00a0as an artistic performance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Heaps of n<\/span>ew market fluidity <\/span>are<\/span> is being leveraged, but no fresh aesthetic concept<\/span>s<\/span> is<\/span> are<\/span> shaping the action.<\/span><\/p>\n

As of this writing, the overwhelming majority of images moving into NFT collections for slag-heaps of Ethereum are more akin to 1950s paperback covers than digital art productions that have migrated to museums and marquee galleries for years.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Beeple<\/span><\/p>\n

Beeple,<\/span> Infinity and Beyond<\/b>, <\/span>2015<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Though it\u2019s main inspiration is anime, computer games, and comic books, this NFT-drop will surely persist in the field of cultural reference for decades, and, I <\/span>will <\/span>confess, there IS an art-historical development here, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the one Beeple is thinking of.<\/span><\/p>\n

This moment is an A-bomb explosion in the larger fragmentation and recombination of kitsch and high art that\u2019s been going on for one long, bloody D-Day since <\/span>Andy Warhol\u2019s first art show in 1962<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

We can point to <\/span>Toulouse Lautrec<\/span><\/a> (1864 -1901), <\/span>Stuart Davis<\/span><\/a> (1892 -1964), and handy Andy (1928 -1987) as the dudes who threw the first blow, but the master bomb-maker in today\u2019s fractured landscape is certainly Brian Donnelly (b. 1974), better known as the comic-figure maker, <\/span>KAWS<\/span><\/a> (. . . with apologies to <\/span>Takashi Murakami<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"KAWSKAWS, <\/em><\/span>Small Lies,<\/b> 2020<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s true, this could be a new eruption of low-brow taste (as folks have said of the emergence of <\/span>KAWs<\/span><\/a> and Warhol), but I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the case.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s just a whole tuna school of new-money millionaires splashing around the planet who are used to <\/span>Neuromancer<\/span><\/i>–<\/span><\/a>style imagery \u2014 and they\u2019re buying whatever they like.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s no art revolution.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s no change in taste.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s just the emergence of some delightfully new destinations for loads of disposable income.<\/span><\/p>\n

That said, I\u2019m confident that a cultural counterweight of historical artists will be joining marquee first-adopters like <\/span>Kenny Scharf<\/span><\/a> in the NFT market any minute now.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the rate things are evolving, I\u2019ll bet my bottom Bitcoin that as these wild, explosive, and strangely historical weeks round <\/span>out<\/span> the month, blockchain money<\/span>\u00a0will begin to chase higher-grade art commodities, just as it now chases CryptoKitties, video snippets, and original tweets.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“New chapters of art history are written by artists making new art. But this is a chapter being written by artists (and their advocates) making novel financial moves.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":7188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1688],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[311,315,1691,456,455,1497,1902,1872],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7169"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7169"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7209,"href":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7169\/revisions\/7209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7169"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=7169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}