ART IN PIXEL

NFTs are booming in Asia despite all the negatives surrounding the phenomenon. Crystal Lee looks at the rise of this blockchain-powered novel asset class in the region with art insiders EMI EU, GEORGE GALANAKIS and DAVID TNG.

- GEORGE GALANAKIS and DAVID TNG

2021 was, undisputedly, the year of NFTs. Notwithstanding the rampant controversies climate irresponsibility, scams, and thefts But no the market for non-fungible tokens hit US$41 billion (RM180 billion) in December, with a gamut of industries from fashion to entertainment selling and utilizing the technology for a smorgasbord of digital products (virtual accessories) and purposes (club membership).

But nowhere are NFTs as pervasive as in the art world. Ever since Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days” sold for a whopping US$69 million (RM304 million) at Christie’s in March last year, crypto art has exploded online and permeated our consciousness like never before. In 2021, digital artists including Pak, Tyler Hobbs, and Xcopy shot to fame with headline-grabbing NFT sales that rival the global fine art market.

Museums, galleries, and art fairs also got in on the trend: The British Museum partnered with French startup LaCollection to create NFT versions of some of its artworks; Art Basel Miami held an exhibition that allowed visitors to mint their own NFTs; while international mega-gallery Pace launched a dedicated NFT platform called Pace Verso in July 2021 to show and sell the works of blockchain artists.

Singapore saw its first large-scale, physical NFT exhibition, Right Click Save, in November 2021. Diving into the history of cryptoart, the show was presented by Coinhako, a digital assets wallet service provider, and Appetite, a multi-concept space and research centre. Works from artists including Beeple, Andy Warhol, and others in the digital and cryptoart world were displayed on screens, monitors, projections, and as framed prints.